Gates partnerships with Bosch, Rohloff and Shimano to bear fruit at Eurobike

Belt drive specialist Gates will mark ten years catering for the bicycle market this year, marking the occasion with a number of new lines for OEMs.

Integrating with the bike market’s alternative drivetrain markets has always been necessary for the manufacturer, which now boasts a total of 32 belt options to meet all the most common OEM requirements.

Now used by around 500 bike brands around the globe, including an increasing number of electric, cargo and folding applications, belt drives are increasingly favoured where the stresses placed on a bicycle make such a solution a sensible economic and practical choice. Gates even mentions water bikes as a prime example.

Set for a debut on Eurobike booth A2-204 the firm will introduce:

• CDX:SL, a new line of lightweight aluminum sprockets designed to work with the Pinion C-Line gearbox and at a lower cost than stainless rear sprockets.
• A new splined sprocket for Rohloff hubs.
• An offset sprocket for use with Rohloff E-14 electronic shifting and Bosch Gen2 motors that provides perfect beltlines.
• A new suite of products for Bosch Gen3 including spider sprocket assemblies that support standard and previous motor positions, and provide perfect beltlines for all the leading internally geared hubs including Rohloff, Shimano Alfine and Nexus, and NuVinci.
• The firm will also commemorate the 10-year anniversary of Carbon Drive by announcing a special edition Carbon Drive White belt, which adds a touch of clean style to bicycles and eBikes while highlighting the grease-free, rust-free attributes of the Gates system. The white belt is available for OEM production orders with a 120-belt minimum order.

“Our product line has expanded every year, with 15 belt lengths in our premium CDX line and six in our affordable CDN urban line, plus Carbon Drive Red and color options with blue or black fabric linings—a total of 32 belt options to meet all the most common OEM requirements,” Sellden says. “In addition we now offer sprockets in stainless steel, aluminum and reinforced composite—all engineered to interface with the leading internally geared hubs from Shimano, NuVinci, Rohloff and Sturmey-Archer, as well as with Pinion gearboxes and all of the leading electric bike systems from Bosch, Shimano STEPS, Bafang, Brose, MPF, Go SwissDrive and many more. We have worked incredibly hard over the past decade, and we are proud of the innovation we have brought to the bike industry.”

To tell its 10-year story, Gates will distribute free copies of its 10-year photo book to all dealers who visit the Gates Carbon Drive booth. Gates will also show one of the earliest prototype belt drive bicycles using Carbon Drive. This early Nicolai used an 8mm pitch belt and first-generation sprockets. Field testing of this original belt system quickly showed that a larger belt designed specifically for the bike market was needed, leading to the creation of the 11mm pitch belt, and the subsequent development of the patented CenterTrack sprocket design.

CyclingIndustry.News carried an in-depth interview with Gates boss Todd Selldon back in April which we recommend tuning in to if you’ve an interest in the belt drive market.