Crutcher’s Corner | Clickers, Springs & Gold Valves
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I’m still transitioning away from full-time FedEx driver and part-time moto racer I was for ten years. Now I’m living an all-encompassing moto life of selling custom decals/logos/art/coffee catered to hard workers, racing for cash at the weekend warrior local payout events, advising brands on how to connect to the midwest demographic, and being an “industry” guy. Hopefully, the honeymoon phase never ends because I’m so blown away go bd making all of these things work together like a well-oiled machine. I don’t want it to become “regular.” Everything that I’m flowed, all of the behind the scenes access I’m allowed, and every opportunity given be appreciated, never expected.
Being connected to Swapmoto has been a fruitful blessing and now has led to the experience of my 450’s suspension getting tuned-up by JH2 of Illinois with settings and hardware by Race Tech. Full transparency: the article you’re reading now has enough weight behind it to justify the full kitting of my motorcycle, but, because I got hooked up doesn’t mean I’m going to jump up on a pedestal and scream ad-copy and bullet points from RT’s sales deck. That would be extremely unfair to you as the reader and to JH2/RT for their commitment to providing excellent service and products.
First, I want to emphasize a word used in the previous paragraph of *experience* because as a millennial, an “experience” will always take the cake over “material possession.” Upon walking into the JH2 shop, of which is nestled on classic Illinois State Route 15, I saw the small showroom corridor was stacked high with oil for sale, signed front number plates, badass two strokes covered in cerakote, and a TV playing an old moto video that I didn’t recognize. At the parts counter was Justin, the J in JH2, with a high tech digital micrometer and the valving stack that was shipped to him from Race Tech HQ. Within a minute we are chatting deep philosophical theory on business ownership. I knew the clean but colorful vibration in the joint was magnetic for a dude like myself and I felt right at home. We got to work after a few minutes of glad-handing and Justin’s partner, Chris, joined in on the fun when he took over clerical duties at the counter as the afternoon’s clock wound down. There was a pause in the conversation between us, which turned to a static noise of Justin’s tools performing work, Chris rifling through the day’s shipment for inventory, and I removing vinyl stickers from the plastics on my bike that seized the air. Chris was first to acknowledge the slightly deafening silence, and a race to the Bluetooth was on. I stood back and let them take the controls of the ambiance and out of curiosity, I didn’t speak a word of suggestion. The deal was sealed immediately when NOFX was put on, followed by Pennywise, and then the Face To Face classic hit, “Disconnected.” I knew these guys were my guys when we all resumed our technical work because there is no better soundtrack for a core to the bone shop to perform first-class technical work to.
I left the shop at 6 pm, mapped my drive from Freeburg to where Anton lives in St. Jacob, and reflected on how cool these dudes are and how lucky I am to get to have an RT shop like this within driving distance of Lawrence.
We picked the bike up from the shop the next morning and headed to the STL local hot spot for training, Ride Organic, for what would be my first time riding a motorcycle outfitted with Race Tech suspension and their legacy device, the Gold Valve. Here is where the second half of the deal comes in. I can’t ride a motorcycle just on relationships and vibes; the bike has to perform on the track. I’ve been equipped with quality suspension for a very long time, ranging from Pro Action on mini bikes to Marshall’s during the Suzuki days and recently Factory Connection. I know what works and what does not. There are a few times that I’ve had bad suspension, but there’s no need in throwing them under the bus because they’re all defunct and gone now.
Taking the baseline setting from the installer and building from there is something I’m about. The way they installed the forks back into the triple clamps is how I want to it try first and their sag setting is where I begin. This is where the professional level of JH2 came in clutch. During my first ride, I noticed the rake and sag was exactly where I wanted it to be. Since we are well into August and short on moisture, Ride O didn’t have much in terms of braking bumps or acceleration chop, but it did offer unique obstacles with steep jump faces, flat slap-downs, and situations that might cause the lesser suspension to deflect. All of these were a nonissue with this newly installed product, specifically the slap-downs. A few articles ago, I wrote about a trip Monster Mountain in Alabama, where there was one obstacle in specific, a roller on the inside of a curve that launched you to flat, that demonstrated the weakness of the stock WP AER-48 fork.
Organic had a similar set of these mini-anthills and that was where I focused my attention on the fork. How far I could launch and slap the flats would be a large determining factor of “improvement or reversal from stock.” The jury was in after the first session, with a unanimous decision that it was a massive improvement. Confidence was high in the performance of the fork and I knew the shock was operating on par, but because of the flatness of the course, I couldn’t write a full dissertation or stamp the seal. A pre-planned trip to the wicked rough Bar 2 Bar in Wichita for round four of the KMCS series over the weekend was where I would have race scenario data to draw from.
