Interview with Roczen‘s father about the problems with Honda

Money
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3/11/2023 10:52am

Now hes not only taking shots at the bike again but now hes taking shots at the team mechanic. This guys really is a piece of work 

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3/11/2023 11:40am
resetjet wrote:
Its funny how kens bike is great for the first 5 laps,  then it magically turns to shit and he starts losing positions. and yes his...

Its funny how kens bike is great for the first 5 laps,  then it magically turns to shit and he starts losing positions.

and yes his dad said the same sh$t at RCH.

I guess the bike is too good for him to win on. 

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3/11/2023 12:34pm

A Roczen complaining about the bike and team? I'm shocked. Usually Ken takes total responsibility and is level-headed, right?

 

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Boggins
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3/11/2023 12:52pm

Very strange....Japanese Factory program not listening to the rider / mechanic input?  According to the Factory teams, they know it all......Factory Yamaha, Factory Kawi, and now sounds like Factory Honda.  Stubborn mentality and their loss.   

Ferrandis and Tomac to Star, bike set up per rider preference = 4 straight championships.  They might be on to somthing Smile

'22 Honda chassis being worst ever?  The '09 Honda would give it a run for its money.

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The Shop

3/11/2023 2:09pm

Heiko talks like he is the most miserable person on earth. Unhappy about everything because nobody is listening to the person that knows it all, himself. 

 

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Rotaholic
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3/11/2023 2:29pm

He also complained about the suzuki but then dialed it in and rode like poetry and demolished the field that season.

Bikes don't have feelings, I have no issues with riders complaining about the bike, everything is a compromise.

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Money
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3/11/2023 2:30pm

How long till Ken’s German suspension guy comes over here to show them how to make the bike good lol. Roczen family is a bunch of clowns 

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kiwifan
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3/11/2023 2:42pm

Given Kenny's dads history then I take all his comments with a massive dose of salt

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3/11/2023 2:53pm
jjavaman wrote:
 That’s a stretch, didn’t VR46 leave Honda because they always say it’s the bike not the rider who wins? Didn’t VR46 win on a unproven Yamaha...

 That’s a stretch, didn’t VR46 leave Honda because they always say it’s the bike not the rider who wins? Didn’t VR46 win on a unproven Yamaha the 1st year after leaving Honda?

Tyler D wrote:

Poes law and all but i think he was being sardonic and judging by the downvotes he got it went over ppls heads idk

Sardonic. That’s a good word. 

That's the hard pack mx track in Italy.

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3/11/2023 2:56pm
Heiko talks like he is the most miserable person on earth. Unhappy about everything because nobody is listening to the person that knows it all, himself. ...

Heiko talks like he is the most miserable person on earth. Unhappy about everything because nobody is listening to the person that knows it all, himself. 

 

Yes, but he knows his shit!

He has groomed some fast fuckers.

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APLMAN99
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Fantasy
3/11/2023 3:24pm

That was painful. I hope at least part of it was due to poor translation, but I doubt it…..

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3/11/2023 11:46pm
And if Schwartz had ridden for Honda would he have beaten Rainey/ Yamaha? It doesn’t matter. Those were Schwantz’s cards and that’s it.    Schwantz was...

And if Schwartz had ridden for Honda would he have beaten Rainey/ Yamaha?

It doesn’t matter. Those were Schwantz’s cards and that’s it. 
 

Schwantz was arguably a better rider than Roczen and did more with what he had.

Roczen, good job last night. 

BCA2010
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3/12/2023 11:06am

Next year when (if) sextons on another bike an stops the weekly crashes heikos complaints will sound a little more true

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PNWMXer
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3/12/2023 11:56am
Boggins wrote:
Very strange....Japanese Factory program not listening to the rider / mechanic input?  According to the Factory teams, they know it all......Factory Yamaha, Factory Kawi, and now...

Very strange....Japanese Factory program not listening to the rider / mechanic input?  According to the Factory teams, they know it all......Factory Yamaha, Factory Kawi, and now sounds like Factory Honda.  Stubborn mentality and their loss.   

Ferrandis and Tomac to Star, bike set up per rider preference = 4 straight championships.  They might be on to somthing Smile

'22 Honda chassis being worst ever?  The '09 Honda would give it a run for its money.

Don’t forget the 97 250….

romain524
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3/12/2023 12:06pm
Money wrote:
How long till Ken’s German suspension guy comes over here to show them how to make the bike good lol. Roczen family is a bunch of...

How long till Ken’s German suspension guy comes over here to show them how to make the bike good lol. Roczen family is a bunch of clowns 

Tbh the Sölva guy is pretty good and knows how to work with Showa suspensions too. lol 

romain524
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3/12/2023 12:08pm

Yes, but he knows his shit!

He has groomed some fast fuckers.

Right! He isn’t liked but can’t deny that the Lawrence brothers wouldn’t be who they are now without guidance from him. He isn’t here to joke around!

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Spoonguy
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3/12/2023 12:11pm

Sure seems from Sexton, Roczen, WSBK, and MotoGP, Honda has a problem listening to their riders and making bikes that handle at race pace.

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Sandusky26
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3/12/2023 2:14pm

Anyone here Sexton say " were running a damper to get some stability out of the thing" 

I thought that was interesting. Roczen has been running the same set up for a few weeks now on his new bike and Honda is searching.

