Excerpt

“Trek Belt-Driven Bicycles Rely on Carbon Fiber Technology

You might expect to find high modulus carbon fiber in a bicycle frame—but in a belt drive system?

Based in Wisconsin, Trek builds bicycles designed to change people’s lives through cycling. Their Advanced Concepts Group (ACG) leads the way in advancing bicycle design and technology.

One of Trek’s lines is called the Urban Series. Including the District and Soho models, these bikes are made for the progressive urban market. They feature Gates Carbon Drive™ belt system—replacing the traditional chain drive found on the everyday bicycle. According to Michael Leighton, Senior Industrial Designer at Trek, “The Urban line is a collection of single speed and internally geared bikes that get the job done.” But getting the job done took a bit of doing.

A big part of designing the single-speed, belt-driven bike fell to Ray Waxham, R&D Engineering/Team Projects, part of ACG. “The first (non-Gates) belts we tried didn’t work,” said Waxham. “We applied them to one of our early designs, and after weeks of machining and getting all the parts together, the first time I put my feet on the pedals the belt just spun.” It was back to square one. Trek then tried some imported belts, but they didn’t work out either.

“I had heard about Gates belts on motorcycles,” Waxham said. “If they can work on a motorcycle, they can work on a bike.” So began the dialog between Gates and Trek.

Link to full text of case study:  gates.com/ptdesign/trek.html