Roczen goes Soft and is a Changed Man

Johnny Depp
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Johnny Depp
Interesting tidbit about KR94 usind JB10's suspension that he had used in wins in Euro SX and Aussie SX races.

"In the days following the Anaheim 1 opener, where Ken Roczen finished sixth, he and Team Honda HRC returned to the test track with an agenda; make the suspension softer and more comfortable. After two long days of testing, Roczen and his squad were satisfied and eager to try the setup in race conditions in St. Louis. "We put in a lot of work this week and today it really showed," Roczen said. "We ended up softening the front end to a similar setting that Justin [Brayton] runs, then went back to a similar shock setup that I ran last year. I got the opportunity to ride it more on Friday during press day, which was really nice to see how the bike would work in the softer conditions prior to the race. We made a few adjustments throughout the day, but for the most part it was great. Now that I think we have a good setup, I can just start focusing on the riding and putting in laps."
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Zycki11
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Zycki11 1/26/2020 7:20am
1/26/2020 7:20am
They mentioned he was running forks stiffer than Mookie at A1 and decided not to change it. JB doesn’t have soft forks by any means. He does run an extremely soft sagging shock which allows him to crush the whoops. Either way, pumped to see Kenny comfortable and fast.
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agn5009
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agn5009 1/26/2020 7:23am
1/26/2020 7:23am
The speed has been there for Kenny. Hes just putting everything together right now and that includes great starts. Tomac better get those figured out if he expects to win this championship.
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captmoto
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captmoto 1/26/2020 7:38am
1/26/2020 7:38am
agn5009 wrote:
The speed has been there for Kenny. Hes just putting everything together right now and that includes great starts. Tomac better get those figured out if...
The speed has been there for Kenny. Hes just putting everything together right now and that includes great starts. Tomac better get those figured out if he expects to win this championship.
I don't get it. None of the 2020 bike are new generation models. How do the teams not have any settings for this year. I heard during the broadcast that Tomac was chasing some settings. Why? The 20 bike is unchanged from 19. All those settings from 19 should work in 2020. I would expect a rider moving into the 450s to have set up issues but AC seems to be making it work.
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Johnny Depp
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Johnny Depp 1/26/2020 7:53am
1/26/2020 7:53am
agn5009 wrote:
The speed has been there for Kenny. Hes just putting everything together right now and that includes great starts. Tomac better get those figured out if...
The speed has been there for Kenny. Hes just putting everything together right now and that includes great starts. Tomac better get those figured out if he expects to win this championship.
captmoto wrote:
I don't get it. None of the 2020 bike are new generation models. How do the teams not have any settings for this year. I heard...
I don't get it. None of the 2020 bike are new generation models. How do the teams not have any settings for this year. I heard during the broadcast that Tomac was chasing some settings. Why? The 20 bike is unchanged from 19. All those settings from 19 should work in 2020. I would expect a rider moving into the 450s to have set up issues but AC seems to be making it work.
In the Vital after race interview Forkner also makes clear there were setting changes this week, although he was careful not to detail them. How are we 3 races in and they are still searching and fiddling around?

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Zycki11
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Zycki11 1/26/2020 7:56am
1/26/2020 7:56am
Forkners was purely based on whoop speed. He seems off this year in the whoops. Some riders are just not good at setting a bike up. Just like last week and you and I riding. We have days the bike is amazing and days where you just feel like your hitting every little dirt pebble. That’s what makes this game so fun
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SX-Andy
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SX-Andy 1/26/2020 7:57am
1/26/2020 7:57am
You mean his ‘statement’ after A1 may not have just been ‘excuses’ but an actual explanation of the issue?
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Johnny Depp
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Johnny Depp 1/26/2020 8:06am
1/26/2020 8:06am
SX-Andy wrote:
You mean his ‘statement’ after A1 may not have just been ‘excuses’ but an actual explanation of the issue?
He wasn't so crazy after all huh? After watching many SX rider's skate the front end, I wonder how many more could benefit from this type of setup? Malcolm can sometimes destroy the whoops, but he's not so impressive anywhere else.
feelit2morrow 1/26/2020 8:43am
1/26/2020 8:43am
captmoto wrote:
I don't get it. None of the 2020 bike are new generation models. How do the teams not have any settings for this year. I heard...
I don't get it. None of the 2020 bike are new generation models. How do the teams not have any settings for this year. I heard during the broadcast that Tomac was chasing some settings. Why? The 20 bike is unchanged from 19. All those settings from 19 should work in 2020. I would expect a rider moving into the 450s to have set up issues but AC seems to be making it work.
I'm sure they use those as a base. But the track change from practice to mains is huge. Can you image me how different it would be from the prior year with different jumps, corners, ruts, moisture etc.. For us mortals I'm sure it's as simple as run what ya brung and we would be fine. But for these guys on the razors edge where 1 clicker makes the difference between winning and squeezing out a podium it makes a difference.
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lawson34
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lawson34 1/26/2020 8:45am
1/26/2020 8:45am
I think they all thought to have things dialed, but against the the other teams they were wrong... Did u notice how much lower eli was over the big triples last week that wasnt the case last night... Kenny looks dialed gonna be a fun season
kiwifan
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kiwifan 1/26/2020 11:18am
1/26/2020 11:18am
agn5009 wrote:
The speed has been there for Kenny. Hes just putting everything together right now and that includes great starts. Tomac better get those figured out if...
The speed has been there for Kenny. Hes just putting everything together right now and that includes great starts. Tomac better get those figured out if he expects to win this championship.
captmoto wrote:
I don't get it. None of the 2020 bike are new generation models. How do the teams not have any settings for this year. I heard...
I don't get it. None of the 2020 bike are new generation models. How do the teams not have any settings for this year. I heard during the broadcast that Tomac was chasing some settings. Why? The 20 bike is unchanged from 19. All those settings from 19 should work in 2020. I would expect a rider moving into the 450s to have set up issues but AC seems to be making it work.
The suspension they use it not off the production floor, it is highly likely they have new suspension units compared to previous years, they must therefore need new baseline setup. Clearly they didnt have that at the first round (but was ok on test track), now they have it sorted the bike is working well for Kenny. Same goes for Eli.

