I've just got off the phone with Tony Hayward &, after lengthy discussion, he would be prepared to go into production of pulleys & belts if there is sufficient interest. I've dealt with the man in the past & found his products, pricing & attitude to be spot-on. (He drinks, smokes, swears & rides his bikes like a nutter!)
Personally, I consider the QPD ratio to be under geared & would be far happier with a 2.5:1, as opposed to the 2.33:1 on offer. Tony suggests a steel gearbox pulley & a dural rear pulley, connected by a steel reinforced polyurethane drive belt, in AT20 spec. These belts are immensely strong &, if any of you have experience of the AT10 primary belts that he supplies for the older Brits, they equate to over 3x's their strength. He has supplied AT20's to sprinters in the past & they have lasted 1000 miles of testing & 1/4 mile runs!. Somehow I don't see our 50 - 70 bhp taxing them in the slightest.
If anyone is interested, can we please come to a consensus on gearing & I will negotiate with TH directly, as to costing, etc. but apart from the initial order for my own & 2 friends set-ups, you will all be able to deal directly with Tony yourselves. He is understandably wary of initial tooling costs, not knowing projected demand so, I will be attempting to find as many definately interested parties, supplying the 1st batch of dural (R97s Group 7 Aircraft Spec Alloy), & providing a deposit to cover initial tooling, for broaches, etc, myself.
Please, get back to me on this because we would be on to a real winner if we can get him to go into prodution on these. He is a one man concern who has worked bloody hard over the years to provide good service &, an excellent range of products @ a reasonable cost. His experience in the field would prove invaluable & he continues with R&D, to constantly improve the kits he provides. He has been riding all his life, so he well knows the score & has supplied primary belt kits to riders, racers & sprinters all over the world for over 20 years. I believe that any of the Hinkley Bonnie sprinters & racers would especially benefit from these set-ups & us road-riders would end-up with a product that could be regarded as virtually indestructable.
Before any of you ask; no, I am not in business with him, I just want & expect the best that can be achieved without a NASA-like budget.
