Ask Ping!
Friday, March 2, 2012 | 9:35 AM
ODI dates back to the 1980’s as the leader in grip manufacturing. Focusing primarily on the bmx and mountain bike industries through the 90’s and early 2000’s, ODI re-entered the motocross scene when they developed the patented lock-on grip system that eliminates wire and glue. Continuing to advance the way riders hold on to their bikes, ODI has worked closely with the teams they support such as Troy Lee Designs to create the product that is now being used by some of the top teams in the industry.
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PrintHey Ping,
As motocrossers, we seem to be a superstitious bunch. I've heard a lot of stories of things riders do at the track, including myself. So, in reference to Chad Reed's crash at Dallas, has anyone else noticed, besides me, that his Shift gear looks like he's wearing a big #7 on the front of his jersey? And the rider who uses that number tends to spend a lot of time on the ground. Just sayin.
Your thoughts?
Michael W. Smith
Yep, that's a seven.
I hadn’t noticed that before but strong work pointing it out. I don’t like to admit to being superstitious. In fact, I usually heckle riders with ridiculous rituals and pre-race habits. Sorry, but wearing the same pair of underwear every single weekend just because you won in them once isn’t going to make you ride better. It just isn’t. Despite finding that stuff silly I always put my left knee brace and boot on before my right. I don’t believe that I’m going to crash if I switch things up but changing that routine just doesn’t feel right. I doubt Reed knows there is a # 7 on his gear. And even if he did see the number I doubt he would be superstitious about it. Then again, he’s got some time on his hands now. Maybe he should help those guys redesign the front of that jersey?
PING
Hi Ping,
I've always been a Doug Henry fan from the time I snuck in to the infield mechanics area at Unadilla 95' and ran from one fence to the other to watch the race with a then recovering Doug Henry in a full back brace. Anywho, I'm amazed by the video's of him riding his wr-yz 450 around the track jumping every thing and I've got a mission for you should you choose to accept! How bout you do a test of Doug's hybrid bike? I would love to here input from an active 2-wheeler rider.
Thanks.
Vern.
Ride a moto and then mow the back lot.
It’s hard to NOT be a fan of Doug Henry. The problem with this idea though is twofold: First, I don’t think I could even climb onto that thing and ride it. Between the roll cage and the articulating tractor seat it would feel more like a John Deere than a dirt bike. And, secondly, it would seem odd and almost disrespectful to write a story about what it’s like riding a bike designed for a guy in a wheelchair. I’m not overly superstitious but I also don’t like to tempt fate. Besides, Doug is about as active as a rider could be. Why don’t we just ask him what it’s like?
PING
Ping,
With St Louis being this weekend I was wondering if they take any added security measures in the pits or around the stadium. It isn’t known as the safest city in the world.
Arty
Poppin' wheelies and checkin' credentials... Like a boss
I’m pretty sure the stadium handles security at each venue and they have a good understanding of how many guards are necessary to maintain order. This round usually keeps the pits inside right next to the stadium too, so that helps. What they need to do is hold some Raise it Up tryouts in the pits and check out the local talent. I’ve been riding a motorcycle since I was five and I can’t ride a wheelie as good as the worst guy on that squad. Doug Domokos was a joke. They should have the Wildout Wheelie Boys doing some one-handed rippers up and down the start straight and around the perimeter of the track as part of the opening ceremonies. Actually, that is probably a terrible idea. Oh, here it is: Get those guys on the security squad and have them ride wheelies around the parking lot looking for thieves and troublemakers. Boom. You’re welcome, St. Louis security.
PING
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Holeshot. And I hate to say it, but, Ping you seem to be loosing your edge.
Be Edgy Pingy!
I've lived 15 minutes from STL my whole life and go there quite a bit, and I've gone to every SX since 06. The only problem security wise is all the stupid ass drunks after the race. Never seen any problems besides that. It's really not as bad of a city as it seems like.
Sadly, it does seem like a lot of these 'fans' are using these sporting events for an excuse to get hammered.
I mean I like gettin drunk as much as the next guy, but I'd rather sit there and enjoy the race and be able to pay attention to it.
Wow! Kind of disrespectful to Doug Domokos. The guy is no longer with us, entertained audiences for years, long before the current crop of stunt riders were even born, and Ping calls him a joke? C'mon Ping. I don't believe you meant it that way ( I hope not), but that's how it comes across.
They should have a photo shoot of the Henry riding the bike and ask him how it works etc.Being cursed with an engineer's mentality, I'd be into that.
