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Falling Into Winter

After going out and getting feedback from each of our product sponsors this year, it's been great to hear that all of them I've talked to so far will be back on board for 2009. I'm also trying to work on getting a couple new sponsors added before the new year as well. Not an easy task by any means given the current economic situation, but I think we'll be able to further progress with our support before the new season begins.

Typically as the year winds down and the winter approaches, we've got the bikes loaded away and nearly forgotten for the next few months. This year it's different however. We've already got the suspension out being serviced by Mike Fitzgerald, who's doing some revamping and updating to the Ohlins TTX shock which should be an improvement for next year. Also, a good friend of mine Mark Gonyou (who is a local machinist by night) is re-working a few tidbits from this past year to make wheel swaps easier.

Sharkskinz has sent us a spare set of bodywork for next year, so we've mounted that up to the bike and have it ready to get painted. The tail and undertail pieces came pre-drilled and fastened together with Dzus fasteners, which you don't see done by anyone in the industry. No drilling, aligning of holes or any type of mess and frustration in prepping the bodywork. They would have drilled the upper and lower, but we wanted to do that ourselves and make sure they matched the holes we had already drilled in our first set of bodywork, so the pieces are interchangeable and easy to swap out. I can't say enough good things about Sharkskinz. They flat out kick ass.

Aside from that, spares is a key area of focus for next year. With the bike pretty much ready to go, we're looking to have "showstoppers" on hand and ready in the event of a crash or mechanical failure. Spare fairing stay, subframe and engine are just a few of the pieces we want to have on-hand. I'm hoping to have the engine that let go at Mid-Ohio fixed and ready to go as a spare. I don't particularly want to relive the AMA event at Mid-Ohio anytime soon. We've always been pretty-well prepared, but we're hoping to be even better in that regard for the coming year.

Cheers,

- eddie

Monday, November 10th, 2008 | POSTED AT: 6:12 AM
FILED UNDER: General