I just watched a youtube video. And at the end of it, it of course displays some other video suggestions which I usually ignore. But the title of this one intrigued me, so I started to watch it, and watched the whole thing.
Short summary is that belts are great for commuters, but a spare belt that is not stored and handled properly can fail when you are in the worst place for a failure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx5nN3kyx5k
Re carrying/storing a spare belt - Gates say.....
https://youtu.be/VgM-qeHGK_4?si=juJL4eavETswXT8sOnce you've done that a couple of times, you can do it in your sleep. Mine lives in a plastic container tucked away in a frame bag. It weighs nothing and it's out of harm's way.
I've only covered roughly 6,000 Km on my belt drive bike but so far I'm inclined to agree with 'WorldTourer' I don't do anything special to clean or tension the belt. I live on the coast and the bike gets absolutely blathered in mud, sand and sea water. The belt doesn't squeak, creak, slip or do anything out of the ordinary. The truth is that, apart from removing the rear wheel to fix the odd puncture, I haven't touched the belt. The bike gets washed down and that's it - I have yet to mess with the tension of the belt. I did have a play with the Gates belt tension app when I first got the bike, but I (rightly or wrongly) soon dismissed it as unreliable. When I re-fit a wheel I simply give the belt a 'twang' and off I go. No mess, no drama, it's all so simple.
In my case I believe that I overthought belt drives - far too much 'what if' went through my mind. I'm very much old school and I thought that I wouldn't be able to leave the belt transmission alone, but I was wrong. It works, I don't notice it, I just leave it alone. I do carry a spare belt but I don't expect to fit it for a long long time.
I bought this (Pinion) bike as I wanted a bike that was as maintenance free as possible, and that is what I've got If my 'fit and forget' situation changes I will pop back and let you know.
