Photo: Check out the Pit Bull sticker in the Lucas lab photo of my samples ready for testing.

During his 30 years in the suspension business Jim tried most of the suspension fluid that existed. When I asked him what brand I should use he said Maxima or Silkolene. I think he came to that conclusion after a lot of trial and error.

That made it easy for me, I had been sponsored by Silkolene since 1996 and they were willing to continue to work with me as a dealer/sponsored rider.

During this time, because of my work for “Roadracing World” I met Mark Sromalla of Lucas Oil Products. Mark is a smart, hard working guy but I really noticed Lucas when I got a tour of the Lucas facility, it’s just down the road in Corona, CA. As Mark showed me around, I was amazed by how clean and organized the place is, then I started to notice that all the people we met looked happy and were working hard. It’s clear that these guys are doing a lot of stuff right. When Mark asked if I’d like to become a Lucas dealer I turned the offer down because of my long relationship with Silkolene.

“Roadracing World” did two “Shops” stories about Lucas, one for their Corona facility, this after I told them about my tour, and later, earlier this year, about their much larger manufacturing facility in Indiana. These and other word of mouth stories I heard about Lucas kept them on my mind.

Then Silkolene was bought by someone who does not believe in the value of sponsorship. My deal ended. Meanwhile, Lucas is sponsoring lots of racers, including my friends at the Geico Suzuki Team. So I called Mark.

But that’s not all I did. I saved some used oil from forks and shocks and gathered different brands of new oil. I took six samples to the Lucas lab for testing. Laboratory Supervisor, Hugo Ramirez did the work and explained the results to me. Here’s the short version: Modern oils are all good, they get dirty before they start to break down. Lucas suspension fluids are equal to all the best.

My wife is always looking for an excuse to pick up her Mom and take her to do stuff, so we set up all my Lucas orders as Will Calls. Every time they go, they come back with stories of how friendly and nice the people are, how nice the flowers on the grounds are, how everything is neat, clean and organized. More proof I made a good choice. Lucas, good products, good people and made in the USA.

Photo:  Lucas suspension fluid in stock.

If your name is Bill, these leathers are just right for you.
If you’er 6 foot 2 and about 200 pounds of Superbike Stud, these leathers are just right for you.
If you like quality, these Z Custom leathers are just right for you.
If you know that lightly crashed leathers are safer then brand new leathers, these leathers are just right for you.
If your bike has new paint, these leathers are just right for you.
If you’re cheap, these leathers are just right for you, $300.

You’ve heard a lot about the KTM390 race bike in Moto America. That bike comes with adjustable race WP suspension. The rules of that spec class only allow you to change the springs and oil, nothing else.

This is the KTM390 street bike, different (cheaper) WP suspension, street exhaust, lights, etc.

The forks are non-adjustable, big piston style cartridge. The springs are weak progressively wound and there is almost no damping, just like the shock. When I give you the correct spring rate and valving, you won’t need adjusters.

Taking the forks apart I excepted to find a weak shim stack. Instead, I found a spring check valve system that explained the lack of damping. I put my Jim cap on and with a little this and a little that, shim stacks.

You can buy a cartridge kit for a thousand something or you can let me make what you already have work so well you won’t want the extra cost and weight of clickers. $560 to rebuild, build correct shim stacks and spring with straight rate springs.

Stay tuned for the shock report, I’m sure you’ll be shocked!

That was too much Lock-Tight boys, even if it was the blue kind.
You only need a small drop. It’s just filling the spaces between the threads like glue.

At both of my last two track weekends an old hanger broke under the weight of a set of leathers. I was thinking about ordering some heavy duty hangers till I looked at some aluminum from a different point of view.

This photo was taken last Thursday at 8:32 pm. I held the phone at a 45 degree angle. Using this info as well as the position of the Crescent Moon and two Planets, tell me where Lindemann Engineering was set up for a weekend of racing.