# Early Rider Belter 20" gearing range



## baltik (Nov 16, 2005)

My 5 year old is graduating from his 16" belter. He loooves that bike and it is truly a work of art. Now that I'm in the market for a 20" I am a little concerned about the 3 speed since most of the bikes I am looking at are running a 7/8 speed drivetrain. Anyone with real world experience using the 3 speed SRAM hubs and whether they provide sufficient gearing range?

Other bikes I am looking at are
Orbea MX
&
Islabike


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## svinyard (Aug 14, 2017)

Range for what? You riding several hundred in elevation, riding downhill, or mainly tame trails and neighborhood? It all depends on what you are riding.


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## oren_hershco (Mar 11, 2006)

Typical gear ratio difference in a 10 speed cassette is 10-15%. You can create a larger difference, but at some point it's just too much: you spin your legs too fast in one gear, but can hardly spin them in the next.

So, a useful 3 gear system can only have a limited range of ratios. Is this range enough? That depends on where you plan to ride. If you'll ride on relatively flat city trails and parks, 3 gears will be OK.

But, if you plan to go off-road, I suspect it's too limited.

Theoretically, you can lower all 3 gears of such a system, by changing the ratio between the front chainring and the cog, but that's a tricky task with a carbon belt drive.

For your information, stock kids 20", even with 7 speeds, usually don't have a proper gear range as well. A typical cheap-to-medium cost bike will have a 28T large cog, and 36T chainring. That's a silly "low" ratio for a small kid.

On my boy's bike I have a 34T cog and 30T chainring, and he uses this gear a lot:


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## baltik (Nov 16, 2005)

Apreciate the feedback - we live in San Francisco, plenty of hills around, he does well with his 16" single speed but I'd like to have the option to take him to some local trails as he gets older...

decisions decisions


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## svinyard (Aug 14, 2017)

baltik said:


> Apreciate the feedback - we live in San Francisco, plenty of hills around, he does well with his 16" single speed but I'd like to have the option to take him to some local trails as he gets older...
> 
> decisions decisions


You are already considering dropping some decent cash on that Belter. You can buy that bike, but your kid is going to struggle on the hills. My 5yro rides legit trails and going up, he ABSOLUTELY needs that 36t cog and 30t ring up front. Otherwise he'd be walking his bike. These aren't insane steeps either. He is standing and hammering on the steeper stuff...at times I think about swapping out for a 11-42t. I don't think you are getting that much of a bike for the money in that Belter. For 650$ you could get a Norco Charger 2.1. A decent air fork, hydraulic brakes etc. The gearing isn't bad either. I'd do something like that and start riding those trails today. Its amazing what a kid can do with the right bike. I upgraded from a average 16" to a Spawn Yama Jama 20" and went from the pump track to easier black diamonds. Big part of that is the kid but also a big part is the bike. They just spend so much time on a bike compared to an adult. A couple times down trails (shuttle first fyi) and they'll be good to go. Real mountain biking a blast with your kid. Its like skiiing, no reason to wait.


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## Hardrock05 (Jul 8, 2005)

I think for 2018 Early rider will be releasing the 20 Hellion with a 9 speed X5 drivetrain. I was considering the Belter 20 but I think the Hellion will provide a much better gear range. Details seem limited at this point.


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## Yakface (Apr 20, 2021)

My 37lb., 6.5yo son rides a 20” belter urban with stock 110psi, 1.5” tires. Our neighborhood is filled with small, steep hills. The bike is stock with a SRAM I-3 hub and 46x28t gates ring and cog. He has been riding it for 9 months and has learned to shift fairly well. The low gear offers quite a comfortably high cadence when climbing. He does not need to stand at all. He infrequent uses 2nd gear. It works best for him on slight uphills. 3rd gear offers a little faster than what you might expect on a single speed bike. It washes out quickly on down slopes. I am happy it washes out, because I would be concerned for his safety if he went any faster which he would gladly do. We rarely leave pavement in NYC, but riding across flat a flat grass field is also very comfortable for him. There is only one hill nearby that he cannot climb. It is a bike path under the George Washington bridge that probably breaks 20% grade up the edge of a bluff. Most adults walk this section. For him, I believe it is more a matter of skill of balance than lacking climbing power.


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## hydrocarbon (Nov 22, 2007)

Yakface said:


> [...]it is more a matter of skill of balance than lacking climbing power.


Great point.

There's no real advantage to having a super-wide gear range for a kid who's still getting the hang of riding, and I'd rather have simpler internal gearing with a belt than a damage- and derailment-prone external one.

I'm looking for a good 20"-wheel bike for when my oldest outgrows the Belter 16, and I like the idea of a high-quality belt-driven setup over a more-complicated one with a low-end derailleur system and heavy extras like a suspension fork.

It's been such a nice experience not having to deal with the mess and maintenance of a chain with the smaller version, plus the bike is extremely well-built. The 20" model seems well worth the money.


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## gramr (Jun 15, 2021)

I ordered the new Belter 20 with the 4-speed SA hub for my oldest.

We'll see how it goes; I figure if the 46/32 drivetrain doesn't go low enough for the steep hills around here in its 1:1 first gear, I can always rebuild the wheel on a SA S-RF3, SRAM I-Motion 3 or Sachs Pentasport / SRAM P5 hub to get some nice lower ratios — first gear on the P5 is 0.63:1, which is roughly equivalent to a 32/51T low gear on a full-sized bike. 

