Gates Carbon Drive

We got the following note from Daniel Abt of Wausau, Wisconsin, recently:

Dear Gates,
I’m sure you may already know this, but your Carbon Drive belts work great at -17 Fahrenheit. Or at least mine did on my custom Surly 1×1 belt drive this morning coming into work. Silent, smooth and no worries no matter if it’s mud or snow. Thank you for making such a cool product.

Cheers,
Dan Abt

Inspired by his note, we wrote Dan asking for more info about his winter riding and belt drive bike. He lives near the XC playground of 9-Mile Forest, where he frequently rides his belt drive Surly. “I primarily built the bike for trail riding at places like 9-Mile, the Underdown, Standing Rocks, Levis Mound and I just road it for the first time this fall up at Nicolet Roche,” Dan says.

“It’s a worry free ride and the belt holds up to anything my chicken legs can throw at it,” Dan says. Dan loves the fact that Carbon Drive needs no lube and little maintenance, which means he can just jump on his Surly and go. “I can’t help but joke around with some of my riding friends when I have the belt drive on the trails by saying, ‘Sorry I’m late, I was busy lubing my chain!'”

Not.