OnTrack Suspension Service

A little over a week away !! Come join Brady Walker, Caroline and his Classic Track Day crew at the Streets of Willow on February 21st - And for all u sport bike guys, Norm from Dunlop Tire Services will be in attendance for the first time !! He'll be joining all of our valued support sponsors to make your track day as safe as humanly possible - AND he'll be bringing his Aprilla RSV4 to spin some laps on as well - When people see Norm, they think of him as only a tire supplier, but he's one hell of a rider himself and we're thrilled to have him joining our track day - And as usual, the On Track suspension support guys will be providing assistance to anyone who needs help or advice with their suspension settings - NO CHARGE for a suspension evaluation- #classic track day #on track suspension

Come join Whitney Blakeslee, Andre Castanos, and Steve Biganski at the WERA WEST series race weekend season opener at Auto Club speedway January 22nd through the 24th -

Now HERE'S and engineering MARVEL !! Hand crafted billet 2 gallon capacity gasoline powered margarita mixer designed and built by the incredible MIKE WORSHUM - 80cc Steve Biganski highly modified 2 stroke powerplant, electric start, CBR 900 free wheeling starter clutch, every single piece made by hand - Mike brought to Nick Ienatsch's and Lance Holst's 2 year Sport Rider magazine anniversary party many years ago - I remember when EDDIE LAWSON showed up, and after seeing the starter clutch chain and sprockets, he asked Mike if he had the correct GEARING for margaritas- typical Eddie Lawson- He still has it - maybe we need to break it out again !!

There are numerous reasons why we suggest you bring your bike to a track day suspension specialist- ESPECIALLY if you're a new rider - #1 - being it your first track day, you want it to be a memorable one, and having your motorcycle's suspension adjusted perfectly results in a couple of very important things - mostly CONFIDENCE - our main and utmost goal is making the motorcycle's behavior a complete afterthought- fighting an ill handling motorcycle doesn't allow you to learn... ANYTHING- #2 - our adjusting process differs greatly from all the other "suspension guys" - we take into consideration a number of things - are u a new rider ?? What are your lap times - what are your issues with your bike ?? There is NOT one particular setup that works for everyone- #3 - Tire pressures - HUGELY important- the very first thing that Mike and I do is note what brand tire you're using and set the recommended pressures to what the manufacturer SAYS it's supposed to be - #4 - AFTER your pressures are set, we do ONLY what is absolutely necessary to get your bike balanced as closely as possible, then after we're done, we tell our customers to stop by our pits IMMEDIATELY after leaving the track to check the increase in tire pressure- 5 lbs of rise in the rear, but only 2 in the front - BINGO - The rear tire is generating too much heat - the solution?? Transfer some of that weight to the front - we explain how that process works to all of our customers- want to learn more ?? Stop by and see us at Brady Walker's next Classic Track day at the Streets of Willow on February 21st - See more

Don't miss the next Classic Track Day at the Streets of Willow on February 21st - spaces are filling up quickly- and to assist everyone with bike setup, the On Track Suspension guys will be there as usual- NO CHARGE for an evaluation-

CRF 450X top end rebuild for our buddy Alex - this particular motor has logged over 300 hrs - it still amazes me at how durable these bikes are with regular oil changes - a set of freshly cut seats, a couple of new intake valves, a new piston and she'll be as good as new - Merry Christmas to all our valued customers from the boys at Moto Classic Garage !!

A broken compression valve unfortunately brought our racing to an early end for Whitney and Andre at last weekend's WERA west series race - Andre said he was hearing and feeling a clicking sound from the forks under braking, so after finding this mess inside the fork leg, we had to call it a day - darn shame, because both Andre and Whitney were putting in some impressive lap times in Friday's practice - oh well- next time-

This story is for all the guys who have been involved in the road racing scene for a while and all you suspension "guros" who rely on "measuring" devices- Back in '93, Nick Ienatsch and I were doing well enough to finally get some assistance from the factory, so when we were at Mid Ohio for the AMA national in '94, we were instructed by Yamaha's Tom Halverson to remove the forks and shock from our TZ250 after Thursday's promoter practice and give them to Stig Pettersen from P...PS (former factory Ohlins suspension guy for a number of 500cc Gp teams) - He returned an hour later with a completely different shock, and forks with OHLINS internals- we were all ready for him with our "Measuring tape" He smiled at me and said "your MEASURING tape is a waist of time" - I remember looking at Nick and thinking - How in GOD'S name is he gonna get this thing set up correctly without measuring the sag ?? He looked at me and said- " this new stuff has "top out springs"- hold the front, no brakes" and proceeded to lift and shove on the seat for a minute or two, then said "tighten the spring 1/2 turn"- A HALF TURN? are u KIDDING ME??" how can he possibly feel a half turn ??" A few more minutes of "shoving", he looked at me and said "it will be FINE !!" then he grabbed the bars, squeezed the brake lever and began shoving on the forks to the point where the rear wheel was lifting off the ground and after a few more small changes with the clickers and preload, he looked at Nick and said "Ride it, it will be fine" - we didn't touch the settings for the rest of the weekend and got on the podium (2nd) - Fast forward 12 years - I was at Laguna Seca in '06 and watched JEREMY BURGESS and his crew of Ohlins technicians do the EXACT same thing after Friday's practice when Rossi was over a second off the pace -Jeremy explained to me that with the "top out" springs in today's modern suspension, it's virtually IMPOSSIBLE to set anything up with a "MEASURING" device- "TOO MANY VARIABLES" he said- "our mission is to use every available millimeter of suspention stroke" -About 15 world championships between these 2 guys - enough said See more