B2B is a sand track that starts flat as a freeway in practice but by final moto becomes Miley Cirus swinging on wrecking ball that swings at any rider that’s not on their toes. A litany of kickers, bumps, rollers, large jumps, ruts, and bowls developed all around the course and set me up to produce a personal best LapKing time of 1:49.80. Throughout the day I could feel myself improving and adapting to the new suspension. Yes, it did things differently from the stock suspension and I had to change a bit of my technique to gel with the action of the bike, but it was not in a negative manner. I felt more fluid with the motorcycle. While the stock settings required more input and character, I found myself riding more efficiently and effectively.
After a third-place finish in MX1 Moto One, behind Dustin Winter and Giancarlo Clouser, I went one click softer on compression in the fork, one click stiffer on shock compression, and minus one on the shock rebound for faster return but made no adjustment to ride height. Dustin had a fast pace and Gio was on fire, which made for hard competitors to pass. Do I feel the suspension held me back from making a pass? No. That doesn’t mean I couldn’t fine-tune it for a better feel. I got third because that’s the speed I was going.
Putting pro-level technology inside the suspension housing will make small increments noticeable and I felt the adjustments were an immediate improvement in Moto Two. Winter and his KX positioned first, Gio again in second, and myself in third, all within a blanket’s cover from each other. On the first lap I went for pass through an inside line and over some extremely rough chop, a path that would’ve sent me in any other direction from where I intended with the stock suspension. This was a huge test to see if the equipment would hold for a 100-percent effort pass, and it did. While the bike graced across the top with Cadillac comfort and let the tires do their job, I made the move on Clouser and pointed the sharp end toward Dustin. The gap closed to a tether’s distance and I was riding very effortlessly, but frankly, Dustin is just a faster rider. An honest pace was kept, but my talent was not enough to close in and make a pass. As I continued my melding with the new hardware, it was obvious something was unlocked and I felt extremely inspired by the bike. Sometimes, there just aren’t words available to explain that connection made and that lack of words is exactly what you pay for when you’re purchasing suspension.
I waited for another day of riding before writing this recap to further ensure satisfaction. A riding group has been formed between all of the A riders and select B riders in the KC the area and we gather on certain days for private practice at different tracks, and this week’s invite-exclusive training session was at Grain Valley. Because of our central location, we have to stick together and raise each other up in the same fashion as the training facilities, with the difference being that we are leaderless and self-enlisted. Another perk of our group is that we all want the track to be “flooded” compared to normal prep standards, which is more akin to that of outdoor national timed qualifying conditions. Riding in mud sucks, but it’s part of the job and becomes far less a nuisance when you practice.
I don’t do 30-minute motos. There is no need for a local guy like myself to train for that kind of endurance when the average local race is just short of 15 minutes. I need a high-action 5K pace sprint and I keep the LapKing on during these conditioning sessions. Last night, I set my personal record. The course was gnarly, with some big ass braking bumps, all kinds of overwatered slick spots, hardpacked jumps, deep ruts, and all the variables we love to ride during our pro day sessions. The track was almost identical to the last time we had one of these operations at GV and I can say with affirmation that my faster pace can be attributed to the new suspension.
One of the main things I picked up on was the way the bike centered so perfectly while squatting in a rut. The throttle-on load that stretches out a motorcycle compresses the shock mid-stroke, and that’s where every bump is be noticed, but it was all well-managed with the new valving, Race Tech bladder kit, and ultra-trick black shock spring. Overall, the Race Tech parts and the JH2 install proved to be a very obvious upgrade, and likely the best suspension I’ve ever had. I could go further into detail about XYZ actions happening on the track, but that might make this writing too close to a full scale “test”, which is not my intention. The way my bike is set up for me by the technicians may likely be the worst possible combination for you, so the super technical aspects get lost in the ether of the two ultimate questions: Is it better and am I faster? Yes and yes.
The hardware, the settings, and the installer. That’s the holy trinity of buying confidence and if any of those three are not on par with another, you will likely end up with something you’re not satisfied with. Skip the aggravation caused by the “too big to be your bro” treatment you’re likely to get elsewhere, find a technician you can develop a personal relationship with, and get performance equipment you can trust.
