Belt Drive SuperSix EVO - Now 5.82kg

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by MaraudingWalrus

Only ridden three or four miles on it so far. Crazy quiet and smooth. Will take a bit to get tension where I like it.

How are you measuring belt tension? Keep a eye on rear hub. The very high tension 'can' be tough on hub bearings.

[MaraudingWalrus]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

How are you measuring belt tension? Keep a eye on rear hub. The very high tension 'can' be tough on hub bearings.

Gates belt tension guage

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by MaraudingWalrus

Gates belt tension guage

Good call. First couple of belt installs at shop used an 'AP' on the iphone(really) but that turned out to be not very accurate. Used tone.

[MaraudingWalrus]

Yeah. We tried the app on a Spot we built. Didn't work very well. Was never quiet enough to work well. So, we have the gates Guage now.

[MaraudingWalrus]

Took the StuporSix (what we've been calling this thing at the shop) out for a small group ride, about 20 miles long, on Thursday night!

I don't have full ride data from the ride, mostly because my computer (Joule GPS) might be a complete POS and takes forever to acquire GPS signal - and when it doesn't have GPS signal, it won't record anything else. GPS signal picked up about eight miles into the ride, but here is the ride on Strava, or the part it recorded anyway.

As I've said, the build runs a 70t ring up front, and a 24t cog in the back. That puts me doing about 18-19mph with a cadence in the low eighties - a good gearing for just cruising around.

The bike is absolutely awesome. Crazy stiff at the front end (SupersixEVO and the integrated bar/stem), and ridiculously responsive. The bike is disturbingly quiet when pedaling.

I had never had the pleasure of really riding a SupersixEVO with aero wheels, so that definitely was a great experience.

There were four of us on the ride, including the shop owners, who unfortunately don't get a chance to get out and ride as much as they'd like (one on a Raleigh Willard, the other on a Foundry Thresher), and one of the local club members, who was on his fixed gear.

One of the shop owners went off the front for a bit and the "StuporSix" was stealthy quiet when I chased back up to him, and he didn't know I was there until I rode next to him.

We cut the first half of the route short due to flooding (that part of the road has a "no wake zone" sign on it for a reason). The ride back on the first out and back was great, bike eerily quiet. The shop owner went again about two miles from the midpoint of the ride, and I spun it up to about 25 on the chase down - bike definitely not geared for that speed. The club member on his fixed gear and I duked it out in the sprint at the midpoint and we both topped out right at 30 - that puts the cadence with my gearing around 130 (a place I'm not super happy, given my average cadence on longer rides is around 75).

Two of us (the club member on his fixed gear and I) then rode to the local hill climb - about 1/2 a km of about 5% average grade, with a steep part of about 20% for a few meters (stop laughing, it's Florida) - this was most definitely not the bike for that area of the ride. But I got my fat arse up the hill without coming to a total standstill. I was mildly afraid of the stress of standing up and grinding up a climb like that would explode the modified frame, but good news, it did not explode!

TL;DR - this bike is sweet. It's just like your regular SuperSix EVO, just totally silent, perfectly smooth, and with only one gear. I cannot put into words the sensation of winding up a 30 mph sprint, or cruising at 20mph, and having it be totally silent from the drivetrain. It's absolutely eerie, and it's awesome!

[gavingould]

i would love to replace my aging cro-mo fixed beater with a lighter belt-drive SS bike for around town.

congrats, that thing is awesome.

[MaraudingWalrus]

It's a seriously great bike. I love riding with the belt around town, and wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger on a belt drive bike in the future, and am always looking for intriguing options.

[MaraudingWalrus]

Solved a minor issue that developed over a bit of time. Bike developed a drive train noise, which turned out to be a combination of a tension issue, and a slight alignment issues, caused from losing track of spacers during a wheel change, which resulted in the rear cog being about 1mm too far outboard in relation to the front cog.

I now have about 300 miles on this bike in its current iteration, and am now confident enough in it to being taking it out for more rides, not just the occasional hour solo ride.

[A1CKot]

Originally Posted by MaraudingWalrus

It's a seriously great bike. I love riding with the belt around town, and wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger on a belt drive bike in the future, and am always looking for intriguing options.

I wish some one made an eccentric english thread bottom bracket and crankset up that works with an Alpine. I would find a Serotta with ST stay and turn it into a flat bar city bike. I think Phil Wood showed one at a show a number of years ago but never made it to production.

Cool build btw.

[Mr_Gimby]

Originally Posted by A1CKot

I wish some one made an eccentric english thread bottom bracket and crankset up that works with an Alpine. I would find a Serotta with ST stay and turn it into a flat bar city bike. I think Phil Wood showed one at a show a number of years ago but never made it to production.

Cool build btw.

There is one that exists, though it is exorbitantly expensive: Info here-->Purchase here

Does open up a lot of cool options though!

[A1CKot]

Originally Posted by Mr_Gimby

There is one that exists, though it is exorbitantly expensive: Info here-->Purchase here

Does open up a lot of cool options though!

Thanks. That is awesome. Now I need to find the perfect frame!

[MaraudingWalrus]

After this project being set aside for a few months, it's back, it's better, it's technically the same weight, and it's more liveable than ever.

Swapped the bar/stem combo for a traditional bar and stem (Cannondale C2 bar and stem that came with the bike originally), though the C2 are holding the place for some C1s I have on my Macaframa, until the Ritchey X Cadence Keta bar and stem arrive. The change from integrated to traditional saved, ~40g. I put on ESIs silicone bar tape, which was significantly denser than the lizard skin I previously had, and wrapped further up the bar. Definitely gained some weight there, maybe 200g. Also put in some high grade stainless hardware, which upped the weight of the stem.

Swapped wheels to an old set of Ksyrium Elites, with Open Corsa Evo tires, definitely weight savings over the Boyd Powertap Wheelset I'd previously had on here. Not sure on the difference of weights there.

Added bottle cages, and front and rear lighting hardware. Currently have a Fabric Scoop Saddle on the bike, which is about fifty grams heavier than the Arione that had previously been on the bike.

All in all, I'm currently at.. Fifteen lbs on the nose again. But I think the bike is much more liveable now. I also spent time over the last few months playing with belt alignment and tension, and I now believe I finally gave belt alignment perfect. It's dead silent now. Prior, every so often, the belt would make a horrible noise as the alignment was evidently a few mil off.

[Bstone]

Needs some ultra light climbing wheels


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MaraudingWalrus]

It does need some ultra-light wheels..one day.

I do plan to make that happen. Hard to justify spending serious money on this again. Given it's just kind of a goofy fun bike now.

[sandyrs]

That chainring is not bunny hop optimized