factory teams making riders run a setup they dont like

Me thinks Prado and Sexton are in this camp.  I hear Kawasaki are totally inflexible on certain components.   

mitch with the crossbars and triple clamps off a 1997 factory kx250. 


KTM with the Aldon concentration camp program. 

wiht the amount of different parts that have been on sextons bike this year, it doesnt seem so 

Wiemer seemed to think that, but that was 15 years ago and his team mate was winning titles at the same time, 

Was it Short who wanted to run the forklegs flush with the top tripleclamp, Honda techs said no..?

Jake Weimer joined the chat. 

Seems a lot of these riders don't even know what an air filter is or does, let alone where it is. In an interview a couple years ago I remember Chase, I believe, being confused as to what rake, trail, and triple clamps were. I don't think many can change a tire. They know what feel they like but not how to get it.

Nail on the head. 

None of the guys that ran the KTM WP air shock seemed enamored with it.

Yes, as this is not their Job.

Dave, not sure about the Suz but the year before on team Maico we were not allowed to run anything but the stock shocks (we could change springs) and they were garbage so we were revalving and changing internals from the Winter Am’s on without letting them know…by the time Sel found out Al was running top 5 at the nationals so he stuck his neck out by not saying anything to Maico in Germany…..Sel is now DeCoster’s boss at KTM.

Maybe I'm wrong but the bitching about bike set up seems to be happening more frequently then it used to be . Maybe its just my brain not remembering the guys from 10 ,15 20 years ago blaming the bike constantly. 

How would we have heard about it back then?   They didn't print stuff like that in cyclenews

I believe this was factory yamaha before star yamaha came out. 

seems like guys attempting to change teams are not asking any questions when they test ride a new bike ahead of contract signing? Like "is this the only option for suspension or do I get to try a few setups that worked for me before to maximize the potential here?". Maybe they are withholding any negative concerns/comments to get the contract signed and expect the team will HAVE to accommodate them later or look bad?

Yaa, the Japanese said it was dangerous, Shorty said he was running them flush on his practice bikes and was faster and never had a problem lol

If a rider with some kind of technical background can articulate what he wants in actual terms, then there is no reason not to run the bike with those settings. Test via laptimes to determine the best adjustments if you must, but adhering to "official" setups is nothing more than chest-thumping pride on the part of the team engineers. It is illogical and can only lead to lesser performance. 

The internet was around 20 years ago

You mean Baker’s PED factory? 

Was James posting JGR compaints to his MySpace?

RV was a stud but his riding style was drastically different than Wiemer. A fast bike and a fast rider are going to be quick at the pro level. They are chasing tenths of a second to try to be faster than the other guys so comfort and predictability do matter. The top ten guys in outdoors are all on the same lap at the end of the race, so roughly no more than 2 minutes back after 35 minutes of racing. That’s 6-9 seconds a lap. 
Jake was always a traction guy and RV was a slider and heavy throttle guy and Kawi tried to make Jake run a similar setup to RV. You know that’s not going to work for him. 
Kawi has had a reputation in the American paddock for being fairly rigid regarding their bike setup. It works well when they have riders that have similar riding styles to how they want the bikes and the components they want to use but when riders want to deviate from that and search for something that fits the rider better Kawi doesn’t seem like they are on board. 

Kawi has had a reputation in the American paddock for being fairly rigid regarding their bike setup. It works well when they have riders that have similar riding styles to how they want the bikes and the components they want to use but when riders want to deviate from that and search for something that fits the rider better Kawi doesn’t seem like they are on board. 

Well the fact that the Tomac's and others have said there are things Kawi will not allow it seems to be a thing with them. 

Ok sure, but it would help them with their job if they new how the machine works.

Every brand has said no to things over the years.  Tedesco wanted to run a modded stocker in 08.  Honda said no.

I think it is more common now. Glover never bitched about racing an air cooled production YZ against Bailey's works Hondas. Ward's Kawasakis lacked against works Hondas as well.

Hmm no, history shows otherwise. So I disagree. Some all time greats have not much clue about that. As far as I know Deegan has literally zero clue about how his machine works too.

Will have to disagree friend. Knowledge of how it all works can't hurt. Have you ever listened to a Kenny Roberts interview? There was a man who knew how scooters work!

some riders just make it work.. no matter the bike

To be fair, Jeremy and RC were a step above the majority of their competitors and were winning with what they had.

You can guarantee RC, if not Jeremy, would have been coming down hard on bike shortcomings had there been people regularly beating them!

Pump the brakes, just a touch. 

MC rode a 1993 CR in 93, 94, 95, and 96. It was just disguised to look like the modern model year. 

When he went to Suzuki, he had to have an inverted fork, while Larocco and others were forced to race the conventional fork. 

Can’t quite remember what MC didn’t like about the Yamaha. But he made them change it. 

The KTM was so bad it forced him in to retirement to get out of his contract. 

Don’t mean to cloud this issue with insignificant facts and trivia……….

...Which is INSANE. Who wouldn't want their stock bike to be raced as-is by a factory rider? I could write up 10 press releases or promos about "Tede-stock-o" right now. They would have sold more bikes, for sure.

"Tedesco's STOCK is rising!"
"STOCK the shelves with Ivan Tedesco at your local Am/Pm"
"When STOCK works, works is unnecessary"
"STOCK up on race wins this year, just like Ivan!"