The other factor to consider with belt drives as far as longevity and low maintenance (or potentially lack thereof) is the combination of the high static tension loads needed for a belt and the small bearing sizes used in hubs and BBs. It will be interesting to see if and how much of an impact there is on bearing life.
That's not quite right, Velocio, as you don't lose all of the weight of the shifters. Brake levers are still 250g or so, so a Rohloff is more like 500g heavier.
I'm not dismissing belt drives entirely, but at this stage they raise more questions than answers and they have a very high cost to give them a try.
@AdamM
The other factor to consider with belt drives as far as longevity and low maintenance (or potentially lack thereof) is the combination of the high static tension loads needed for a belt and the small bearing sizes used in hubs and BBs. It will be interesting to see if and how much of an impact there is on bearing life.
That's not quite right, Velocio, as you don't lose all of the weight of the shifters. Brake levers are still 250g or so, so a Rohloff is more like 500g heavier.
I'm not dismissing belt drives entirely, but at this stage they raise more questions than answers and they have a very high cost to give them a try.