盖茨公司创新链条重塑自行车

    “链条可能是150年以来，自行车身上唯一没有改变过的部件，”工程师托德•塞尔顿说。塞尔顿已经在工业巨头盖茨公司（Gates Corporation）工作了25年，现任盖茨碳驱动系统（Carbon Drive Systems）项目的主管，这个项目主要为自行车生产碳传动带。换句话说，他完全有资格评价自行车的零部件是否的确存在创新不足的情况。

    塞尔顿和他的同事们一直致力于解决这种情况。今年已经有101年历史的盖茨公司长期以来一直在生产各种汽车设备，并为哈雷戴维森（Harley Davidson）摩托车生产工业机械。现在盖茨公司正在大力推动碳驱动系统，它用一条聚氨脂传动带来取代标准的金属链条。这种传动带不需要涂油润滑，也不需要日常维护，更不会撕开骑车人的裤腿。这种传动带第一次在自行车上亮相是在2007年。乍听起来，它似乎是所有单车族的梦想。不过实际上，盖茨公司要想大量卖出这种传动带却并不是件容易的事。

    这些创新可能会给自行车产业打上一针强心剂。据全美自行车经销商联合会（National Bicycle Dealers Association）的一份报告显示，2011年美国的自行车销量下降了18%，从2010年的1,350万辆下跌到1,100万辆。2010年是自行车销量比较辉煌的一年，这一年美国的自行车销量在2009年的基础上猛增了32%。从销售额上看，2010年美国自行车销售金额为60亿美元，基本上与2003年持平。

    盖茨公司的传动带现在已经被Trek和Specialized等知名品牌采用，但是从数量上看，与使用了标准链条和齿轮变速系统的自行车相比，使用盖茨传动带的自行车还是远远不及。（一开始只有单速赛车使用这种传动带。因为除非在自行车的后轮上再搭配一个齿轮毂，否则将无法变速，因此限制了转速的级数。）

    这款产品的增长势头不错。一开始只有两个品牌的4款自行车使用盖茨传动带，但现在它已经为68个品牌的150款自行车供货了。不过总体上看，使用它的自行车仍然很稀少。纽约的自行车店Bicycle Habitat的店主查理•麦克柯尔称，人们走进店里之后，“几乎从来不会”询问关于碳传动带的事。他说：“早期采用者喜欢它，个人来说，我也喜欢它。但它的定价不合适。”

    确实，这款传动带无论对厂家还是对消费者来说都是很昂贵的。比如自行车的平均价格是600美元，安装了碳驱动系统的自行车就会卖到1,000美元、甚至更高。对于高端买家来说，这当然不是什么问题，但广域市场是由“非自行车发烧友”构成的，他们绝对不想为一辆自行车花那么多钱。

    与此同时，盖茨公司却通过碳驱动系统在海外取得了巨大的成功，尤其是盖茨公司重点关注的电动车和电动助力自行车在一些通勤上班族极多的地区（比如欧洲）卖得特别好。就连一些知名的汽车公司也开始进军电动自行车业务。比如去年春天，奥迪公司（Audi）和奔驰的子品牌Smart都推出了自己的电动自行车的概念车。塞尔顿说：“欧洲有那么多电动自行车，简直太疯狂了。电动自行车在欧洲更趋向于实用化。骑电动自行车可以方便地上下班，这一点很有吸引力。我想在美国，我们对自行车的看法更多的是消遣性的。比如人们可能会质疑说：‘怎么会有人买电动助力自行车呢？骑自行车难道不就是为了锻炼身体吗？’”

    瑞士品牌BMC的自行车产品经理T.K.马龙从2010年开始与盖茨公司进行合作。他认为，盖茨公司的技术推动了整个自行车传送系统的发展。“早期的传动带式自行车并不是非常可靠。它们没有整个传动带那么长的碳纤维，在压力下容易伸展变形。如果用力加速的话，传动带甚至可能滑脱。现在盖茨公司已经提供了各种不同的传动带长度和尺寸规格，因此可以用于各种自行车，令齿轮始终保持固定，用传动带进行传动。”

    BMC在2012年的三款自行车上使用了盖茨公司的传动带，其中两款分别叫做Urbanchallenge和Masschallenge，后者是款重量非常轻的自行车。在使用了传动带的三款中，有两款今年已经售罄。BMC不愿提供详细的销售数据，但它表示，使用了传动带的Urbanchallenge自行车虽然价格更高，但它的销量却是使用传统链条、价格更低的Urbanchallenge自行车的三倍。