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Spoonguy
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3/12/2023 5:32pm

They are running a damper and can't get instability out of it with suspension, frame adjustments? How much is this team spending/ costing? Who is in charge?

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dan22
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3/12/2023 6:00pm
Spoonguy wrote:

Sure seems from Sexton, Roczen, WSBK, and MotoGP, Honda has a problem listening to their riders and making bikes that handle at race pace.

yep Sad sadly the old Dominating Honda has long gone. Just the 250s to be happy about and thats probably more the rider than the bike...

3/12/2023 6:16pm

One thing he was right about is how the bike behaved when Kenny got sent flying, the first one was at Monster Cup then obviously season proper, Gajser had multiple crashes where the Honda would just pitch him off the bike with no warning very similar to Ken's crashes.

But yeah who knows what's going on, behind the scenes.

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8tensolutions
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3/12/2023 6:32pm
Sandusky26 wrote:
Anyone here Sexton say " were running a damper to get some stability out of the thing"  I thought that was interesting. Roczen has been running...

Anyone here Sexton say " were running a damper to get some stability out of the thing" 

I thought that was interesting. Roczen has been running the same set up for a few weeks now on his new bike and Honda is searching.

We will see.  Larry Brooks openly stated they "found something" and Kenny confirmed the bike is great now.  No turning back from that so the question is.....Was it the conditions and circumstances last night that elevated Ken and Barcia to the podium, or did they figure out the speed to be at the front?  I hope it's the latter and we have 5 guys and maybe 6 if Anderson can jump in the mix for the remaining rounds.  

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MXMattii
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3/13/2023 5:11pm

Some manufacturers are easier to deal with than others. Honda & Yamaha are on the top of the list of difficult. Kawasaki for example isn't that hard, back in 2007 they changed all welds on their prototype frame because the rider wasn't happy with the original flex of the frame of something.

About suspension: back when everyone was struggling with the first generation of reversed engine Yamaha's, one of the few good steering bikes was the bike of Jeremy Delincé on Sölva suspension... In qualifying he was beating riders such as Van Horebeek, Strijbos, Ramon, ... on the technical track of Orp Le Grand.

Racing dirtbikes is also mentally, put Roczen for the outdoors on a KYB set-up straight from the workshop in Lommel and I'm pretty sure he will stiffen it up a bit and win the outdoors on the Suzuki.

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WowWowWubzy
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3/14/2023 9:49am

Wanna party with Ken's dad!  Must be a hookah there somewhere... image-20230314114855-1

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GrapeApe
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3/14/2023 10:21am
We will see.  Larry Brooks openly stated they "found something" and Kenny confirmed the bike is great now.  No turning back from that so the question...

We will see.  Larry Brooks openly stated they "found something" and Kenny confirmed the bike is great now.  No turning back from that so the question is.....Was it the conditions and circumstances last night that elevated Ken and Barcia to the podium, or did they figure out the speed to be at the front?  I hope it's the latter and we have 5 guys and maybe 6 if Anderson can jump in the mix for the remaining rounds.  

You just got yourself banned from the HEP autograph line

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8tensolutions
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3/14/2023 10:33am
We will see.  Larry Brooks openly stated they "found something" and Kenny confirmed the bike is great now.  No turning back from that so the question...

We will see.  Larry Brooks openly stated they "found something" and Kenny confirmed the bike is great now.  No turning back from that so the question is.....Was it the conditions and circumstances last night that elevated Ken and Barcia to the podium, or did they figure out the speed to be at the front?  I hope it's the latter and we have 5 guys and maybe 6 if Anderson can jump in the mix for the remaining rounds.  

GrapeApe wrote:

You just got yourself banned from the HEP autograph line

Haha!  Probably so, but if they “found something”, his level should be at or close to the front going forward right?

alex69
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3/14/2023 10:38am Edited Date/Time 3/14/2023 10:39am
Bearuno wrote:
 Heiko saying Sexton had the same frame as Gajser is a bit strange. Now, unlike what so many here think when it comes to the GPs...

 Heiko saying Sexton had the same frame as Gajser is a bit strange.

Now, unlike what so many here think when it comes to the GPs, not all the top riders are on Full Works bikes in the GPs.

But, Gajser had a  Work Honda Chassis last year. Hell, on this site when pictures came out of it, there was a long string of comments about how crap the welding looked on it  ( this years first pictures showed even more 'cobby' welds, by the way) . It certainly wasn't a std frame.

And, by US rules, a Works  Frame / Chassis is completely verboten (sorry couldn't resist my extremely limited German).

If Sexton had the same frame as Gajser, well, he would have been protested out of (both) the series. 

So, that being said by Heiko, does make one wonder about the rest of his interview.

Without a doubt, he's a Dad that loves and is concerned for his Son. But hasn't he 'gone off' a few years earlier, and / or a few times, about Kens different teams, that led to some problems?

 

you mean this one?

image-20230314183629-1

image-20230314183747-2

 

endurox
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3/14/2023 12:54pm

2016 HRC wanted to win and went full in with KR.  October testing started on his new team. This new race team was formed for the upcoming 2017 season.  The riders had the option to run what ever suspension they wanted. I believe Seeley ran KYB and KR ran Showa in 2017. Things started off great and the top Honda brass from Japan were drinking saki after A1. The team worked hard and still does. They want to win.  So what happened besides the major injury issues?

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