Factory Rides

slat
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slat
Edited Date/Time 1/25/2012 7:08pm
According to RacerX 2009 teams there are 45 factory rides available if you count TLD Red Bull Honda and Xtreme Team Green. Is this a healthy number for our sport? Has there ever been a point in history with more available rides? The number seemed a little high especially with our economy.
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ck95
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ck95 11/20/2008 4:56pm
11/20/2008 4:56pm
what do you consider a factory ride? the 2 you mentionned are not factory. traditionally, a factory ride means directly for honda, yamaha, etc., and there's only 12 or so of those. years ago, late 70's early 80's there were 7-8 factory riders per team, so i'd say today's rides are fewer at that level.

but, there are more factory supported teams, the pro circuits, geico's, etc, that weren't around back then.
xnationalwrench 11/20/2008 5:10pm
11/20/2008 5:10pm
In the late 70's before you heard the phrase "satellite team" the factories did give some of the performance shops parts and a limited amount of bikes for the shops sponsored National racers. They just didn't want it to get out so to it would look like the racers like the bikes so much that the public would be impressed and buy them also.
slat
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slat 11/20/2008 5:11pm
11/20/2008 5:11pm
factory supported teams count... otherwise half the manufacturers would not have any factory lites riders.. I would think that extreme team green would count. Arn't they factory supported? I thought TLD was factory supported too, or was that just last year?
UpTiTe 11/20/2008 5:44pm
11/20/2008 5:44pm
Most satelite teams pay for their stuff. A satelite factory team would be Gieco, and P.C. both get all their bikes for free but Gieco pays for their suspension. Star and extreme team green are factory support. Factory and factory support is two completely different things.

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mcphilly
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mcphilly 11/20/2008 5:46pm
11/20/2008 5:46pm
sure they are factory supported but that doesnt mean they get all the trick factory parts. Once you start getting some wins and podiums I am sure the trick parts start rolling in. I herd that Windham still gets the trick Honda parts on his bike like suspension and stuff
UpTiTe 11/20/2008 5:49pm
11/20/2008 5:49pm
Nope, everything on Windams bike is Factory Connection built, no factory suspension. About every satelite team except P.C. buys their suspension.
mcphilly
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mcphilly 11/20/2008 5:56pm
11/20/2008 5:56pm
are you saying that stewarts bike isnt a Factory yamaha bike with different grafics
UpTiTe 11/20/2008 6:06pm
11/20/2008 6:06pm
No I am not saying that at all, but James isnt a factory rider now.
ThePipe
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ThePipe 11/20/2008 6:26pm
11/20/2008 6:26pm Edited Date/Time 4/16/2016 9:16pm
mx317
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mx317 11/20/2008 7:47pm
11/20/2008 7:47pm
UpTiTe wrote:
Nope, everything on Windams bike is Factory Connection built, no factory suspension. About every satelite team except P.C. buys their suspension.
Windham's bike is full factory according to his mechanic Lars in this article.
http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/295/1386/Motorcycle-Article/Behind-Kevin-…
UpTiTe 11/20/2008 7:58pm
11/20/2008 7:58pm
In 07 he did have a factory bike, but not this year.
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mx317 11/21/2008 4:41am
11/21/2008 4:41am
UpTiTe wrote:
In 07 he did have a factory bike, but not this year.
If this year you mean 08, he still had factory suspension and parts from Honda. This is a newer interview that says they are doing the facory suspension "in house", but it is still factory suspension. http://www.motocross.com/articles/article/news/20080129/kevin_windham_i…
ck95
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ck95 11/21/2008 8:44am
11/21/2008 8:44am
mcphilly wrote:
are you saying that stewarts bike isnt a Factory yamaha bike with different grafics
stewarts bike is a factory yamaha...but as the others pointed out, many of the "support" teams are not true "factory" teams. just getting bikes supplied doesn't make it a factory team in the classic sense of the term.
UpTiTe 11/21/2008 8:50am
11/21/2008 8:50am
UpTiTe wrote:
In 07 he did have a factory bike, but not this year.
mx317 wrote:
If this year you mean 08, he still had factory suspension and parts from Honda. This is a newer interview that says they are doing the...
If this year you mean 08, he still had factory suspension and parts from Honda. This is a newer interview that says they are doing the facory suspension "in house", but it is still factory suspension. http://www.motocross.com/articles/article/news/20080129/kevin_windham_i…
Windams bike had factory components but not straight factory suspension. The fork houseings and the shock body were factory but the iners were all F.C. and they had to buy them.

In 07 Honda was supplying F.C. with full factory bike for Windam, but not un 08.
WhKnuckle
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WhKnuckle 11/21/2008 8:57am
11/21/2008 8:57am
If it's a confusing question, whether a particular bike is "factory" or not, I'd say that's a good sign for the sport in general...
slat
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slat 11/21/2008 9:14am
11/21/2008 9:14am
WhKnuckle wrote:
If it's a confusing question, whether a particular bike is "factory" or not, I'd say that's a good sign for the sport in general...
I will definitely have to agree with that. Especially when we can have privateers running upfront with factory guys.. Cunningham and Cooper this year. I wonder how big of a difference the bike makes for guys like sh105. Was the environment better when he switched to factory (just worrying about racing, not money or transportation) or was it really the bike at that level of riding?
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-eagle- 11/21/2008 10:37am
11/21/2008 10:37am
Has anyone compared the # of support rides in the 250f's vs 450's.
Seems like a 450 would be cheaper to run too.
mx317
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mx317 11/21/2008 3:38pm
11/21/2008 3:38pm
UpTiTe wrote:
Windams bike had factory components but not straight factory suspension. The fork houseings and the shock body were factory but the iners were all F.C. and...
Windams bike had factory components but not straight factory suspension. The fork houseings and the shock body were factory but the iners were all F.C. and they had to buy them.

