Websterz, I've had more luck than you

. A couple of days ago "Treadmill (Faulty) .... runs for 10 seconds , then stops" appeared on Ebay UK. It was only 3 miles away, so I put in a last-minute bid on impulse. Got it for £13.51 (about $20) and it's now cluttering up the kitchen floor looking like a monster belt sander. During its 10 second runs I couldn't alter the speed, which I thought might be a Significant Clue. Took the cover off, and found a speed sensor sitting next to a pulley, but nothing on the pulley to trigger it other than a small empty hole. Feeling around the adjacent steel frame unearthed a magnet, clinging on like a little limpet. With that back in the hole, it's back in full working order
I did climb aboard and get up to a dignified canter, but it doesn't seem much of a hobby. Still, tastes differ.
It's a good thing the seller will never know the outcome, because he had already ordered a £350 replacement.
The treadmill motor is a DC permanent magnet, US made Leeson, and the plate says 220V, 6.5A (that's 1430 watts input). It also says 2HP, or 1492 watts output, so Leeson are either measuring in Chinese horsepower or have found perpetual motion and solved the global energy crisis at a stroke. There's also a second motor driving a screw jack to put the whole thing on an incline.
My cunning plan, if I ever get around to it, is variable speed on a old Dore Westbury mill like these
http://www.lathes.co.uk/dore%20westbury/index.html without having to swap pulleys.
Andy