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Background -
There are people with some money in Holland that want to work with me to try and start a small race team for the AMA nationals so that they can send EMX and Dutch Masters development riders to race in the USA. This will be an ongoing thing if it works, since the first time I did this last year didn't turn out too badly for the first rider.
A few riders and tech guys have been visiting here in Temecula off and on testing parts since last year.
We have been testing a lot of hard parts and other components made both both here and in Europe to determine what works, and we have had some things work well and some that break. I have one guy in particular that can break any part on a KTM just by riding it hard, so its been an eye opener.
If I start posting particulars about parts, I get a bunch of shit from anonymous people who don't have an idea about what they are talking about. I don't have to explain myself and why I have an opinion on stuff.
If anyone wants to ask questions about any of this, then go to the pits at Fox Raceway in May during the first national and find me - I'll be more than happy to hand you a beer and show you face to face what we think works on these bikes, and why.
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You came in here touting "go with what you know" and inferring that the XTrig was superior.
You pointed out in another post "a couple specific reasons."....
Since then you've been called out on "Why is it better?" and continually refuse to give those "specific reasons".
Why even bring it up if you aren't gonna back it up? It almost leaves one to believe that you don't have any reasons you just wanted to make yourself look superior....
All that to say, I'm truly curious about the reasons as are others. Not trying to be a dick but it's hard not to sound like one when responding to someone with such a superiority complex as yourself.
Replace it with the proper bolt to the proper torque.
This is why the factory guys pull them apart every week and go though a shit ton of parts .
Good maintenance, is just that , taking it apart to see what is going on, checking for cracks etc.
Having spent enough time looking at failed parts in Motorsports and Aerospace, understanding that stuff just breaks, and legislating for when it does, is always better than trying to make stuff indestructable.
A Plane that would never break , would also never fly.
You are welcome to see for yourself - We will be training around the SoCal tracks all month in May.
DM me for our schedule.
Another reason to swap out the bolt is to maintain consistent torque. If you torque a new bolt, then remove it and torque it again, the resulting bolt tension will be different than the first time you torqued it. That's because the friction has changed - coating has worn off a little bit, the threads have "seated" a little bit, etc. If the bolt was installed dry, then that difference can be significant. See this reference for more info:
https://www.nord-lock.com/insights/bolting-tips/2020/reusing-bolted-joi…
Ideally, you'd swap out the bolt for a new one each time you take it apart (not each time you check the torque). That ensures consistent torque and significantly reduces the chance of a fatigue failure. If you're lubricating the bolt, then the torque-tension relationship is much more consistent (again, see above reference). You could get a few uses out of the bolt without replacing it without issue. The downside there is that the bolt is more likely to come loose being lubricated and you should double check torque more often (every ride, ideally).
I'll just have to go about my life knowing that we are only smart enough to know that you think Xtrig is superior but we aren't quite smart enough to get your "specific reasons".
I appreciate the invite to the testing sessions as well, but at this stage in my life even the awesome motocross tracks aren't enough to convince me to step foot in Cali.
Best of luck with the race team.
I will get a hand full of new bolts and just change them every 6 months. Cheap insurance. Tonight I will check the torque on all the front end fasteners since we were hammering on the bikes all weekend on a jumpy SX-style track and they sure took some stress!
Hammer
PS I did Google Young's Modulus and while I get the physics (and less so the math) I'm just a Dad Mechanic.
that could avoid the steering damper problem. seems like it would be easy enough to access with an extension to check it without removing the number plate and you could even get the bolt and lock nut you would want, two bolts, etc.
Metallurgy is a bottomless pit of fun, used to run a rig that would strength test bolts... i pushed the button and a clever bloke watched the screen. When stuff goes, it goes with a bang.
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Just had a You Tube advert for Gedore Torque wrenches halfway through a video..
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Love the clamps though! I was getting real sick of the constant binding with the stock KTM triple clamps and these have eliminated that problem.
I think the post you are referring to was full of useful information and I learned something. I applaud the guy for coming on site and responding with specific detailed information in a timely fashion. You may object to him being too 'familiar' with the place or being witty or sarcastic, but I thought the post was well done, topical, timely, and competent.
Pit Row
I'm perfectly okay with not everyone liking how I ran things. 😄
The steering stem nut on the Austrian bikes doesn't really have a particular torque (despite the manual calling one out), it's an adjuster more than a structural bolt. It should be torqued to the bearing preload that's correct, and as you say, you like a little more preload, so you torque it a bit more.
I would recommend leaving the bolts alone unless you know something is twisted up. And in that case, it's no problem to loosen everything up and re-torque. You'll want to make sure there's plenty of anti-seize on all the bolts, both on the threads and under the bolt head, as that will help keep the torque/tension relationship consistent (and one of the reasons we specify using it), plus all of our torque specs are based on that, which is why they're lower than "normal".
Regarding the stem clamp bolt, so long as you're torqueing that correctly, using anti-seize, and not taking it apart a lot of times, it should be fine. It is cheap insurance to replace, though, should you feel better about that.
I wouldn't bet against Billy's ability to produce the best parts in this sport. Thanks for the excellent replies, Billy, always enjoy hearing your inputs.
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