Regarding Jim Alfaro and 7th Gear Designs - Warning 7th Gear Designs Sprockets The mystery is solved, but what a mess. So here is the story of what is going on.
I have never met Jim personally. I contacted him after extensive exhaustive effort that many have mentioned they were not willing to do. Jim rarely (now make that never) answers phone calls or email. Rightly so, because he is a farce impersonating a manufacturer. I know manufacturing (my business) and Jim is no manufacturer. He apparently subs all of his work out. This would not even be so bad except he represents himself as the actual manufacturer.
In one of his few emails I received, he said there was a problem with the "blanks" (material) and that was causing a delay. That led me to check into PBI sprockets that provides blank sprockets (http://shop.pbisprockets.com/product.sc?productId=503&categoryId=56) figuring he gets the xx tooth sprocket blanks from them then drills the mounting holes, but after talking to them, he never purchased from them. So maybe he is not lying - NOT! Their blanks are aluminum not steel anyway.
I was deciding if I should add this item to my company (start manufacturing sprockets) for the benefit of me and the forum and ....
I was at the point of turning this over to the police, when today to my sheer surprise, a box arrived from Azusa Engineering (Azusa) with 2 sprockets inside - no paperwork. A 19T & a 37T with 7GD lasered on the side. However, I was supposed to receive a 19T & a 35T from Jim. HMMM, another mess up to deal with.
After looking at the 37T, I realized a 35T is impossible. It will never fit/attach. The outside of the 5 attachment holes are within LESS than a SINGLE mm (see pic at end) of the center hub hole for the wheel shaft! So for him to have originally promised that the 35T will be possible to install/manufacture proves he doesn't even qualify as a viable "designer". He already "made" (make that sold) a 37T for Peking Duck and should have known especially when I asked the question.
So, this afternoon, I followed up with a call to Azusa Engineering and got "the Rest of the Story". I had originally in fact contacted them (along with a half dozen others) before I contacted 7GD. I spoke to their manufacturing supervisor that said the son (of the father and son team {owners}) was wanting to make steel sprockets, but the dad did not want to. After a few months of that, I came across Peking Duck's post and started a conversation with Jim. That story is above and .....one of the most UNPROFESSIONAl pieces of _____ I have had to deal with in decades.
As a manufacturer and my discussion with Azusa Engineering, I'll explain what happened - The machines that do this work require many hours to set up, required dedicated operation to the same material - aluminum,, steel, ... extensive time to change and clean out after a new different production material is to be used.
Well, Azusa Engineering, like my company uses aluminum for many reasons, and it will be months before a breakdown will be initiated and a swap over will occur for the few steel runs needed. So because 7GD does not manufacture the item, he had to keep coming up with new (one after the other) LIES to explain why the product has not shipped. When he ran out of lies, he just avoided answering the phone or email. One time his better half answered the phone on a Saturday by mistake while they were on vacation in Texas. All he had to do is tell the truth and I would have been patient, but NOOOOOOOOOOOO!
As part of my business, I am able to process/coat these items professionally. I am going to coat the 19T front with Bright Nickel and the 37T rear with Yellow Zinc. One bad item is that the $100 of Honda OEM parts I purchased for the 35T won't be needed for it to be installed/work. The good news is that I will not need to break the chain and use the parts to shorten it - initially, unless I think it should be.
Another item of good note, because I am not going to break the chain initially, I am going to do the R&R install myself because I won't need the special tools required for a chain mod. Bolt & unbolt.
I'll post before & after pics, but I did not want to delay getting this info out so that ALL may avoid a future disaster with 7GD. Should any 13CBs desire this steel vs aluminum sprocket mod, I will probably arrange future production runs - TBA.
I have never met Jim personally. I contacted him after extensive exhaustive effort that many have mentioned they were not willing to do. Jim rarely (now make that never) answers phone calls or email. Rightly so, because he is a farce impersonating a manufacturer. I know manufacturing (my business) and Jim is no manufacturer. He apparently subs all of his work out. This would not even be so bad except he represents himself as the actual manufacturer.
In one of his few emails I received, he said there was a problem with the "blanks" (material) and that was causing a delay. That led me to check into PBI sprockets that provides blank sprockets (http://shop.pbisprockets.com/product.sc?productId=503&categoryId=56) figuring he gets the xx tooth sprocket blanks from them then drills the mounting holes, but after talking to them, he never purchased from them. So maybe he is not lying - NOT! Their blanks are aluminum not steel anyway.
I was deciding if I should add this item to my company (start manufacturing sprockets) for the benefit of me and the forum and ....
I was at the point of turning this over to the police, when today to my sheer surprise, a box arrived from Azusa Engineering (Azusa) with 2 sprockets inside - no paperwork. A 19T & a 37T with 7GD lasered on the side. However, I was supposed to receive a 19T & a 35T from Jim. HMMM, another mess up to deal with.
After looking at the 37T, I realized a 35T is impossible. It will never fit/attach. The outside of the 5 attachment holes are within LESS than a SINGLE mm (see pic at end) of the center hub hole for the wheel shaft! So for him to have originally promised that the 35T will be possible to install/manufacture proves he doesn't even qualify as a viable "designer". He already "made" (make that sold) a 37T for Peking Duck and should have known especially when I asked the question.
So, this afternoon, I followed up with a call to Azusa Engineering and got "the Rest of the Story". I had originally in fact contacted them (along with a half dozen others) before I contacted 7GD. I spoke to their manufacturing supervisor that said the son (of the father and son team {owners}) was wanting to make steel sprockets, but the dad did not want to. After a few months of that, I came across Peking Duck's post and started a conversation with Jim. That story is above and .....one of the most UNPROFESSIONAl pieces of _____ I have had to deal with in decades.
As a manufacturer and my discussion with Azusa Engineering, I'll explain what happened - The machines that do this work require many hours to set up, required dedicated operation to the same material - aluminum,, steel, ... extensive time to change and clean out after a new different production material is to be used.
Well, Azusa Engineering, like my company uses aluminum for many reasons, and it will be months before a breakdown will be initiated and a swap over will occur for the few steel runs needed. So because 7GD does not manufacture the item, he had to keep coming up with new (one after the other) LIES to explain why the product has not shipped. When he ran out of lies, he just avoided answering the phone or email. One time his better half answered the phone on a Saturday by mistake while they were on vacation in Texas. All he had to do is tell the truth and I would have been patient, but NOOOOOOOOOOOO!
As part of my business, I am able to process/coat these items professionally. I am going to coat the 19T front with Bright Nickel and the 37T rear with Yellow Zinc. One bad item is that the $100 of Honda OEM parts I purchased for the 35T won't be needed for it to be installed/work. The good news is that I will not need to break the chain and use the parts to shorten it - initially, unless I think it should be.
Another item of good note, because I am not going to break the chain initially, I am going to do the R&R install myself because I won't need the special tools required for a chain mod. Bolt & unbolt.
I'll post before & after pics, but I did not want to delay getting this info out so that ALL may avoid a future disaster with 7GD. Should any 13CBs desire this steel vs aluminum sprocket mod, I will probably arrange future production runs - TBA.
