DENVER (BRAIN) — Gates Corporation is launching a new belt-drive system for bike that will be about half the price of its current drivetrain. The new drivetrain, to be introduced at next week's Taipei Cycle Show and called Gates Carbon Drive CDN, is designed for lower mileage bikes, the company said. Gates' CDX model will remain the application for mountain biking, cyclocross racing and long-distance bike touring.
Carbon Drive CDN has the same carbon fiber tensile cord technology and CenterTrack sprocket design as the CDX system.
“CDN is our value-oriented belt drive for people who want a clean and stylish city bike for getting into town or around the neighborhood,” said Todd Sellden, director of Gates Carbon Drive. “It’s for bicyclists who ride in jeans or skirts and casual shoes, not spandex and race gear.”
The CDN belt has nine carbon cords embedded within an engineered polymer belt with an 11mm tooth pitch profile optimized for lower tension. The front sprocket is made from reinforced composite embedded with glass fibers and comes as an integrated crank assembly for easy factory installation. The rear sprocket is steel.
The CDN belts are manufactured at a Gates plant in Dumfries, Scotland, a leading producer of automotive belts and the center for Gates’ belt development group in Europe. CDX and CDC belts are still manufactured at the Gates plant in Kentucky.
The CDN drivetrain is being marketed for the 2016 bike model year, so it should be available at retail late this year, a Gates spokesman told BRAIN.
