Cycling with belt drives
I own a belt driven cycle for commuting for some years now. The idea for
deciding to go with belts instead of chains was to have less maintenance, less
noise, and less dirt on the trousers. At that time I've also thought that belts
would last longer than chains and thus driving down the maintenance costs for
commuting.
For the latter I've saved some numbers on how longs stuff works until it
breaks. I'm also curious if theres a significant distinction between the CDN
and the CDX line of products in terms of durability. Over the last six years,
now the bike was ridden approx. 27,000 km until now. Commuting goes all year,
so the belt gets in touch with all elements.
Belts
| Belt No |
Type |
km |
lasting duration |
| 1 |
Gates Carbondrive CDN |
~ 6,400 km |
27 months |
| 2 |
Gates Carbondrive CDN |
~ 8,400 km |
24 months |
| 3 |
Gates Carbondrive CDN |
~ 5,600 km |
22 months |
| 4 |
Gates Carbondrive CDX |
~ 6,600 km |
still running (and the colored coating is still visible ..) |
As for now, the CDN Belts won't last longer than a Shimano HG-90 or better.
Cracked belts
The wear of carbon belts is noticeable. You can hear a distinct noise during
hard pedaling, it's similar to the noise tissue makes while its rifted apart.
You can seen the cracked carbn fibers on the photos below. From the first sound
you can still run ~1000 km.
| Side view |
Top view |
 |
 |
Sprockets
| Sprocket No |
Type |
km |
lasting duration |
| 1 |
Gates CDN Sprocket |
~ 20,400 km |
61 months |
| 2 |
Gates CDX Sprocket |
~ 6,600 km |
still running |
~20,400 km wear
| Side view |
Top view |
 |
 |
Chainrings
| Chainring No |
Type |
km |
lasting duration |
| 1 |
Gates CDN Chainring |
~ 20,400 km |
61 months |
| 2 |
Gates CDX Chainring |
~ 6,600 km |
still running |
~20,400 km wear
| Side view |
Top view |
 |
 |
Last updated: 2026-07-24 16:55:46 UTC