X-RF4: 100-128-164-210%
S-RF3: 75-100-133%
I-3: 73-100-136%
P5: 63-78-100-129-158%


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## gramr (Jun 15, 2021)

Looks pretty good to me.

I'm just hoping that it isn't too overgeared, as there's not much that can be reasonably done to change the gearing on the belt drive system. 46/32 is maybe a bit much to push uphill on those little 120-mm cranks, so the steep local terrain might require swapping to a hub with a decent underdrive ratio or two.


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## gramr (Jun 15, 2021)

It looks like a few other hubs can do the job, notably the Shimano Nexus Inter-3 (0.73/1/1.36) and Nexus 8 (awesome gear range but expensive and heavy, plus it needs to be modified to fit 120 mm dropout spacing). The Nexus 8 is factory-equipped on the Belter 24.

After a bit of research, looks like the discontinued S-RF5(w) Sturmey-Archer is the hub to get for this bike. It's lightweight (just over a kilo), has a reasonable flange height (67 mm PCD), the chainline matches, it looks nice, and it provides some really useful ratios:

Overall Range - 256%
• Gear 1 - 62.5% / -37.5%
• Gear 2 - 75% / -25% / Gear 1 +20%
• Gear 3 - 100% / Direct Drive / Gear 2 +33%
• Gear 4 - 133.3% / +33.3% / Gear 3 +33%
• Gear 5 - 160% / +60% / Gear 4 +20%
I didn't consider it at first because I've had a bad experience with the drum-brake/thumb-shifter setup on a Pashley, but it seems like the basic design is sound, and you just need to avoid the sloppy thumb shifter and make sure the adjustment is bang-on to ensure reliability. I'm sure having a rider who's less than a quarter of my weight will help with the longevity, too.

Another bonus is that it's possible find a new-old-stock kit including cabling and shifter pretty cheap online. About the only downside is that it has an external shift rod/chain instead of the slick rotary one inside the dropouts on the 4-speed, but that's not a big deal.

Looking forward to building up a wheel and giving it a go! It'll be cool to be able to swap between the hill-climbing hub and the flatland one, too.

In hindsight, I probably should have ordered the Seeker 20 with its 30/11-42T derailleur drivetrain, but I really do like the cleanliness and simplicity of a belt drive system. I figure the complete swap will only cost about $100 so it's not that bad to get a unique setup that's perfect for hilly paved riding. The parts should arrive in a month or so; I look forward to updating with the results.


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## Goran_injo (Jul 4, 2007)

Have a look at woom off. My 5y old one transitioned from the belter to woom in 3 minutes.

Gearing is spot on. And you can get a larger cassette need be.


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## gramr (Jun 15, 2021)

@Goran_injo
Yeah, that seems like a really great bike. I wasn't so impressed by previous Woom bikes I'be seen, but they've really stepped up their game with some of the new models, plus it's a lot better-looking than their earlier ones. Seems like it'd be awesome to ride.

Do find the gearing range to be OK, or are you tempted to swap to an 11-36 or 11-42? 28/32 low combo seems pretty reasonable for 20" wheels. 

Gonna see how it goes with the hub swap on the belt drive first, though. It's super nice not to have to deal with the mess and maintenance of a chain and derailleur setup on a kid's bike in a wet climate.


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## Goran_injo (Jul 4, 2007)

I had a spare 11 36 slx cassette and a xt 10 speed shifter/derailleour combo in my spare box so Ibput that in.

There was nothing wrong with the stock sram setup. I have to say, bike is really at the top of its game. Carbon forks, custom crank and n/w chainring. Wheels extra light and thruaxles around, tires rocket ron evo. Brakes are great, I considered swapping them for xt (or only the caliper) I had in as spare, but no need. I set it tubeless with a shraeder notubes valve.

Every detail is thought through. Pedals...stem...
Very light setup as stock, no need to swap handlebar or seatpost. Wheels are top notch, 20h and nicely machined hubs.

I have 4 bikes of my own (trance 29 carbon, spec carve, haro mary ss, canyon endurace), and this is the one I drool on. Perfect replacement of the belter.


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## gramr (Jun 15, 2021)

@Goran_injo

Great to hear. Yeah, it looks like they didn't cut corners on a single component of that bike; you can really see that they put a lot of effort into getting it just right, and although it's not cheap, it does seem like good value for money considering how high-quality everything is.

I'll definitely be checking out their 24" when it comes time to size up from the Early Rider 20!


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## Goran_injo (Jul 4, 2007)

I sold my belter for the price bought. I presume it won't be much different for the woom one. 

it is always worth it to buy a bike that will be ridden  regardless of resale value.


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## gramr (Jun 15, 2021)

One thing to note about the current Belter 20: the stock Sturmey-Archer 4-speed twist shifter is so stiff that it's nearly unusable for my five-year-old. I'm hoping that the 5-speed version might be less difficult, but I'm not getting my hopes up. 

The good news is that there's a trigger shifter available for both the 4- and 5-speed hubs, but it's kind of annoying that this isn't factory-equipped instead of a twist shifter that's so stiff that a small kid needs to stop and use both hands to downshift.


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## d0nnae (12 mo ago)

Hey gramr, i had the same problem with the stiff gripshift. My retailer as well as Early Rider told me there is nothing that can be done and no fitting replacement triggers.

Where did you get the info, that there are fitting triggers for the 4gear AS hub? And could you share what triggers r supposed to fit?


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