Gates has launched a new line of sprockets specifically designed for on and off- road electric motorcycles and scooters. The new sprockets, featuring patent pending MudPort technology, offer advanced debris shedding for belt drivetrains compared to traditional sprockets.
MudPort builds on Gates Carbon Drive’s fourteen-year legacy of designing sprockets that are perfectly paired to its carbon-fiber belts. An early version of MudPort technology was first used on bicycles starting in 2007. Since then, the technology has been improved and scaled up in power rating by optimizing port design, tooth shape and materials, and by eliminating flanges where possible. The end-result is a belt-drive system that is expected to increase lifetime in high-debris riding conditions while also reducing weight vs. standard sprocket designs.
The new debris-shedding sprockets, combined with existing range of Gates carbon-fiber belts, will bring the benefits of belt drives to the growing space of electrified powersports vehicles. Traditionally, dual-sport, adventure touring and vehicles used on unpaved roads have used chain. MudPort delivers the debris-shedding performance to better tolerate dirt, mud, sand and snow, enabling increased conversion from chain to belt drives. Gates technology offers additional advantages to electric vehicles as well, providing virtually silent operation and significantly decreased maintenance compared to chains.
“As electrification momentum builds, our new MudPort sprockets advance technology for vehicle manufacturers who appreciate the silent, smooth, low-maintenance features of belt drives, and need this now for both dirt and pavement,” says Joe Menzel, general manager of Gates Carbon Drive & Global Mobility. “We expect this innovation to result in increased use of belt drives for both gas & electric powersports around the world.”
MudPort sprockets are currently available as an upgrade on the Cake Kalk, a trend-setting electric dirt-bike that debuted in 2019, and will become a standard feature on the Kalk starting in model year 2021. They also come standard on the Cake Ösa, a utilitarian electric scooter for a wide range of riding terrains. MudPort is also featured on the newly upgraded Sur-Ron Light Bee electric dirt-bike that debuted at the 2020 China International Motorcycle Show.
MudPort is compatible with the entire line of Gates Carbon Drive 11mm polyurethane belts and comes in a range of widths and diameters to fit most two-wheel applications. To learn more about products from Gates, visit gates.com/mobility.
Link: Gates