Well thats my theory anyways.
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kiwifan
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kiwifan 1/26/2020 11:20am
1/26/2020 11:20am
SX-Andy wrote:
You mean his ‘statement’ after A1 may not have just been ‘excuses’ but an actual explanation of the issue?
lol bloody good point lol
rongi#401
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rongi#401 1/26/2020 11:25am
1/26/2020 11:25am
You would think they’d find a good setup and just leave it....no need to re invent the wheel every 6 months.
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Forty
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Forty 1/26/2020 11:43am
1/26/2020 11:43am
On an extreme amateur level as soon as I ride practice for a race I begin to decide how soft I can go with the suspension. If there are no big hits or reasons to leave it stiff I start making clicker adjustments. At my age the hits to my joints are adding up so I want it as soft as possible while still being able to negotiate the track.

BobbyM
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BobbyM 1/26/2020 11:59am
1/26/2020 11:59am
rongi#401 wrote:
You would think they’d find a good setup and just leave it....no need to re invent the wheel every 6 months.
Stop striving for perfection? Yer fired.
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aees
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aees 1/26/2020 12:23pm
1/26/2020 12:23pm
rongi#401 wrote:
You would think they’d find a good setup and just leave it....no need to re invent the wheel every 6 months.
BobbyM wrote:
Stop striving for perfection? Yer fired.
Of course everyone need to evolve. If Tomac would find a better setting, roczen need to improve, which means Webb need to follow and so on. All it takes is the fear of someone improving. Roczen is a good example. If he would have stayed still from A1, Tomac would be fine.

You can't assume no one evolves during off season and it is status quo.

Carmichael just explained that why he switched brands from kawi to Honda was just that he was afraid that McGrath would be on a better package and he would be left behind.

In fact, Carmichael said the only reason he did any evolvement at all was the fear of anyone else improving more then he and he would get beat.

Not looking to evolve has brought down many. Reed is another example. Basicall you can't live on old merit's (or settings).

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zehn
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zehn 1/26/2020 12:29pm
1/26/2020 12:29pm
I was under the impression that he always had a fairly soft setup and that was maybe partially to blame for his crash and injury in 2017.

I was at A1 in 2017, his bike was so plush and controlled compared to other riders', like he was controlling the thing with his mind.
kiwifan
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kiwifan 1/26/2020 12:32pm
1/26/2020 12:32pm
zehn wrote:
I was under the impression that he always had a fairly soft setup and that was maybe partially to blame for his crash and injury in...
I was under the impression that he always had a fairly soft setup and that was maybe partially to blame for his crash and injury in 2017.

I was at A1 in 2017, his bike was so plush and controlled compared to other riders', like he was controlling the thing with his mind.
probably a fine line between soft and too soft?
zehn
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zehn 1/26/2020 12:34pm
1/26/2020 12:34pm
kiwifan wrote:
probably a fine line between soft and too soft?
No doubt there
thephoenix 1/26/2020 1:32pm
1/26/2020 1:32pm
Zycki11 wrote:
They mentioned he was running forks stiffer than Mookie at A1 and decided not to change it. JB doesn’t have soft forks by any means. He...
They mentioned he was running forks stiffer than Mookie at A1 and decided not to change it. JB doesn’t have soft forks by any means. He does run an extremely soft sagging shock which allows him to crush the whoops. Either way, pumped to see Kenny comfortable and fast.
Soft....saggy...shock...whoops...aka RC setup.

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