Ping,
I find your responses to be wildly entertaining, and felt like I had to ask you a question or two.
My question is about forks and suspension. I used to race in the 90s, but never had my suspension done. I currently ride a 2016 KX 450f and have thought about having it revalved. I recently watched the garage in stock video about the KX 450 that was tested with air forks and the race tech spring conversion kit. It sounds like the test rider liked air and spring for different reasons, but when pressed would have chosen the spring to race with. On the flip side, I’ve read on forums that riders are very happy with the revalve jobs they’ve had on the air fork and even Factory Connection recommended going that route over a spring conversion kit. What do you recommend? How much better would my suspension be? What are the main differences I could expect?
Thanks in advance for your reply,
Motomania128
Motomania,
Thanks for reading, man. I don’t pull a lot of punches when it comes to air forks. I was completely open-minded when the craze began and it is only through experience that I can say that they are a monumental waste of time and we will all be back on springs soon enough. I don’t know what level you are riding at; maybe you are planning on lining up at Anaheim this January or you could be getting in line at the Angel Stadium hot dog stand with me in January. That makes a big difference. The reason I would go with a spring kit is for the simplicity of it. First, I know it works. Springs are a proven product and once they are dialed in you know you will like them. They are also easy to use. When I get to the track I want to put my gear on, splash some gas in the bike and go. I don’t want to get out a bunch of pumps and gauges and set pressure on fifteen different valves before I start my bike. I want to ride! With the springs I get them set up and that’s it. If you are one of those guys who likes to spend more time at the track tinkering with his bike than actually riding it, by all means, stick with the air forks. I know what I’d do.
PING
Ping,
First off I would like to say I miss the days of racing Saddleback on the weekend and being able to work on and tune your bike to perfection with just a few tools. With the start of the SX season just a little over four months away I can already start to hear those faint chants of a Chase Format and I would like to share my opinion on this nightmare of an idea.
First off, we have far too many injuries in our sport today and I believe the displacement size of the bikes in the premiere class plays a role in this. If you want to take a page from NASCAR, why not look at what happened when they introduced restrictor plate racing? It tightened up the field and the race was exciting from start to finish.
So why not address both injuries and tighter racing with one simple solution? Change the size of the 450 class to 350 cc or 375 cc. With this one simple change we would have fewer injuries and tighter racing and no need to introduce the Chase Format.
Just my humble opinion.
Jeff / Irvine
Jeff,
I completely agree with you. If only it were as simple as calling the top brass at each manufacturer, Feld and MX Sports [I actually have that guy’s phone number] and just letting them know what our plans are for next year. I’m sure all the Japanese companies wouldn’t mind a complete manufacturing retool to build a bike with slightly less power, right? These are big ships that don’t change direction easily so something like that would take some time, politicking and probably an act of God. Then again, you could build both your 250 and 350 in the same chassis, which would be a big time and money saver. The weight would come way down, which is good all the way around. And the rotating mass would drop significantly and make the bikes much easier to control and correct to prevent a crash. I’ll talk to DC about it and you contact Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha, Feld and the AMA, OK? If that goes well I’ll start praying.
PING
Ping,
Am I the only one who "gets it"? I totally understand why some of the elite guys don't want to go to the MXON! Nobody mentions the fact that it is almost a month after the last national. Not to mention the meaningless USGP's they are forced to ride. Between all of this and the Monster Cup, off season races, these guys get no break. People say the old school guys did, well they never had to race a month after the last national, and they never had to race these meaningless, energy drink GP's! Ok rant over! You are by far the best co-host on the Pulp Show!
Kenny Maddux 418
Lake Forest CA
Kenny,
There weren’t as many supercross races in the “old days”, travel wasn’t the nightmare that it has become post-9/11 and the media obligations and scrutiny that riders deal with now were non-existent back then. Honestly, you can’t really compare the two eras in terms of wear-and-tear over a season. And when those guys went to Europe in the off-season they were getting paid HUGE amounts of cash to show up. Some of those guys would make as much money during the off-season as they would during the whole season at home! Ask Larry Ward if you don’t believe me. I like GPs and I think it’s great to have one over here each year, as long as it is timed properly. To have two of them just throws off the MXoN plans and creates another cross-country trip for riders who just want a break. This off-season schedule is a ripping dumpster fire and they need to sort it out for next year.
PING
Have a question for Ping? Hit him up at ping@racerxonline.com.
