Cannondale Badboy or Specialized Sirrus? Advice please

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Croker93

New Member
So I am looking for a a fast commuter bike, to save me using hardtail everywhere. Last week I bought a Cannondale badboy 1 2020 model as I thought it would be the bike for me. However found the belt drive quite slow, too much friction compared to chain bikes. So decided to sell. Now I am unsure whether the Cannondale bad boy 2/3 (chain driven) bikes would be much faster or whether there not very fast either and better of with a specialised Sirrus?
 

Cycleops

Legendary Member
Location
Accra, Ghana
How can you be sure it was the belt drive slowing you down?
 

Pale Rider

Legendary Member
There is a little extra drag from a belt.

I've not ridden one for long enough to comment how noticeable it is.

A belt must, of course, have a hub gear.

All the hub gears I've tried have been draggy, including my super duper £1,000 Rohloff.

The two things taken together could produce a bike that would appear slow and draggy to some riders.

Anything with a chain and derailleur would feel quicker.
 
Location
Loch side.
I ride belt drive and IGH as well as a few standard chain and cassette bikes and I cannot tell the difference in drag. If you want a new bike because you want a new bike, that's fine, but to want it because belt drive slows you down, is nonsense. You are fooling yourself and misleading others.
Bikes are not fast or slow. It's the engine that's fast or slow. Pedal faster or get a motorbike.
 
Location
Loch side.
Interesting? Yes, certainly, it is interesting how ignorant some cycling wanna-be technical writers are. There's a nice emotional touch at the beginning of the article with that whopping 37% in drivetrain friction when going from chain to belt. Yes, it is a huge percentage increase but still only 1 watt. Yup, one single watt more on belt than chain.

Then the real treasures pop up. Words like pre-load are used out of context and then the author gets really mixed up apparently not understanding that the load on a chain or belt comes from rider input. The harder you pedal, the higher the tension.

The test doesn't measure the influence of lubrication on a chain either. It is a silly, shallow, sorry article.

Belts and chains have their place in industry and each has benefits and drawbacks. In my opinion, a belt drive makes a lot of sense for city riders who commute in horrible slush during wet winters.

But, in the end, what is really interesting is how the OP could "sense" 1 Watt and how much it slowed him down - so much that he had to get another bike.
 

Pale Rider

Legendary Member
I can feel some resistance in a belt drive hub set up compared to a chain/derailleur.

That is the real world choice.

The technicalities of it are of interest to the terminally curious, but are really neither here nor there.

There's no doubt a relatively minor problem with a bike can grow and fester in the mind.

Changing the bike may be an extreme solution, but the cost of changing the drive train would be close to the cost to change, even assuming it could be done.
 
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