I've been to St. Louis quite a bit, and you may get some drunks after events, but I feel a lot safer there than I would at a lot of major sports parks. I'm not naming them, because I don't wanting to get into a pissing match over specific cities, just saying it has a few bad areas (that aren't real close to the stadium), but overall, Saint Louis is a pretty nice metro area. Just don't order Miller. LOL
I'm starting to think that all the pros should line up for SX with a roll cage given how many are out with injuries. Now that would be interesting.
Ping- I think if all you did was practice wheelies, you could be pretty damn good too. I also dont know why you (and others) are so pumped up on guys that do wheelies up and down the middle of their public streets. not the best way to promote MX/motorcycle good will. why back it?
I swear next week im going to write to Ping and ask him why there are people out there that write " holeshot" or "first" for the very first comment on the page. I truely dont understand.
Nikola,,Ping meant that Domokas was so good at doing what he did it is a joke! That is a good thing! C'mon, gotta keep up with Cali lingo!
browndog- no Ping meant Domokas was a joke compared to the kids that can wheelie for miles nowadays. not a cali thing.
Saw Doug Domokos ride a wheelie around most of the Pontiac SX track back in the early 80's pretty amazing, the Raise it up crew look like they have taken it to another level, DD would be proud I think.
Doug Domokos could ride a wheelie as long as anyone, pretty sure he held the world record for a while, and may still.
Just looked it up. His record was 145 miles on the rear wheel, his record stood for 8 years and was beaten by a guy on a trials bike with a refueling rig.
Doug Domokos was a pioneer in wheeling like Evel Knievel was to jumping. Everything evolves. He created a device to keep the front wheel spinning for a gyroscope effect. This allowed him to uniwheel entire tracks. It was niche, but entertaining to all those who broke rear fenders and smashed tail lights off (dualsports) in attempting to impress the regular masses.
I made up uniwheel. What do you think? Darn it. Just googled it. HaHa
He also did some outrageous high speed stuff long before the sportbike crowd. He had some big cajones. Respect and RIP.
@NikolaTesla, MustardDog I concur.
I didn't care for the Demokos comment either, raced w/ him as a amatuer.Take it back pingaling.
demokas was a big pimp.. i seen him pull some hotties right under the top guys wings.. his smooth wheeling around the track made some girls drope ther clothes right ther in the stands..
demokas was a big pimp.. i seen him pull some hotties right under the top guys wings.. his smooth wheeling around the track made some girls drope ther clothes right ther in the stands..
Doug Henry is a unique individual, always has been. Chad, Trey, Mo can all look at him for that extra motivation (if they need to?) to keep doing what they love. Have you ever seen that video of Doug riding that roll caged beast, he still flys.
Now I wouldn't call Doug Domokos "a joke". He had his time and was doing incredible balance acts on Dirt bikes long before it became a 'Science'. I went on a small trail ride with him in Florida YEARS ago. He was on a TT 500 with plates on it. He did 98% of the ride on one wheel. Tail lite and half the rear fender was gone by the time we finished. I was just in a trance watching this guy. He was B.S.in' about Maico's with an electric motor on the front wheel and 'Wheelie King" crap. Didn't know what to think. The Dude was for real, and a freestyle ish pioneer.
Doug was the King! Still got some pics of him wheeling over an old station wagon at Mid-Ohio (or maybe Red Bud). The windshield shattered, but he just kept truckin on the rear wheel!!
The top photo is a spy photo of David Ryan Dungaree, a top test rider! I think he lives in Chino.
Arty, I believe you are thinking of EAST St. Louis, which is across the Mississippi River in Illinois, but even that doesn't even have the rep it used to, (like Compton)
Domokos wheelied all the way around Millville (or least the part I saw) back in the day. It still had an uphill that was stepper and looser than any on the current track. If you lost your momentum bad enough, you'd have to go back to the bottom and give it another go. He rode the wheelie all the way up. That was impressive.
Plus he lived like a rock star, going to big races all over the US, to ride wheelies. He may have left us early, but he lived large while he was here?
steeper, not stepper
Thanks for sharing HandlebarDragger. Never knew how he passed on.
I saw him wheelie around the whole track at Southwick back around 1977, or 78. Back then, the track was a lot more loose than it is now. The guy was a true show man. RIP.
Guys, I was joking about Doug Domokos. Good grief. Do you really think Im serious about getting a bunch of thieves from the inner city to work security at the races? Get a grip. Domokos was a legend.
