[Pat Roche]

Two things. The Gates belting supplied in the kit is really good stuff. As long as it is tensioned its tough stuff. You can find it on McMaster Carr or look on their site for a local dealer. Local dealers can often get custom sizes for belting and a much larger selection of ratios. The second is that there are steel lined belts on the market. I don't know of a specific brand that makes them (Goodyear does I think). They have really high tensile strengths and quite adaptable. I've used them in other applications and they worked very well.