AMSOIL Swapmoto Race Series Rider Profile | Kris Palm

AMSOIL Swapmoto Race Series Rider Profile | Kris Palm

Age: 29

Hometown: Ulricehamn, Sweden

Current Residence: Upland, California

Class: Open Vet, +30 Pro

Sponsors: FCP Racing, FXR

Kris Palm is that semi-annoying guy that you see around SoCal tracks, getting people to try out his FCP Engine Mounts that are designed to offer improved handling character by changing the flex character of the chassis. A former professional racer, Palm is actually a cool dude once you get past his social awkwardness, and we were pumped to have him at the final round of the Fall Classic Series, held at Perris Raceway. Like IKEA furniture, Palm is a Swedish import and we caught up with him in between motos to have a chat. 

Why did you come to the United States? Did you come to chase the motocross dream?

Yeah, I moved here in 2010 to race all the amateur nationals and I did the novice class. I was really too old to be racing in the novice class, but I started from the bottom. I did a lot of amateur stuff, had a lot of fun, and moved up through the ranks. Eventually, I made it to Supercross and that was it.

How far did you take the Supercross thing?

I couldn’t f*cking go around the track to save my life. (Laughs)

When did you make Supercross?

In 2014 and 2015.

When the realization that Supercross was not a viable future set in, what did you decide to do?

I always had a job even when I was racing. Honestly what happened was just injuries, I crashed way too much and realized that I’m kinda old for this. Then for Supercross, it was just so hard. Other than Fredrik Noren, there are not that many Swedes that know how to ride Supercross. All the French guys are good and there are some people in Europe, but it’s really hard. Not doing it as a kid stressed me out.

Before FCP, what was your job?

I used to work for Motoman distribution. We did Full Bore tires, TM motorcycles, Scalvini pipes, all kinds of different stuff. I worked with Pete Vetrano for many years.

So with FCP, how did you get into this and how is it going?

I got into it from just being around the right people. I have friends at different race teams and the whole engine mount thing was something that racing has been doing for a while. At one point, I just pulled the trigger and I made it happen. I started knocking out product after products, improving bikes left and right. So far it has been going really well. I’ve got them for just about every four-stroke, and we’re also doing a little bit of dual-sport stuff, and I’ve got a couple of other products coming out. I have some race teams signed up for supercross and even MXGP.

Obviously, engine mounts are a way to change the way your bike feels, right? Factories have teams of testers that try every little thing, even different size bolts and such. Why is it so easy for you to improve on a bike and beat the factories? Are you a genius?

Well, all the factories, they have budgets and restrictions or guidelines they need to follow. Where we just have open spectrum to do whatever we want and everything is based off of stock. So it’s not that factories wouldn’t be able to do this because they totally can, they have a lot of good knowledge and equipment they can improve. We just take something that the factories do and just got extreme with it to make it better.

Do you find that most of your mounts are stiffer or softer or both?

It’s both. It depends on the bike because all the bikes are different. All the frames are different. Some of our stuff is much softer than stock, some of it is much stiffer than stock, but then there are also different shapes where some things will be stiffer in one direction than the other one or vice versa.

How do you develop and test your stuff? Some of them have holes, some of them are shaped differently…how do you come up with all of these concepts?

I don’t come up with it all myself, I sit down with my engineer and we think about a couple of things on how to make a mount better. Just by looking at the stock stuff, a lot of stuff is stamped or cast and half of the time when the molds get old, it’s not perfect. Everything is based on stock and then basically the materials make a big difference in itself. Then there is a lot of testing and development with different teams, racers, race teams, and even riders. Riders, fast or slow, novice or vets, we always try different options to see what suits the bike the best and then go from there.

When you think back 10 to 15 years ago, KTMs were the minority. Now, they rule the market share. As a result, are KTM mounts your largest selling?

Yes, KTM is very popular because they did come out with a much different frame and people were complaining about how harsh and stiff those bikes are. We have been able to improve that, it seems like a very popular bike like KTM is pretty harsh and our engine mounts fix that, so they are definitely one of our top sellers. Also, the Honda 450 is very popular and that is mostly because we have the most time developing that mount and that was the first product we came out with.

Getting to back to your Swapmoto Race Series debut today, what brings you out of the woodwork and how did it go?

Boredom! When I put all my ducks in a row to go all out with FCP, I sold all of my bikes and I quit racing. I focused 100% on all of my products and I did not ride a dirtbike for over a year and at one of the magazine ride days with High Torque, I rode a Honda once after a year and a half. That was three weeks ago and then I think I rode the following weekend. Now I got a KTM and literally rode it for the first time here during practice. I didn’t even check the sag! I wanted to come to one of these races, it’s cool, fun, and something to do. I wanted to promote my brand and my product, it was just logical to come out and spin some laps. It’s so weird because I’m old for a racer, but I’m still pretty young. I go out now and I don’t want to go fast anymore and the more I ride I trick myself like, “Oh yeah, I can still do this.” Then I go through a couple of corners really fast and I’m like, “Woah dude, slow down!” Because I never want to go to the hospital ever again.