Removing and refitting rear wheel on belt drive bike?

[ThisWreckage]

I have a Gazelle Esprit belt drive bike with hub gears which has a rear puncture. Can someone advise me on how to remove and refit the wheel? I'm aware that it can be quite complicated, but I have no option other than tackling it myself. The photos were taken with the bike upside down.

[rareposter]

Aww, I thought you'd have gone for that nice Canyon I linked to in a previous thread!

There are various videos online, it's a lot easier to watch it than to have it explained.
https://youtu.be/vVkL1_PVb2o?si=6y5OuNcae2cJwiwi

Be good to know exactly what hub you have though - the video above is reasonably generic to belt drive but the exact process can vary depending on what hub it is and if it's electric as well.

While the wheel is off, it's worth looking at the tyre. The slight extra faff of removing and refitting belt drives means it's well worth going for something thoroughly puncture resistant.

[ThisWreckage]

Aww, I thought you'd have gone for that nice Canyon I linked to in a previous thread!

There are various videos online, it's a lot easier to watch it than to have it explained.
https://youtu.be/vVkL1_PVb2o?si=6y5OuNcae2cJwiwi

Be good to know exactly what hub you have though - the video above is reasonably generic to belt drive but the exact process can vary depending on what hub it is and if it's electric as well.

While the wheel is off, it's worth looking at the tyre. The slight extra faff of removing and refitting belt drives means it's well worth going for something thoroughly puncture resistant.

Thanks for that, although my search had already shown me that video which is very complicated. The bike came with extra tough tyres and puncture-resistant tubes - but those couldn't stop a very large nail this morning. It's not an electric bike. The dealer from which I bought it last year is about 40 miles away. They advise I use their (charged) collection service as I have no car, and use their £40/hr tutorial service on how to repair this. I suspect I have no choice, as I need the bike as my only personal transport, and I know this is a complex task involving tensioning the gears or something.

[axel_knutt]

In general, you don't necessarily need to remove the wheel to mend a puncture, although in this case, if it's a large nail, it may have damaged the tyre enough to need replacing.

To repair a puncture with the wheel in, just lift the tyre bead off the rim, pull a bit of tube out, patch it, then stuff it back again.

[ThisWreckage]

In general, you don't necessarily need to remove the wheel to mend a puncture, although in this case, if it's a large nail, it may have damaged the tyre enough to need replacing.

To repair a puncture with the wheel in, just lift the tyre bead off the rim, pull a bit of tube out, patch it, then stuff it back again.

Thanks for that. I'll investigate further.

[Ron]

I have taken the back wheel off a Gazelle very similar to the one in the video. It was a bit of a struggle first time, but after a few tries was really quite straight forward.
If you find that you have to take the back wheel off I would suggest getting a bike repair stand like the guy in the video. It just makes the whole job so much easier when the bicycle is up at a level which suits your height..
There is a vast range of stands available, but I have found one of the rope pulley system models to be inexpensive and adequate for my amateur usage, it has the advantage also of being stored out of the way at ceiling height when not in use.

[Galactic]

I guess there are three things you need to get your head round:

1) detaching and reattaching the hub
2) detaching and reattaching the disk
3) how to treat the belt

I have no idea about the disk, the hub is straightforward, but prob best to watch a video or look at photographs.

As for the belt, there are two things to bear in mind. Don't twist the belt round, and when you put it back on, don't put a few teeth on the rear cog and turn the wheel to force the belt over the rest of the cog (does that make sense?).

Best thing is to position the wheel where you can easily drape the belt over the whole cog and then pull the wheel back until you can slot it into place in the dropouts. The pedals should turn to take up the slack on whatever side is loosest, and the belt should be nice and tight when you get the wheel into the dropouts.

If any of this doesn't make sense shout and I (or someone else here) will try to explain it better).

[Jupestar]

If you don't move the dropouts, you can probably do it without re-tensiong.

detach the hub,
release the (15mm) nuts on the axle.
Pull out the tabs from the drop out,
take the wheel out - removes the tension on the belt
unhook the belt. -
--- now it removed - fix the wheel.
rehook the belt - carefully so it lines up.
reinsert wheel.
reinsert the dropout tabs.
tighted the nuts on the axle.
reattach the hub.

you might not need to remove the wheel to fix it. but worth learning how to do it anyway

[Brucey]

.....Pull out the tabs from the drop out.....

by which I think he means 'remove the NTWs'.

Also once the wheel nuts are undone, it ought to be possible to derail the belt at the crankset end; unless this is done, it is extremely unlikely that the rear wheel will come out. It is possible that the belt tension doesn't really change when the track nuts are undone, in which case one dropout (pref. the NDS) will have to be disturbed.

[Cyclothesist]

NTWs = No Turn Washers
NDS = Non Drive Side = side opposite to the belt side =left side with the bike the correct way up

[Jupestar]

Also once the wheel nuts are undone, it ought to be possible to derail the belt at the crankset end; unless this is done, it is extremely unlikely that the rear wheel will come out.

It has vertical drop outs, i don't see why the wheel won't come out. I've always done it that way.

[Brucey]

IIRC the dropouts appear to be rear-facing on the bike in question.

(edit I just checked again and they are pretty clearly vertical like you say. Oops...)