The 28 tooth pulley (new release due spring /summer '22)

Exway Canada is about to release the OEM 28T pulley for the RIOT v2 drive. (summer '22) The RIOT v2 drive is featured in the Flex, the Wave, the X1 Max, and the Atlas.

The 28T pulley is the smallest pulley that Exway makes. Keep in mind that with the smaller the pulley, less torque is produced, while the top speed increases.

As the stock drive gear has 14 teeth, and the 28T pulley has 28 teeth the gear ration achieved is therefore 14:28. When installing always remember to enter the proper gear ratio in the app in order to preserve accurate telemetry data.

Exway rider AkaliA (Ontario) – has installed and tested the 28T pulley on the Exway Flex onTurbo and is sharing the results in the video below.

Key Points

• In the video above we can see that the 28T pulley results in the belt being significantly recessed, well behind the belt guards and much further away from the road than the stock pulleys. This means that the belts are far less vulnerable to contacting the riding surface. The belts sustain road damage from debris but sometimes take greater damage if the belt actually touches the road, i.e. grinding the trucks with the belts contacting the road or curb. In general longboards are not to be ridden off of curbs, however sometimes a rider may find that the belt could get pinched between the truck hanger and the riding surface
• Remember that with the 28T pulley the length of circumference is reduced. Therefore the spec for the required belt is HTD 230-5M at 15mm width and is what is shown in the video above. These belts will be released at the same time as the 28T pulley
• The new pulley appears to be able to achieve 33mph or 54kph ( with no rider on the deck as shown in the video
• The 28T pulleys are smaller in size but made of machined aluminum, i.e. exchanging the extra material from the stock nylon pulley for aluminum for strength which translates to more efficient transfer of power
• While it is possible to add this modification on the Flex, flexible decks are less stable and less responsive (due to the flex) at speeds from 45 kph and higher. While the Exway Flex was designed for esk8, decks like the Loaded Vanguard and its clones ( later version of boosted)  are not. With the addition of this amount of speed, Exway Canada recommends this modification for stiff decks with as little flex as possible.
• As these modifications push the deck to speeds in excess of 50Kph, any rider who relies exclusively on the remote throttle for breaking and is unable to stop without using the remote, is riding outside of their ability and is essentially not in full control of their deck. At speeds in excess of 50Kph, any changes or mistakes in control are exaggerated, any injuries sustained are far more serious, and risk of death is increased. Imagine jumping out of a car at 50Kph. If you plan to ride at these speeds, Exway Canada recommends that you learn how to control your deck manually first. Learn and practice down hill longboarding basics i.e. foot braking, shut down slides, etc. Riders from a non skateboarding background will likely not be as skilled in taking a fall and will suffer further injuries. The way most riders learn to fall is by falling usually at low speeds. Remember that with skateboarding, falling is inevitable. We do not recommend this modification for riders who do not have the basic longboarding skill set.