Howdy, y'all.
This is a bike for Black Cat Industries' own
hot shot racer, Greg Martin.
I swore I wouldn't do another one but, here it is:
a belt drive, short chainstay 29er.
hot shot racer, Greg Martin.
I swore I wouldn't do another one but, here it is:
a belt drive, short chainstay 29er.
Curves in all the right places.
This bike is made for a 100mm travel fork with a tapered steerer.
It's been a pretty popular option lately.
Greg was pretty insistent on the olive green
and robin's egg blue color scheme.
Happy to oblige.
A pic of the split-able belt drive dropout on the frame
and one of the first prototypes I made a couple years ago.
You can see the top is a socket that attaches to the seatstay
and nests the rest of the dropout, with a bolt that runs through both.
This is the magic part that allows for the short chainstays.
It's a spider that I made for the Sram cranks that offsets the
belt ring about a half inch from where it would sit
otherwise, giving room for the chainstay.
Between the custom spider and the new-ish
Center Track belt system from Gates,
things worked out without a compromise in sight.
I have several more of these that I made only for
belt drive Black Cats in the future. Get 'em while they're hot.
11 comments:
That is extra sweet. I can see my future with that.. How does Greg like the Belts?
ss junkie,
greg was sponsored by spot brand/ gates drive a few years ago. i made the belt drive bike upon his insistence. it was an uphill battle to get me to agree to make the bike. i did say i'd never do it again...
with a sponsorship from sram as well, everything worked out great in the end.
So, are you still saying that you'll never do it again? Or is it going to be a Black Cat option now?
Looks like fun!
@SS Junkie - My "shakedown" ride on it was the PCP2P. The engine (me) could've been better, but the bike was flawless. The Gates CenterTrack belt drive was super easy to set up and forget about, as it's supposed to be. My only issue with the previous belt drive was the sometimes finicky set up process. The CenterTrack system addresses that issue directly.
That drive system on this frame is my dream bike. Super stiff climbing, intuitive descending, zero maintenance....perfect!
I'm not sure how Todd feels about it after making his second one, but if he'd do another one, I highly recommend it!
roger,
call it an option. with those spiders on those cranks there are no issues with the short chainstay. it is the same frame as i'd normally build, just with the split-able dropout. i have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of making an expensive frame built specifically to work around "non-standard", relatively inexpensive parts. better to do the opposite: adapt the cheap stuff first.
Thanks Guys!
One more question.. I change gears often based on my different race courses, anywhere from 34-16, to 32-20, on the 29.. would I need alot of belts, or is that less of a problem compared to chains.. like, with the smaller teeth, can you make more of a ratio change with shorter throw? If that makes sense.
Either way, a Blackcat will be my next ride, hopefully this winter, I just love your bikes.. they just make elegant sense.
Thanks for answering, I'll email once I need to order.
those are good questions for gates.
they have a belt length calculator and listing of sizes (teeth) of all their components. check with them to see if they've got what you want.
OMG, Fleetwood Mac? I'll stay with the pure soul power that is ABBA when I want my music syrupy.
That Stevie Nicks freaks me ooooooouuuuuuuuut.
rev,
normally i'd say that there is no accounting for taste, but i know you, therefore i know better.
say what you will, "rumors" was/is a good record.
Win yourself some cash and drivetrains, Todd.
http://www.gatescarbondrive.com/designcontest/
lay me down in the tall grass and let me do my stuuwuff
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