This is wild. I've known Phil Ross (or Spacer), one of the original belt drive masters for almost 35 years. I think I ran one of his primary drives in the late '70s. I have one of his narrow primary drives in my '48 Pan tin primaries. You can't see it, and it will virtually last forever.
Phil has always been a one-man show, building quality products wherever he could set up a smoky shop, first in Gardena, California, then near Bakersfield in California Hot Springs in a cabin. Then he escaped California for Montana, but couldn't handle the winters and returned west to Cottonwood, Arizona the home of the SmokeOut West. Fortunately, his web site doesn't move.
Phil is the only guy on the planet to make cast poly-urethane pulleys. One day a customer asked Phil, “Can you fix this pulley?”
Phil tried to sell him one his own custom pulleys. He makes several. “But it doesn't match my wheels, besides I spent over $500 on this damn thing. I can't shit-can it.” Phil picked up the pulley and pondered his options. It dawned on him like a bolt of lightning to a disciple of the House of custom lords. He could save expensive custom pulleys and be knighted into the highest ranks of the Kustomdom round billet table. Phil didn't stop at just one or two miracle cures, but studied stock pulleys, Victory pulleys and anything pulley oriented. He researched pitch and wear.
“The stock pitch for the rest of the industry is HTD (round tooth),” Phil said, “which requires bow-string tight belts to prevent squeaking.” Phil's transmission pulleys are configured at R/T tooth profile, so belts can run less tension, preventing bearing stress damage, or belt wear. “Plus the pulleys will last forever.”
Super Max rear wheel pulleys are the HTD tooth profile also but their tranny pulleys utilize a “R/T” tooth profile which is a prioritory tooth profile offered only by Super Max…The off-ramp on the tranny pulleys is only 2 degrees and offer a trash groove to eliminate damage from small road waste meaning that the belt tension can be much less than with the HTD round tooth pulleys.
He wanted his pulley to outlast the new metal ones. He promised to insure they would never squeak. He can fix 61, 64, 65, and 70-tooth pulleys and even Gilroy Indian jobs, some Victory and most aftermarket pulleys. Shortly he'll be set up to mend 72-tooth pulleys.
Keep in mind, if you roll through this process, that Phil is sorta the Gepetto watchmaker of the pulley world. Each pulley is hand made, hand repaired and hand shipped back to you. Let's follow Phil's rules for pulley repair:
First things first…Customer e-mails or phones Super Max and describes exactly what he has and wants. They will instruct you as to how to execute your order. Super Max is a specialty shop and all parts are pretty much made to order for each customer.
The pulley is removed from the bike and shipped off to the machine shop, with a description of what the customer wants such as a special color.
When it arrives at the machine shop SuperMax removes the worn or damaged teeth and the pulley is machined to a specified size. The Over-Lay is then securely applied, and Phil blesses each part before it's prepared for shipment. All pulleys are modified by appointment.
Next step is to clean it up and get it in the box.
There you have it, seven years of research and development, and most pulley can now last forever. Phil or Spacer also builds transmission pulleys in 31, 32, 33, and 34-tooth configurations. They have the modified pitch for less strain on belts and bearings, won't squeak and weigh only around 2 pounds, amazing.
He also makes a 35-tooth pulley for kick-only bikes. He is the master. Check him out at the 10th Anniversary Smoke Out West in May or click on his banner below for quick response.
NOTE FROM THE MASTER: Went into Bikernet archives and the rear wheel pulley fix is in the news…But it still has my Montana phone # in there 406 is Montana but our new # in Arizona is 928-649-2836…Spacer
