Ask Ping!
Friday, October 18, 2013 | 6:00 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,
I remember how surprised I was when Racer X sent you to interview Stephane Roncada after he succumbed to pain killers and came clean about his addiction to it in public. I was pleasantly surprised about two things back then: first off that Stephane seemed to be onto a solid recovery and secondly how well you managed to conduct yourself in such a delicate situation. For me that was your coming of age (others might say you lost your edge).
Remembering what an exciting rider Stephane was when he was “ON” I wonder what he is up to today and if he is able or interested in riding dirt bikes for fun on California's tracks here and there. I seem to remember that he was into developing Video games; did anything come of that? Stephane was one of few who was able to hand it to both Ricky Carmichael and James Stewart, only on one or two occasions but it sure was fun to watch Vegas against Stewart and that one Outdoor race where he held Carmichael on a RM250 honest.
So do you know what’s going on with him these days?
Best greetings, Oliver
Ronron and TP are all thumbs-up.
Ronron was an amazing talent during his prime. Unfortunately he segued from medication necessary for a racing injury to recreation pill-popping to full-on addiction that almost cost him his life. I think his willingness to open up about his problem and talk it out with people is one of the main reasons he’s still around. Stephane still works for 2XL, a video game company in Phoenix, as far as I know. He’s been helping them develop games and he’s also gotten into photography over the past five or six years. I actually ran into him at a supercross a few years back and he was on the floor shooting pictures! He’s a little bigger than he was in his prime but he seemed to be healthy and happy.
PING
Hey Ping,
What's Uppppppppp ?, Can you tell us what are/ were your favorite 2 stroke and four stroke bikes and why .....
Thanks Man and
Keep up the mediocre work...
Apparently this is their favorite bike.
My favorite bikes are the 2000 RM 125, the 2014 RMZ450 and the 2013 CRF250F. Each of those bikes I can climb on and immediately feel comfortable on. I think that Suzuki 125 was as good as any 125 ever made, the CRF 250 is still the best 250F ever made and the RMZ450 is just a really good all-around bike. I’m also a big fan of the Honda Z50, any factory bike from any year from any manufacturer and even the new Zero electric bikes. They each have their own redeeming qualities and I’m a fan of race bikes as well as niche bikes. Keep in mind though, according to you, I also turn out mediocre work regularly. So, there’s that. Thanks for the mediocre question.
PING
Ping,
What are your thoughts about poster's on the Racer X comment sections treating each other with such distain, hatred and disrespect? Attacking sexual orientation, family members, upbringing, motorcycle brands, riders, what the riders look like, their girlfriends, wives, how goofy there mechanic is, etc.....I love it. What are your smug thoughts?
mxgrunkthe2nd
Honestly, I try to avoid the drama below the content that Racer X Online provides. The spirit of the comments section is to give fans a place to banter and share their thoughts and opinions in a respectful manner. Unfortunately the respectful part gets pushed aside often and it turns into a room full of bratty children arguing over a toy. I am always shocked that some folks will take time out of their day to log in and type out a negative comment about anything they read in one of our articles. We are trying to provide information and entertainment to motocross fans without charging them and instead of just clicking to another free article if they don’t like something they will sit down and dictate a novel about their dissatisfaction. Those must be some miserable people and it’s a shame their parents didn’t hug them more when they were kids. Of course that’s just my respectful opinion.
PING
Have a question for Ping? Email him at [email protected].
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Mxgrunkthe2nd, I guess that photo was you!... I remember Ron Ron from the day man He would haul the mail and most of the time he would jump things that 250 2 strokes yeah 2 strokes in the day were not doing on his KX 125 .. Can anyone say "WIDOWMAKER" Kenworthy's!
Now, watch all the no-life whiners jump all over Ping for calling them out as, well... no-life whiners. Talk about being oblivious.
For a change, stay off the keyboard and got get a hug.
Ping does make a good point. There are a lot of boot licking cry babies that believe they know something... good entertainment though
That last dude...... Looks like he REALLY loves his buddies!!! Buhahaha!
Here's what he is up to if interested
http://ronronmx.com/
Not sure why people seem to think the immature, negative postings are unique to our sport. Check out the comment section from an article about any of the mainstream sports and their top players; It is brutal. I would guess the percentage of negative posters is probably the same across all sports. It is human nature. The biggest difference is that there can be several thousand comments on articles concerning mainstream sports.
