The objection of many of us to the Gates Drive until now has been that it requires splitting the frame, thereby weakening it.

Gates now sell a split belt, apparently, according to this
https://www.wereldfietser.nl/phpbb/v...32854&start=40
in a DIY kit. Keep scrolling down until you see the box with the components and the necessary tool for setting the joining rivets that fix the belt onto the sprockets. Keep scrolling for the photos of fitting the Gates Drive, which seems straightforward. Note that Gates is even more demanding of a straight chainlink than a Rohloff installation.

To my mind obviating the need to split the frame at last makes the Gates Drive desirable. It could even be as clean as my current installation of Rohloff HGB/KMC chain/steel or stainless sprockets/Hebie Chainglider with the chain running for its entire life on the factory lube, no service, no cleaning, no added lube, no need for inspections because I know that I can get 3000m at about 0.5mm chain "stretch".

Of course the Gates with a service life of about 5000m cannot compete on cost with the virtually everlasting setup I describe, in which only the chain is replaced at about 3000m, a five minute job with quick links. But I doubt that anyone actually interested in the Gates (or my system) will decide to choose between them on cost.

Andre Jute
In the windmills of my mind