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I've read stories, including in Lewis's latest article on the KTM group, that Decoster makes parts for the teams he managers -- Yet i've never seen any examples?
They talk about a hub and axles here, but no pics https://www.cycleworld.com/roger-decoster-is-still-hardest-working-man-in-motocross/
What sort of things does he make? Say in the last 15 years at KTM what has he made? the article talks of a protection part on a master cylinder - any pics? This wouldn't give a performance advantage...
Anyway would love to see some pics or stories of specific things The Man has made?
Note: I'm sure their were plenty in the 80s but im more interested in the post 2000's
The Man at work in the KTM workshop below and I seem to remember that he’d regularly turn up prototype components like axles for testing.
I believe Roger is a "Old School" tool maker. I imagine he looks at every bit of the motorcycle and he makes each part 1-2% better. A chamfer here... A counter sink there. Maybe grind a surface a little flatter/smoother and square so something so it slides or interacts better. These old timers have the ability to build fixtures and hold crazy shape objects in manual machines (non CNC). I believe he has that skill more than most or he works at it more that most.
Guys like this are not going to whip out their 2000's era Zack Morris phone and take a picture of a recess he machined in a C clip groove in a internal engine/shock part. Aint happening. Its the littlest of things with guys like him and most of those things are not "photo" worthy.
Here is one of his wood working projects
Rog helps out and makes a lot of parts for forks and shocks. Lots of changes to the piston ports.
The Shop
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
look at all the excess material left on that axle head......
J/K
But I wonder why it is made that way with the cone shape coming out of the recess?
My dad was a master machinist and floor supervisor for over 30 years.
I worked at the shop where he worked after school and summer breaks.
Wish I had learned more setup and shortcuts on mills and lathes.
Every time I have had to have something machined it seems to take 3 times as long as what I know he could have done it.
It is a disappearing craft that I hope the Man is passing on to those under him.
All of those parts like the axel nut rog doesn’t make. Most of those pieces are made by bob at ARC
I'd say that cone shape is 100% for looks only.
yeah i guess, but surely there's some more specific details and specific things.
Even if their isn't pics
I agree with the detail part, but each would be photo worthy
. It's really cool that Roger has those skills!
The cone shape could be a taper for a live center tailstock on a lathe to support the bar stock as it's turned into the shape of an axle.
It would be inverted if that were the case. But this is a really short aluminum piece that's pressed into the axle, no need for a tailstock on such a short part.
This is simply the case of a designer making something that looks cool, it slipping through engineering checks, and the machine shop has to now deal with an annoying to machine feature. And the mismatched chamfers on the lug make me cringe. 😂
Inverted live centers/female live centers are a thing.
Could it be to prevent it packing with mud?
Sure, there are likely live center for any cone angle you want, inverted or not. But there's a reason they're standardized at 60 degrees and in the opposite direction. Regardless, this part has a length to diameter ratio less than one. I'd bet this is made on a Swiss machine with a sub-spindle. No live centers on the machine whatsoever.
It's possible that the profile is intended for ease of fixturing for the axle press assembly, but there's a self centering feature there already without that inner cone. I'd be really surprised if there was any practical function to the cone and it wasn't just some designer making it look cool. It happens all the time.
I thought I was the only one who could so masterfully fuck up a simple project…
I'm not sure how long the fuck up line is but I'm definitely in it.🙃
My guess and it's only a guess is that he didn't make the parts shown. It's entirely possible to make those on a knee mill with a dividing head but the time and trig would make it not worthwhile. My guess is he does more bracketry and 2d style milling. Sometimes you do that kind of stuff on a knee mill but it's just to remind you what you once could do. I spent 10+ years running a Parker Majestic surface grinder and it's tough even on one of those matching those blends.
Anybody found a picture of Placebo yet?
Just kidding....
It'd actually be pretty cool to see some real examples of stuff he's done but I'm guessing this far in without anything means we aren't gonna get anything. I give Decoster shit for being overrated but he is definitely from the the old guard who knows how to get stuff done, something tells me most the new Team Managers don't even know how to start up a milling machine let alone actually use it.
Pit Row
Its quite obvious why the chamfers on the lug are the way they are. So that as they go up towards the pinch bolts the chamfer diminishes for more stock and strength shrouding around the pinch bolts. The same size chamfer would negate the material so thin it would either be sharp enough to cut, or just have to be removed, not adding any protection to the titanium head. Not that it needs protection. But the offset chamfer is designed. Duh
That mismatched chamfer on the bottom of the lug has no benefit to the shock absorbtion or an increase in strength. If you ran a stress analysis in solidworks of this lug with 2 different size chamfers you would'nt see any significant difference, or difference at all between the two.
Someone just wanted to make a cool part, i've done the same shit as a CNC Machinist myself
Yes, that's obvious. What I'm getting at is that it would be much better if it were a variable chamfer for a smooth transition from the larger size to the smaller. As is, they just abruptly ended the larger chamfer, which is the lazy from a design and machining standpoint. A variable chamfer costs the same as doing it this way and looks much nicer. Plus the chamfer around the bolt area itself looks to be hacked in (perhaps hand deburred) rather than nicely machined.
It's worth noting that neither of these two parts I've been commenting on were made by Roger, these are just standard cone valve lugs and axle cap. The same general axle cap design is on all the stock bikes too.
To be clear, I only used the axle- fork lug photo as example, not to say Roger made them, and I also said I’d heard he made prototypes for testing, meaning it’s unlikely they end up as the finished product on the bike.
https://www.vitalmx.com/features/KTM-Factory-Shop-Tour-INSANE-Attention-To-Detail,7693
Heard he's gotten into making cowboy hats
Get with the time bro.
It's they / them live centers!
The Man's career is beyond legendary!
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