Tough crowd. Might not be his best ever (I didn't shoot coffee out my nose this week like usual), but lightyears better than anything I could have come up with. Keep it coming Ping - your always cool with me.
Is Pingree French for retreat?
Thought you were Easy bro looking for his street cred by backing these RIU fools- sad
Ping, Its Friday afternoon now and we're all just a little touchy & amped up for Sat. Nite. Most knew you weren't dissin' Doug D. Have a good week end !
In the mid '80s, I went to a SX at the LA Coliseum ... and read in the Monday paper that either two or three people leaving the event were robbed and killed not that far from where I was parked. Yikes! That place gets my vote for most dangerous. (I went to other events there, too, and it always seemed like a rough neighborhood.)
Hello fello Posters, Ya I think this was one of the times Ping could not make any funy comment on the questions. Still some good questions and answers though. Now my 2 bits @Miccheal, that is a pretty interesting thing youu brought up I am sure Chad will take care of that (and I thought I had to much time on my hands)
Now about Doug Henry, Gee waht more can we say other than he is a legeng in his own time! I think Ping is correct it would make an interesting story to have Doug explain how it is to do moto on the bike and Sled he has. He is a true Mans Man.
Now on Demokos, Yes I kknew he was using a motor on the front wheel that has already been posted. In my time I have know a few whellie Kinks in my time, saw them ride em for miles without the motor. Hey we are talking in the early 70's and since. Ya Ive saw it all. Demokos was great and did a good show he just need ed the motor to go that slow. I myself was never good a wheelies. I had my own trick, I called it the wiggly wheelie, I could whelie but not far because I had no balance so I would let the bike fal to one side then gas it then it would come up then do it again. People thought it was neat. See the thing is you can go fast in motocrosss without balance you just have to have a lot of faith in physics and understand the gyroscope effect and Newtons Law -every action has an equal and oposite reaction.
Kk fols no more science lessons today! Anyhooooooooooo...........
LETS RACE!!!
I've visited several cities, and they all have their not so nice areas. I read on here from the Racer X, guys that they didnt like the Orlando round because they said it was a bad area. I went to that race twice, and thought the area was fine. It was in the Citrus Bowl, and the area around it was residential. I parked on a youth football field that the football bossters charged to park there, it was maybe a block from the stadium, and never had a problem at all there. So some peoples idea of a bad neighborhood might be different than others. I have worked in Cincinnati for over 20 years, and have sen some of the worst that city has to offer, and the spot in Orlando were that race was wasnt bad at all. I go to Indianapolis every year, and the stadium is right in the center of the city, and its kinda like visiting a big mall. Its a very safe area, the rough part of Indy isnt right in the heart of town. Its pretty safe there. I dont think I have even seen a homeless person there during the races. You cant go 50 feet in Cincy without a guiy asking for money or something.
Yo Ping, my idea behind you testing Doug's bike is so that you could see first hand every thing he overcame-adapted to ride again. If it was an easy assignment I would have asked Emig to do it!
Anybody can ride a wheelie on flat ground- Try doing it around an entire outdoor motocross track! They didn't call him the "Wheelie King" for nothin.
@MustardDog...."Ping....why would you promote the sport of MX with mention of irresponsible wheelie riders on public streets? Oh wait, you didn't say anything close to that in any of your posts. Not in any way, shape, or form did you support unsafe stunting on the roads of the U.S. My bad, next time I will actually read the answer more carefully."
C'mon people...Dokomos was entertaining, but everyone knows he had a setup that made his front wheel spin with the engines RPM's...No one can ride a wheelie at less than 1mph or going down the backside of a jump at such slow speeds!!!!!
Didnt know he had passed...RIP Doug!
Wow, does no one here understand sarcasm??? Anyone that thought Ping was being serious obviously hasn't read his column enough...
@Motomike- If it was that easy to do, then why didn't he mass market the device and sell it to the general public, so that everyone could wheelie around their local motocross tracks and he could become mega rich? I agree that he had that setup on his bike, but still he had a talent that no one else seemed to have.
@ WFO_UFO,,, How in the hell am i supposed to know why he didnt mass market it???? HAHAHAHA....I never said anything bad about him...only making a statement about how he rode those wheelies!!
OMG! Ping! It's Right Knee Brace Right Boot first! And always pee at the inside urinal! always. It's not being superstisius it called being "cautious" sheest now I know what happened. Might as well have taken a hacksaw and cut halfway through you frame personally! (left knee brace first) sheeest!