In 07 Honda was supplying F.C. with full factory bike for Windam, but not un 08.
You seem to know more about Windham's bike than Windham does.

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vet954
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vet954 11/21/2008 3:57pm
11/21/2008 3:57pm
Factory/Satelite/etc. it does not matter.

You mean to tell me that there are only 45 guys who don't race out of the back of a pickup truck?

I wouldnt consider that healthy for any type of profesional motorsport even lawnmower racing.
RMZ819
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RMZ819 11/21/2008 4:37pm
11/21/2008 4:37pm
vet954 wrote:
Factory/Satelite/etc. it does not matter. You mean to tell me that there are only 45 guys who don't race out of the back of a pickup...
Factory/Satelite/etc. it does not matter.

You mean to tell me that there are only 45 guys who don't race out of the back of a pickup truck?

I wouldnt consider that healthy for any type of profesional motorsport even lawnmower racing.
Only 15 of those guys make any money. The rest of the riders are prostitutes to the Promoters
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BobbyM 11/21/2008 4:52pm
11/21/2008 4:52pm
vet954 wrote:
Factory/Satelite/etc. it does not matter. You mean to tell me that there are only 45 guys who don't race out of the back of a pickup...
Factory/Satelite/etc. it does not matter.

You mean to tell me that there are only 45 guys who don't race out of the back of a pickup truck?

I wouldnt consider that healthy for any type of profesional motorsport even lawnmower racing.
RMZ819 wrote:
Only 15 of those guys make any money. The rest of the riders are prostitutes to the Promoters
GP's or nats? high priced or low? stilettos or flip flops?
UpTiTe 11/21/2008 5:16pm
11/21/2008 5:16pm
UpTiTe wrote:
Windams bike had factory components but not straight factory suspension. The fork houseings and the shock body were factory but the iners were all F.C. and...
Windams bike had factory components but not straight factory suspension. The fork houseings and the shock body were factory but the iners were all F.C. and they had to buy them.

In 07 Honda was supplying F.C. with full factory bike for Windam, but not un 08.
mx317 wrote:
You seem to know more about Windham's bike than Windham does.
More then windam? No, but more then most.
prozach
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prozach 11/21/2008 5:17pm
11/21/2008 5:17pm
Racerx listed all the teams and riders the other day. Think I counted 63 total rides!!!! That is an insane amount. Sure not all of them a making bank, but they are getting their bikes to the tracks and are making a living off of it. Only leaves room for 17 back of the truck type guys at a national and none at a supercross.
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englishman 11/21/2008 5:18pm
11/21/2008 5:18pm Edited Date/Time 4/16/2016 9:17pm
vet954 wrote:
Factory/Satelite/etc. it does not matter. You mean to tell me that there are only 45 guys who don't race out of the back of a pickup...
Factory/Satelite/etc. it does not matter.

You mean to tell me that there are only 45 guys who don't race out of the back of a pickup truck?

I wouldnt consider that healthy for any type of profesional motorsport even lawnmower racing.
RMZ819 wrote:
Only 15 of those guys make any money. The rest of the riders are prostitutes to the Promoters
Well at least the U.S guys don't have to pay 10 thousand Euros for the pleasure of lining a promotors pockets like they do in Europe !! Sad


How f'ed is it that the G.P's went from start money to none, prize money to none and now you have to PAY to race !! What a joke.Angry
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davis224 11/21/2008 5:44pm
11/21/2008 5:44pm
UpTiTe wrote:
In 07 he did have a factory bike, but not this year.
mx317 wrote:
If this year you mean 08, he still had factory suspension and parts from Honda. This is a newer interview that says they are doing the...
If this year you mean 08, he still had factory suspension and parts from Honda. This is a newer interview that says they are doing the facory suspension "in house", but it is still factory suspension. http://www.motocross.com/articles/article/news/20080129/kevin_windham_i…
UpTiTe wrote:
Windams bike had factory components but not straight factory suspension. The fork houseings and the shock body were factory but the iners were all F.C. and...
Windams bike had factory components but not straight factory suspension. The fork houseings and the shock body were factory but the iners were all F.C. and they had to buy them.

In 07 Honda was supplying F.C. with full factory bike for Windam, but not un 08.
that's how I understood it.
slat
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slat 11/22/2008 10:32am
11/22/2008 10:32am
prozach wrote:
Racerx listed all the teams and riders the other day. Think I counted 63 total rides!!!! That is an insane amount. Sure not all of them...
Racerx listed all the teams and riders the other day. Think I counted 63 total rides!!!! That is an insane amount. Sure not all of them a making bank, but they are getting their bikes to the tracks and are making a living off of it. Only leaves room for 17 back of the truck type guys at a national and none at a supercross.
When 63 total rides but 45 of them receive factory parts i believe or at least thought and make more decent money... im not sure about the other 18 riders with rides. enough to pay the bills barely? how much do those guys really make with say a suzuki city ride?

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