A BLAST from the PAST - Whitney Blakeslee getting it DONE at Ontario Motor Speedway in 1979 on his KZ 1000 - this man was DEFINITELY a player back in the day - aggressive?? You bet your ASS - just mention his name to anyone who raced against him in the late 70's and early 80's - Whitney actually held the absolute lap record at Willow Springs Raceway for quite a while- DEFINITELY someone you didn't want to mess with- and I can tell you for a FACT, the man hasn't slowed down much since then -

An unbelievably successful day of testing at Auto Club speedway last Friday for Andre Castanos on the Zinc Nation/ Whitney Blakeslee/ On Track Suspension sponsored Yamaha R6 - Got the front set up fairly quickly, then basically worked on the rear settings for the rest of the day - TINY incremental adjustments of ride height and spring preload - When we finally found that "sweet spot", Andre said the thing felt like a 250 GP bike - Sean Kelly was there and by the end of the day, Andre was lapping consistently just over 3 seconds a lap off of SDK,s pace - not too bad for the 3rd time out and for someone who hasn't ridden in more than 10 years - DEFINITELY more testing and seat time for Andre in the near future- Nice job my friend !!

Photo 1 is Andre Castanos making his return to racing after a 17 year hiatus- photo 2 is Andre's last competitive professional race at Laguna Seca in '2000 riding a seven year old Honda RS250 prepared by myself and John Lassak - Andre was running 5th in the 250 GP main with 2 laps remaining when THIS happened- a tiny bit off line with a touch too much throttle exiting turn 2 - that was his last professional race, but HE'S BACK !!

Unbelievable turnout for Brady Walker's Classic track day at the Streets of Willow- I'm thinking atleast 80 riders - Andre Castanos finally got his maiden ride on Whitney's R6 - we weren't there to break any lap records, just getting him back up to speed- made a few adjustments and ergonomic changes to get him comfortable- he had a big grin on his face all day - and Mlke and I also had record 1 day turnout for the number of bikes we set up - big big thanks to everyone who stopped by - hey BRADY !! PLEASE don't wait another 3 months to hold your next event !!

End of a perfect day!

Beautiful day at Brady Walker Classic Track Day.

A big thankyou to Jim Hoskins and the entire Track Xperience crew for an amazing weekend at the Streets of Willow - both days were completely sold out - Our Boy Johnny looks like he's pretty happy with his R1'a setup, and big thanks to everyone else who stopped by - it seemed like it was a Yamaha R1 weekend- I believe we did 4 or 5 of them alone, along with a couple of sweet Triumphs and a Ducati Panagale V4 - and we finished our Sunday with one of Mike and my's most favorite bikes, an Aprilla RSV4 - and a big shout out to our man Norm at Dunlop as well - when he's seeing any serious issues with any of his customers tires, he immediately sends them over to us to try to cure the problem - thanks again to everyone

Day 1 of a completely SOLD OUT Track Xperience track day weekend at the Streets of Willow - a big thank you to Mike Franklin for your help and to everyone who stopped by to get their suspension dialed in - looking forward to another fantastic day tomorrow - gonna ask my buddy Andre Castanos to spin some laps on Whitney's R6 for some setup feedback - we'll post some more pics tomorrow - YIPPEE !!

Beautiful day at Streets with TrackXperience

Testing at Buttonwilllow raceway with the Calishine Moto America Junior Cup team -- Aden Thao equaled his best race lap time yesterday (1:56,6) after some MAJOR chassis and geometry changes --

Brady Walker's Classic track day at Big Willow is just around the corner !! -- whether it's an SR500 or a new R6, we have the ability to make your bike perform to its maximum potential -- see you all on July 11th !!

Great weekend for Aden Thao and the Calishine Junior Cup racing team at Road America -- we're having some power issues, but are working feverishly to get Aden closer to the front at Road Atlanta in 2 weeks -- great job Aden !!

Successful day of testing with Aden Thao and the Calishine race team at Buttonwillow Raceway last Saturday -- found a shock and fork setting on his #Graves Motorsports Kawasaki Ninja 400 that made Aden SMILE again and got his confidence back -- now it's off to Road America for round 2 of the Moto America series -- can't WAIT !!

Tuono getting the full treatment - new tires, steering head bearings, rear shock, and fork service. Rides like a brand new bike!

A huge Thanks to James Morse, Jim Hoskins and the entire Track Xperience crew for an amazing weekend at Willow Springs Raceway -- I completely lost track of how many setups Mike and I performed -- all I know is that it was non stop from 7am to well past 3 -- our process of bike setup differs 100% from our "Competitors" by NOT beginning with locking a bike into a front wheel chock -- basic 6th grade geometry proves that process DOESN'T WORK -- We hit home runs with every motor...cycle we touched and a big thank you to all who stopped by -- NOW it's off to Buttonwillow Raceway next weekend for some testing with Aden Thao and the Calishine Junior Cup team, then we're heading to Road America for round 2 of the Moto America series to show everyone that Aden is definitely better than his 13th place finishes 2 weeks ago at round one -- can't wait !! YIPPEE !! See more

Beautiful day to welcome everyone back to the track! Thanks, TrackXperience!