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I believe he started with KYB kit forks but felt the KYB tubes flexed too much(or too little?) with the steel frame and eventually went to WP outer tubes with KYB cartridges.
Everybody used to bash Kenny and call him a complainer and quitter but now everyone forgets that and says a different narrative like this thread here because it fits what they are pushing.
Yup, I remember Kenny hating for this, as I was part of it.
Yes, but I think he was notably better with the KYB inserts. What if KTM said we can’t do that anymore??? It could have contributed to why we are where we are with Chase.
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Don't think Savatgy would be big on demands.
Seems like a level headed guy to me.
Webb is running similar inserts i believe,
I never understood that. You can see when a package or bike gels with a particular rider. Kenny never really got comfy on the Honda, also an easy example to show it isn’t just the bike but communication of the team and rider. Look at Kenny in 2015 and 2016. Same bike, different setup and vastly different styles from Kenny.
.327 Magnum, easy mistake.
🤣🤪
I was thinking Nichols
Colt has fumbled every single 450 ride since his star title. Anyone remember his go at hrc?
I find it tough to believe the rides and offers he keeps getting.
Let’s be realistic here, it wasn’t suspension holding Reed back those last couple of years.
Plus it's also known the WP shock is not the problem. It's an amazing shock. It's the forks that people never really love.
That's what I thought as well. Chase is a title contender when things are right and has signed contracts with multiple teams since. Hard to imagine what he could ask for in this situation that would be insulting to someone. Nichols stock has gone down several negotiations in a row so if still negotiating as if coming off 250 title, I could see it.
He could’ve and was until the bike cut out on him mid air and destroyed his knee 🤷♂️
People don’t like the forks but it was the shock that Chase and Tom were having failures with. I think there was even reports that RJ was having similar issues on Husky
I seem to remember overheating of the rear shock and damping disappeared? Thought I remember 1 of the "fixes" was more vent slots in side panels or something? My memory isn't always perfect so could be mistaken 🤷♂️
People will still try to tell you there was never a problem, or that chase wanted the shock to defy physics, or something....?
nice find. musta had my Cheerios this morning
Pit Row
Tom also sat out a race because he felt like the shock was making the bike too unsafe to ride.
Strange that both bikes had the same issue. I think the issue was Chase got into Toms head as they are buds.
In a instagram post Tom said they had been having problems with broken fading shocks all summer.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DNymH_b2DuE/?ig_mid=88D881FB-250F-469B-B250…
Tom said the shock broke. Are you saying he imagined that?
lol, strange the same team had multiple issues with shocks and then when Prado first tested late ‘25 he also had issues. But it’s all in Chases head and then he corrupted Tom to believe he had the same issues 🙄
Not to mention the team went to an all new shock for 2026...
RJ went into it during an interview at one point as well. He and chase must keep their friendship a secret if chase's influence made it that far.
It's arguable that the factory KTM 250 was as hard for Tom to ride as the KX450 has been for Chase to ride and that his ability to win was affected because of it.
KTM and Kawasaki have both had riders describe their race bikes as "unsafe to ride at race pace" with Prado on Kawi and Tom on KTM. Both riders have validated their ability to perform since moving on, with Tom doing well on Honda and Prado on KTM.
Tony Cairoli won a lot on KTM. But he also had some rough years with KTM, didn't win much, stuck it out with KTM and handled it respectably, and came back to win titles and races.
I mean most of it has to do with a rider’s style and how they have to set the bike up to accommodate themselves. There’s also the variable of how long into the moto the rider is pushing the bike to its limits. Chase was allegedly also putting a completely different rear end on his KTM closer to the end of the day because of how much conditions were changing.
Kenny said he really like the 2017 Honda and his monster cup (2016) and first two rounds of SX in 2017 would show that. If not for that crash at A2 in 2017, I think Kenny would have a couple SX championships to his name rn.
“Kenny never really got comfy on the Honda..” Brother, I remember him kicking the living hell out of everyone like they were amateurs in ‘17 prior to his big one. After that I will agree with you, but I don’t know if it was the bike that was the issue necessarily.
I think the last round of changes to the chassis painted them in a corner with the problem. The GP bikes had a fix. Barcia also talked about it.
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