Posts
2613
Joined
4/1/2008
Location
Britton, MI
US
RIP Ron Hamp
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One of the great minds when it came to small engine performance.
The Shop
Anyone know what happened?
Sounds like a great guy from the story ehr400 told.....
RIP Ron
Ron was a colleague and a friend.
KC
My condolences to the Hamp family.
RIP Ron.
His passing is not news that I wanted open my browser and see this morning.
Great guy. Will be sorely missed.
Ron sent me his full on ported head, valves, and camshaft - along with a custom Yoshimura header/ Supertrapp silencer exhaust. Told me to run a Wiseco 13.5:1 piston and U4 fuel. Even helped me dial in the jetting via phone calls while I was at the track. That motor was a BEAST. Holeshots were easy. Local fast guys rode it and came off the track with wide eyes and a smile!
He was an amazing personality, he will deffinitely be missed. RIP
Pit Row
I purchased from Ron ahead for a CRF250 12 years ago and found him to be a super straight shooter and a wealth of information. Everything he told me was 100% true when I tested it. We’d talk about competitors’ products I purchased, how they performed and Ron would just nail how things would work every time. I remember him telling me about a certain cam “it will hit hard in the middle which will trick you into thinking you’re going faster, but it just creates wheel spin. It will be slower on the track. XYZ cam on the other hand won’t have that hit but it will pull sooner and smoother and you’ll be faster.” This is EXACTLY what happened when I tried both products. I was hooked. All the other guys just tried to BS me with crap. My stuff ROCKS! Ron… NEVER would do such a thing. He was real. Knew it from years of experience. NO BS.
He was 100% right every time. Never missed. Not once!
Over the years since then I would reach out to Ron to talk about the motorcycle industry every month or so. I would try and help him with his business, as it was clear he was a rare talent and a wonderful person. And I know high level talent that is well known in the industry. There is only one that I would put on Ron’s level and he’s pretty much help develop all the race gas used in Auto and Motorcycle racing in the USA. Ron and I would talk about what’s he’s up to and the teams he’s doing stuff for behind the scenes (master heads for satellite and major teams….… etc.). Cam’s he’s working on and who is using them. Throttle body inserts when FI showed up on dirt bikes, velocities, port shapes, valve seat angles, etc. What works and what is window dressing.
Simply put, Ron Hamp was a class act. He did everything with integrity. THIS is VERY rare today. Sadly. He was always available to help or just converse to catch up. I valued what he did and how he did it. I’m a degreed engineer, and frankly folks like Ron kick a degreed person’s ass in expertise and capabilities in areas they love EVERY single time. He knew exactly what he was doing and put the time in and it showed. NOTHING trumps hard work.
I will miss Ron.
He was a super nice guy and I was grateful for the work he did on my CRF. It was a testament to his work that he had a waiting list, a testament to him that he made sure everyone got completed.
Back in the day, he would offer his help on Thumpertalk and provide assistance wherever he could.
A sad day to lose a great guy.
Great Write up!!! A++++
My valves went out at 20 hours. And, I found Ron through the infant stages of Thumper Talk.com as well. Anyhow, I rang him up, we chatted a bit and I told him what I basically wanted. #1 Honda reliability back. Although costing a bit more than a top end rebuild for a 2-stoke, it still wasn't all that much money (at the time) for a port job, new valves, shims and seats. The head came back ready to bolt on in about 8-10 days. He wasn't sure the valves would be exactly in spec but offered to help guide me through having it running again quickly. Needless to say, it took a couple kicks to fire up once I got it all back together. Yuh gotta remember, this was '03 and my first intro to 4-stokes after many years-n-years on Honda CR 250s 2-smokes. Shims, uhh, what's that? Ironically, this was the same experience to many others as well that hopped on the ole thumper band wagon and experienced early valve failure by the radical engine technology. Anyhow, the thing literally breathed fire out the exhaust when lit up at night and I cracked the throttle after a bike wash. I think I went through a couple packings in my OEM exhausts for a couple years later. Back then, people would switch right over to aftermarket exhaust systems. Folks here's a hint: Honda builds some bad ass stock stuff. Following Ron's recommendation, I just kept my exhaust stock and bought a couple extra exhausts off E-bay for less than 100 bucks a pop. LOL...other than replacing the cans, I never put a wrench on it again. Never ! ! ! ! I sold it a few years later to move up to an '06 model that was better suspended. Then to an '08 which was the end all to end all flag ship in 4-stroke MX. Now on a '19 CRF450R. The brute power of my '19 reminds me of the '03. Basically an absolute 'monsta' that needs to be respected by a non-pro vet rider. After reading though all of these very sincere posts, I think one would gather that Mr. Ron Hamp was to 4-stroke performance what Neil Peart (RUSH) is/was to his custom made drum sets. Both pure music and insanity in the making - and the ability to be the absolute BEST at their game!!! In closing, I looked Ron up today to pass along his services to a friend that's now into flat tracking a 450-CRF. I assured him, IF he really wanted the winningest machine on the track, Ron would be the first and Only one to call. Sad news. R.I.P. (((Ron H.)))
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