A belt drive for a bicycle was patented in the United States on April 8, 1890 by Charles D. Rice, Patent # 425,390. In 1898, Mathew Joseph Steffens of Chicago, Illinois received a patent for a rear-wheel drive
electric bicycle using a
driving belt attached to the periphery of the pneumatic-tired wheel. By the early 1900s, some motorcycles were using leather drive belts. The
Bridgestone Picnica belt-drive bicycle was introduced in the early 1980s. It used a tooth-belt drive like auto
timing belts and
Harley-Davidson drive belts, along with a novel two-part
chainring that increased belt tension with increasing load. The Picnica was a
folding bicycle, and part of the appeal of the belt drive was cleanliness. The Picnica was a
small-wheel bicycle, so belt tension may have been less than on a bicycle with standard-size wheels. It was apparently successful, but was offered mainly in Japan. Bridgestone offered belt-drive bicycles in the USA until they left the market about 1994. Since their innovation, they have continuously offered belt-drive bicycles in Japan including their best-selling Albelt model. In 1984 and 1985,
Mark Sanders, a designer who had earned his degree in mechanical engineering from
Imperial College, London, designed a
folding bicycle as part of his graduate studies in an Industrial Design Engineering (IDE) program. The program was run jointly by
Imperial College and the
Royal College of Art in London. He collaborated with a design engineer from
Gates Corporation to outfit his bicycle with a belt, rather than a chain. 3 with
kevlar belt drive When his project was complete, Sanders chose entrepreneur and former Greg Norman manager James Marshall and a
Glasgow manufacturer to turn his award-winning design into a product. The manufacturer coined the name
Strida, and in 1987 the bicycle began rolling off the production line. In 2002 production was moved to Taiwanese manufacturer
Ming Cycle in order to meet increased demand, and as of 2007, Ming Cycle fully owned the Strida brand and intellectual property rights.
iXi bicycles, distributed in the United States by
Delta Cycle Corporation, followed in 2004 with a compact design that, like Strida, featured a belt drive. Other folding-bike manufacturers that have implemented a belt drive include U.S. company Bike Friday and Netherlands-based Bernds. In 2007,
Gates Corporation developed a high-modulus 8mm synchronous belt and sprocket system called the Carbon Drive System. The belt's pitch allowed for lower tension requirements to help prevent skipping. Lightweight, patent-pending sprockets have mud ports, openings under each tooth, which work to slough off debris. In 2009, an increasing number of bicycle companies, including
Trek and
f8 Cycles, offered belt-driven bicycles. While builders initially focused on single-speeds and internal hubs, in early 2009
f8 used a Gates-compatible fixed-gear cog designed by
Phil Wood & Co., offering a belt-driven fixed-gear bicycle. In 2009, Wayne Lumpkin, owner of Spot Brand and best known as the founder of Avid, designed a belt system called CenterTrack. In 2010, Gates Corporation acquired a patent from Lumpkin for CenterTrack, a new belt-and-pulley design that improves on the initial Carbon Drive System design. CenterTrack is more tolerant to misalignment than its predecessors. It is also lighter, 20% stronger due to a wider 11mm belt, yet has narrower pulleys, making packaging with the latest generation of internally geared hubs much easier. The company’s CDX belt is the first belt drive designed for severe off-road use on mountain bikes. In 2010, Daimler introduced the Smart eBike, a power-electric hybrid bicycle featuring Gates Carbon drive-belt system. The eBike is designed for a clean, grease-free ride. The CDS belt drive shared the basic operation of the early 8mm Gates Carbon Drive system, but employed aramid instead of carbon fibers in its construction. The Conti CDS was designed exclusively for ‘normal use on properly laid’ roads and paths. ContiTech eventually switched to carbon belts for bicycle use, citing issues with traction using aramid fibers. The CDS belt drive was utilized on some Trek bicycles and the Sladda utility cycle marketed by
IKEA of Sweden. After reports of failures of the belt itself and a recall, CDS was withdrawn from the belt-drive bicycle market. In 2018,
Veer Cycles created the first belt drive conversion kit that allows riders to convert their chain driven bikes to belt drives. The belt is spliced to fit through the rear triangle and eliminates the need for a frame with a split already in it. == Manufacturers ==