Moto-Brian

You are up north so, I would check out Fasttrax's track days to see what goes on. Or, drive about an hour and watch the folks at Mid-Ohio. Essentially, track days are all pretty much the same as stated. Only a few have Novice programs and really, I would suggest to just tape her up and go for it! The novice groups are designed to be user friendly and you will get more instruction than free for all riding. The reason being is that street riding and track riding are as polar opposite as man and woman. If you go to a track day, there's no pit bitch work to be done other than help with stands and maybe warmers. You are also not going to get a real gist of what goes down as you will only be watching bikes come and go and hear announcements. You are welcome to come to an STT event of ours and actually sit in on our novice program and hear what is told to the riders. I cannot obviously speak for every other org, but we could allow that. But, I would just do it. Sign up and get out there.

PVC pipe stand. See www.MTBR.com Search homemade bike stand...

It's cool and we will be back tomorrow to watch the Indy guys. Thing is, though it is really boring. You only see machine out there. Sure, the way the car works and the way it moves, but it is really tough watching vs. watching man on machine like the bikes... Fucking fast though! 1:07s!! Really cool. But, boring...

They also do not use the chicane the bikes do... Not saying it would make them closer to bikes, but the bikes are production based where they are not... Anyways, we will be there. Watching from the 5th floor of the tower! We're really there for the LeMans cars. Indy cars are spec now and it is cool to watch for a while, but not near as cool as they used to be...

Easy fix and really suggest a manual tensioner as the RMZ (earlier year models) riders do...

Simple OHM resistor and you don't need the ignition. It's what we do to our race prepped bikes as well as every other racer out there. GSXR question and the man with the most knowledge? Reuben at 35 Motorsports. Tell him I sent ya. Call and he can probably send you the diagram. Easy as pie. 317-850-3884

Can't order from a Toyota dealer and the prices the people get for them is usually $1800-$2500 a set... A LOT better wheels for lesser money out there. Although, I am with ya. I think they are baller. I went with the Pro Comp wheels... Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Go with Toyota Team Trails mirrors, wings, grill, facias. All black and all genuine Yota stuff. I got some Pro Comp matte black wheels and Stubbs Sliders since this pic: Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Dude, why do you copy everything I do? Now, we're going to be gay wonder twins everywhere we go. At least you now have a true off road machine vs. that off road 4x4 car of yours... Fag. By the way, Happy Birthday. I hate you.

Tie downs from rafters... easy. Or, hillbilly version from PVC pipe...

It's available. Might be through this week if interested. I'm willing to make deals, too. I gotts get it out of my garage!

Dude, we gotta get the lamest pic of Justin and make a life sized cut out. I'll go in and act like a stalker and walk around with the cut out screamin "Where's Justin? I wanna wear his skin!" Whaddya say? It's too good to pass up!

Yup.

Wow. Really cool and inspiring. Just goes to show the size of one's heart and passion towards something. Never say "quit"!

Well, if there the last four years, you'd know there used to be Ducati, Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Yamaha and KTM. We were the only ones... The vendor row used to be not only the area you were in, but also to teh east. It was shoulder to shoulder... Shops like Pony, Hinds, Comp Access., you guys, a few dealers vending from other states, etc. Add in that No Fear used to come, Arai, Scorpion, No-Mar, Race Girl, Photo image vendors, Misc gypsy style vendors, etc., etc.,... All not there with exception to you and Pony. I also never stated anything as being fault of Mid-Ohio. The fact is that 2009 was the year it really fell. This year was worse - you even acknowledge that fact. The deal is simple - more spectators, more selling. More selling, more allowance from budgets to come to events. You guys are local. I know for Scorpion and other distributors/manufacturers, this year at AMA events is too much cost for return received... The amount of money required to setup, rent the space, pay the employees, fuel for travel, hotels, food, etc are all higher than the return they have been getting. The OEMs are the same way. They do not sell at these events, but it is a show that says people are not buying motorcycles right now. Don't even ask what Honda was down vs. 2009 and then vs 2008, 2007, etc. The idea is that their budgets cannot justify being there or anywhere, in fact. I bring all this up to try and promote things to think about. What can YOU do to get it better? Saying it was fine is ok to do, but based on your expenses, what was the return? How much did you sell? Giving exposure is tough to put a price tag on, but it certainly is a helpful thing. I think local folks are sure to benefit from being there. I know Wally sold a good amount of KTM casual and accessories. Enough to make the weekend profitable - even if by a slight margin... I hope you have a good return, but please understand what I am getting at. The racing needs to be better. OEMs need to be included and come to events. If people aren't willing to come, why should they, right? What can be done to get more fans in this tough economy? What can we do to make the racing more like it used o be? Like WSBK? Like MotoGP? examples would be good. Don't let my comments cloud what is being said. I am asking...