That's ten minutes of my precious time wasted. I feel more dumberer by reading this garbage. You call this journalism? DC is ruining the sport by making SX more popular. Americans suck and so do their racers. Aldon Baker is overpaid and any rider that wins is on the juice. I just thought I would beat them to it. LOL!
Great to hear that Ron Ron is doing well. He was blazing fast and had great style.
O'Donnell Rules ? Meh. Ping Rules !
"Those must be some miserable people and it’s a shame their parents didn’t hug them more when they were kids"
. Maybe mom hugged them to much that's why they think they know everything, Mom never said no to them.
two canibals are eating a clown
one turns to the other and is all like..
'does this taste funny to you?'
don't be jealous ping.
the reason you won't read the comments is because over 50% of the comment makers are better , funnier, more opinionated writers than the majority of the racer x staff.
you try to be smarmy and funny, but the truth is there is at least 3 regular comment contributors that are waaaaaaaay better writers than you.and they are alot smarier and funnier than you........
not just you either, most comment sections under the articles are far superior to the actual article itself.
davey's article about early retirees was a prime example....
his list sucked and the comment section was waaay more acurate and waaay more entertaining.
and as mentioned earlier, stop with the 'everybody needs to respect and be nice to everyone on the mx comment boards' vibe.......
as stated above, its bs.......ever seen a nfl comment section on website?
same quality entertainment as you see here.
oh and ping........... only posers use nordica ski gear.
get some real gear for winter 13/14 would ya............
Ping is another RacerX contributor who has basically said if you don't like the free content, go elsewhere. I understand that it is easy for them to justify saying that to the readers who don't pay for the articles. How do they justify that stance to the sponsors who pay them to attract potential customers with their content? Based on my annual spending on MX products, I am the type of customer that the sponsors want to get there message to in RacerX online. I now rarely do more than scan RacerX because of the arrogant, self-serving, BS content that RacerX puts out.
Absolutely perfect. Completely and utterly a masterpiece. Well done Ping.
Pings a cook
I'm suprise Pastrana isn't hooked on pain pills. He has to be in pain, or his doctors are truely amazing.
Turns out my first supervisor in the military was addicted to pain pills. He got injured in Vietnam when a buddy tripped a booby trap. A bone from his buddy actually lodged in his arm. I found out much later that he had a lot of problems and ended up dying of a overdose of pain pills.
The comments are a good thing. There are always people on here that stir the pot. Motocross is such a tight knit community that people are not able to say some of things they want. Getting two sides to things is great.
When Dave O was between jobs, he was on the comments section all the time. Interesting to see insiders post. Ping is writing because he wants to at this point I think. Sure there is some financial reward, but I doubt it would be enough if he didn't like bikes anymore.
The general writing on this site has gotten better since the comments section was put in, in my opinion.
Best ping ever.
Most of you homos need to keep the comments to 5 sentences or less. No one wants to hear your life stories.
As much as some of the posts down here drive me nuts we are all superfans. And as bad as some of the posts are there is that occasional nugget that gets squeezed out where someone has a great point or story or whatever. It is because of this thread and us meat heads that I keep coming back to RacerX.com. In fact I only keep one other bike related site in my favorites and that's just for their, I hate to say it, much better reviews. That said I might open their site twice an month but I'm digging through RacerX on a daily basis.
Thanks Guy's!!!!!!!
@ urbani In five sentences or less you cant even string two good words together! Get a life sloan!
urbani wrote: about 23 hours ago
@ trailchoco and MonsterX :
You are some IGNORANT MOTHER F'ERS . Guessing YOUR "wives" are some real BUSHPIGS too.
The beauty of the comments section is that people can say that which cannot be said in real life, with no consequences. They don't have to fear getting KTFO, or being embarrassed publicly, or getting fined. Their little voice can be heard from the anonymous woodwork, and sometimes that voice carries an important message that can change the world in some small way.
@MonsterX, Ya, you were talking about riders wives ya f'ing ugg-boot.
YOU Need to re read ! duffus
Ping is just an angry little piss-ant who dedicated his WHOLE life to single thing... and still had to get a crappy job at age 30. The short little hack always puts questions in this feature to bash on the comments section... Yawn