Inside your cartridge forks and shock is a piston that the oil is forced to pass through. Long ago, OEM pistons restricted this oil flow because the holes were too small. This is no longer the case. Oil flow is controlled by the shim stack.

The shim stack is a bunch of washers of different thickness and diameter. I change the shim stack to get the damping curve I want.

The color of the piston makes no difference.

Rather than base racing classes on the motorcycle we should base the classes on the riders. We race because we want to battle with our friends but most of our racing time is spent zooming around by ourselves.

WERA tested this idea with the ED Sorbo International Invitational.

Moto West GP has 4 Bracket Classes. You pick the time spread that works for you. The only rules are that you get DQ’ed if you break out and you can’t use an on board timer.

In my 6 lap bracket race yesterday I remember making 6 passes but I think there were more. I was battling from start to finish. I know that next month I will be in the same kind of race. How cool is that?!

Check out these trick old school forks for a Z-1. That’s a ‘76 KZ900 to you kids.

Henry has an Ohlins TTX shock and Ohlins fork kit on his R-1. Here is what he had to say on my FB page:

“Special thank you to Ed Sorbo from Lindemann Engineering for giving my bike a new life. Rebuild & re-valve OEM forks w/öhlins kit, new fork springs, rebuild & re-valve öhlins shock and respring the shock spring to fit my new weight. If you …think you are fast, wait until you get your suspension dialed in. Go see him at any MotoYard.com track day or race weekend and have him start clicking on your suspensions. The difference is like day and night, plus you save your tires by having adequate settings.”

And by E Mail after I sent his paid invoice:

“Got it thanks Ed. Yesterday was an epic day for me. I towed Rocky around for a few laps and I had never gone this fast on this track. Thank you so much for giving me confidence and making me a faster rider.”

The track was Willow Springs. “Rocky” is a MotoYard.com instructor. “Epic Day” needs no explanation.

When I’m done with Hennry’s R-1, her legs will go all the way up.

1981 CB400T Hawk
1978 CB550F
Gary K’s RD350
Red Proctor’s RD400
Suzuki X-6 Hustler
Ray C’s GPz 550
Red Proctor’s RZ350
Carol Coffman’s ’81 GPz 550
Team Hawaii CB450T Hawk
Twin Star 185
Frank Smith’s ’81 CB750F
Team Hawaii 600 Ninja
Wheels Hawaii CB700SC
GPz750 Turbo
Andre Espaillat’s VF500
RG250 Gama
GS550ESD
Emory Wood’s GS550ES
Mike Coffman’s GPz 1100
Dayne Brown’s YZ 490
Dayne Brown’s FZR 400
Mike Coffman’s CB700SC
1987 CBR600F1
Bruce Miller’s CBR600F1
Emory Wood’s CBR600F1
Robbie Dowie’s CBR600F1
Dannen Lutz’s CBR600F1
GS750
Brendt Chang’s NSR 250
Vic Sibilla’s TZR250, ex Hayden WERA bike
Paul Uyehara’s CB-1
Carol Coffman’s FZR1000
Kalani Whitmarsh’s GSXR750 LTD
1990 GSXR750
Chris Powel’s ’92 GSXR750
John Hearne’s GSXR750
Insurance’s guy’s GSXR750
Craig Hanes’s ZX-7
CBR600F2
Heada’s CBR600F2
Mark’s CBR600F2
Yosh RC30, two of them
CB400SP at Suzuka
Team Hawaii FZR600
Lenny Kirschner’s FZR600
Team Hawaii FZR600 with a Hawk swing arm
Kim Nakashima’s FZR400/600
Gerry Tanioka’s FZR1000
Eric Phillipson’s CB900RR
Ric’s CBR600F3
1988 CBR600F1 with a Hawk swing arm
1990 TZ 250
Jupiter Kajawara’s ’91 TZ 250
1993 TZ 250
Buell S-1
Lenny Kirschner’s FZR 400
Brooklin Cycle’s CBR900RR Superbike
2000 TZ 250
John Bickle’s RS 125
Sean Wary’s ’96 TZ 250
24 Hour CBR600F-4
Go Shift R-6
Andy Edwards’s ’01 TZ 250
“Roadracing World” ’94 ZX-6RR
Team Chicago R-6
ARNTU Racing ’04 GSX-R750
Army of Darkness GSX-R600
Tul-Aris
2007 R-6, AMA Supersport
Team Chicago ’07 R-6
2008 CBR 125R Challenge Bike

Dennis Hogan’s 250 Ninja

Niccole Cox’s 250 Ninja

Brian’s XR 120

Erickson’s ‘06 Suzuki RM 85

76 and counting.

This does not count bikes I’ve ridden but not raced, that number would be in the hundreds.

In honor of our friend and fellow racer Kenny Anderson:

Rider, Alan Cunningham sponsored a team called “Iceman Racing.” Named for Kenny “Iceman” Anderson. Race number 12, just like Kenny.

Race Dad, Eric Anderson was lead photographer and Crew Chief.

Riders, John & Amanda Erickson supplied the bike. RM-85.

Rider, me did some prep work on the bike.

Rider, Danielle Diaz won the sock battle and brought her Pit Dad.

Ringer Rider, Derek Keyes needed to warm up for the Suzuka 8 Hour, we were happy to help.

Crew:

Pit Dad, Peter is experienced and calm.

Alan’s wife, Beth brought great pit board encouragement.

Kenny’s brother, David brought his mellow vibe.

The race was an 8 Hour put on by M1GP at Grange.

A little practice on Friday:

Turn 87 is left? Gearing, check. Gas mileage, check. Tires, check. O-Ring chain, check. Suspension clickers, clicked.

Race Day:

Our strategy is to have a good time winning our class and overall.

With a great start we took the early lead. A little later we let others shine too. Back in the lead around the 1.5 hour mark and by then we were tired of sharing so we switched over to domination mode. Not to say that we were perfect, we did jump off 6 times… Our rider plan and the adjustments we made as the race went on were good. Our pit stops were just right. We rode to the strengths of our bike and worked around it’s limitations. We learned new skills and refined old skills.

Results:

Fast lap of the race. First in class. First overall. New friends.

The really neat part?

We won with a 12 lap lead.

Team Anderson!

Photo Bombed by Derek’s daughter, Carolynn.

My wife is still smiling even when hold up a 1600 pound spring and a BMW shock.

The owner of the shock only rides the BMW it goes on with his wife and all their gear when they are touring. Normally you only carry a passenger and gear some of the time so I have to spring for the lighter load because the ride would be too harsh when you did not have a friend along. In this case we can spring for the big load because the rest of the time he rides his other BMW.

The 1600 pounds refers to the springs rate. It takes 1600 lbs to compress this spring one inch.