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Racing Keeps the Soul Warm

Well, there's not much to report at the moment. It's cold in Michigan – really cold. -1 degrees this morning. We've been working on the R6, going through and getting it ready for the season. She has been torn apart and is in the process of being put back together. Aaron's been analyzing swingarm dynamics, while Doug has been studying the torque effects of a bolt over a sustained period of time. I've been pulling injectors, and anything else I can find on the bike to disassemble, check, clean, etc. Meanwhile, Joe has looked on, laughing at our attention to detail and merely yelling to twist the throttle more. Go figure.

The parts list during this off-season has been for the most part, rather small – fortunately. OEM parts from Honda East, a few things from STG and the rest from the great lineup of sponsors on-board this year – including Pit Bull, Sharkskinz, Dynojet, Motul, NGK, Chicken Hawk, Motion Pro, Jamie Hanshaw and Full Spectrum. Also new this year is that I'll be wearing Shoei helmets. Shoei North America has been a huge help and I'll be working directly with them this year. I can't thank them enough for their support and can't wait to try their latest X-Twelve helmet. The last time I wore a Shoei was back when I first started racing (check out the photo gallery to see those lovely photos), and I know their helmet technology has come a long way since then.

Oakley is going to be a sponsor again this year, which is great. I'm also going to be staying on Pirelli's which I'm really excited about. The new and upcoming tires are going to be absolutely fantastic, as they are the tires that everyone was talking about during the combined World Superbike / MotoGP test at the end of the year – where the WSBK times were faster than MotoGP early on. I can't wait to try them, and any club racer will be able to get their hands on them. We have been on the Pirelli's for awhile now and as Doug said, it'll be good to keep working on them as we know them pretty well. And with a year under our belt on the newer 180/60 tire, we should be better this year when it comes to dialing the tires in.

So at least while it's cold here, working on bikes and talking racing gets the heart rate going – at least a little. More to come soon .. I hope!

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013 | POSTED AT: 5:27 AM
FILED UNDER: General