    对于盖茨公司来说，推广传动带最大的难题就是如何获得主流人群的关注。自行车研究机构Gluskin Townley Group的分析师杰•汤利称，对任何自行车商店来说，影响力最大的人永远是改装高手，也就是“DIY达人”。汤利自己就是一个资深的DIY达人。汤利认为，碳驱动系统在价格方面正面临着一个“鸡与蛋”的困境。目前来说，传动带还没有很好地被DIY达人们接受，所以市面上的传动带不多，因此价格也很高。同时它的稀缺性也导致消费者对它缺乏认知。而且只有出货量上去了，价格才能降下来。

    "The chain is probably the only element of the bicycle that hasn't changed in 150 years," says Todd Sellden. Sellden is an engineer who has been with industrial giant Gates Corporation for 25 years and is now director of Carbon Drive Systems, which produces carbon belts for bicycles. In other words, he's in a decent position to judge a perceived lack of innovation in bike parts.

    Sellden and his colleagues have been trying to address that lack. The 101-year-old Gates Corp has long made belts for various machines from cars and industrial machinery to Harley Davidson motorcycles. Now it is promoting its Carbon Drive system, which revolves around a polyurethane belt that replaces the standard metal chain. The belt does not require grease or regular maintenance, and won't rip a rider's pant leg either. On paper, it sounds like any rider's dream. But in practice, Gates will have a harder time mass-marketing the belts, which first appeared on bikes in 2007.

    The bicycle business could use a boost from some new innovation. According to a National Bicycle Dealers Association report, U.S. bike sales dropped 18% in 2011, from 13.5 million to 11 million. That's following a stellar year for the industry; the 2010 figure represented a 32% growth over 2009 sales. As for sales, the U.S. industry saw $6 billion in 2010—basically flat since as far back as 2003.

    The Gates belt is offered on models from giant brands like Trek and Specialized, but availability of those bikes pales in comparison to those with a standard chain and gear-shifting system. (The belt, initially used with single-speed race bikes, can only allow for shifting gears if paired with an internally geared hub, where the gears are in the back wheel, which limits the total number of speeds possible.)

    The product has grown nicely, beginning with two brands and four bike models and now offered on 150 models from 68 brands, but it's still scarce overall. Charlie McCorkell, owner of Bicycle Habitat in New York and a widely respected leader of the city's bike scene, says that "almost never" do people come into the store asking for the carbon belt. "The early adopters like it," he notes. "And personally, I like it. But the pricing is wrong."

    Indeed, the belt system is costly for both manufacturer and consumer. Where the average bike runs $600, a bike with the carbon drive system costs $1,000 or above. For high-end buyers, that's fine, but the mass market consists of "non-enthusiasts" who could never imagine spending that much on a bicycle.

    On the other hand, Gates has had huge success with the carbon drive system overseas, focusing on e-bikes, electrically assisted bicycles that sell well in commuter-heavy places like Europe. Even major auto companies are getting into the e-bike business: last spring, both Audi and Smart, maker of the SmartCar, revealed concepts for e-bike models of their own. "It's crazy how many e-bikes there are in Europe," says Sellden. "People use bikes for much more utilitarian purposes there, so the idea of getting to work without as much effort is appealing. I think in the U.S. we have a much more recreational mindset with bicycles. People question it, like, 'Why would you want an electrically assisted bike, isn't the whole point to get exercise?'"

    T.K. Malone, product manager for bikes at Swiss-owned brand BMC, partnered with Gates in 2010. He credits the company for advancing the belt system overall: "The early belt-driven bikes weren't super reliable. They didn't have carbon fibers running the length of the belt, they tended to stretch under pressure. If you really cranked hard, the belt would slip. Gates is just now offering enough different belt lengths and sizes that it makes it possible to do a full line of bikes where the gearing stays consistent and uses a belt." BMC is using the Gates belt in three 2012 models, two of them the Urbanchallenge and one the Masschallenge, an extremely lightweight bike. Two of the three are already sold out for the year. BMC would not provide exact sales figures but said that it has sold three times as many of the pricier belt-drive Urbanchallenge bikes than of the cheaper Urbanchallenges that have chains.

    For Gates, the obstacle is in achieving mainstream awareness. Jay Townley, of bike research firm Gluskin Townley Group, says it is the mechanics, or "shop rats" (he was one for many years) that hold the true power in any bike shop. As Townley puts it, carbon belts currently suffer from a "chicken and egg" situation tied to the price: the belt, for now, isn't well received by the rats, so there aren't as many of them in the market, thus the price is high. The scarcity also accounts for lack of awareness by buyers. And price will only come down with volume.