Dude, mad camera skills. Awesome pics! Were you able to get into the camera holes within the fences?

My first high speed run came on a new ZX-11 we received in the shop. At that time, there was nothing faster. It actually was a good handling bike back then, as well. GLWS - cool machine.

Here we go again, Ben... I am talking on a business level from a company point of view. Even a racer/spectator point of view at times... You guys sat in a camp ground (that was very much less populated than years past) and drank beer and watched motorcycles run around. If you had a great time, fabulous. The ideas about why it was less attended, why vendors were literally in single % numbers vs. years past is what I am referring to. Not the quality of the time you personally had. I had a great time, too. I saw friends I haven't seen in years, met with friends we only see at races, and met friends that are back from things like the military, etc. It was a great time. The racing sucked - this is my opinion much like you saying it was great. I am a racer that looks at things differently and seeing 16 vs 30 superbikes is worrisome. It is also something others look at and worry about. As Tommy stated in a press conference... Racing with the AMA is better than it was in 2009. However, they need more factory support. Nuff said...

Justin- I made a comment and then we had responses that I continued to respond to. It's a public forum, buddy. Relax. I made some legit comments and they are backed up with info that OEMs and marketing departments are concerned with. I applaud that in your personal opinion it was a great weekend, but on a business level, it was well below years past and that makes it tough to garnish future vendors and OEMs to attend. There needs to be a change. If you feel it was perfectly fine and the attendance was great and the flow of business and interest was stellar, so be it. Just answer me one question... Why were there not more people there and why were there over 75% - 90% less vendors and OEMs?

Vstrom, BMW or KTM Adventure... The rest are cheaper built and look like they are plastic toys. Take a ride to Moab and test a couple of them out. The Adventure was awesome at Moab... Riding off road and on slick rock and the like and it performed great. Well balanced and torque enough for any street riding...

Ok, here's the drill. For people that are not really into the motorcycle stuff, it probably was exciting. However, to a lot of fans that know what's going on, the racing is very much lower end than ever before. Tommy, Josh and Larry are great racers and in fact, great guys. However, if that is the level of top shelf talent here, it is lacking. DMG isn't to blame 100%, but it sure didn't help. OEMs pulling out at the same time may look like it is a result of rules, etc., but truth be told, it is a combo deal where everything hit at once. Bottom line is simple. the series is like WERA National, Regional, Pro am races all over the country - DOWN. Contingencies this year in racing is piss poor so, guys ain't racing. No racers at top level events means less fans. Add in the economy and low OEM input and it all sucks. This isn't the only event and as I stated before, if there were 5 weeks in between, it wouldn't matter. Again, vendors are localized. OEMs being there COULD be due to traveling, but again, the way it works is based on budget. Only the truckers are in a tight spot over the timeline. Vendors still have a budget per year and if it isn't worth it or they don't have it to spend, it doesn't matter. The calender has nothing to do with it... Adding the XRs is a decent enough idea on paper. However, did you notice how many people rolled out when they started their time on track? It is a joke not because it is new or because it is HD. It's a joke because the series is struggling. The riders hate the bikes and the racing is boring due to many factors. One being 8 riders in total. That's less than most regional grids. The Rookies Cup in comparison was exciting and close racing with big grids. That formula needs to be copied and not an attempt to please a vendor that isn't even there to showcase the bikes...

You aren't getting it. The fact is that crowds are down, factory participation is down, the OEMs are out of marketing budget and if there is nobody to sell to, they cannot justify it. Now, that being said, let's talk vendors... The vendors are typically localized. Sometimes, people like Scorpion, etc will come and set up with a localized dealer. Also, many dealers will come that are local. Local being within say, a 5 state radius. That didn't happen. You had a Stunt crew there selling tees, a salvage shop, Iron Pony and the National Guard and Army. We were there as the only OEM motorcycle company. There is nothing related to being within a week of Laguna. The crowd has nothing to do with Laguna either. It's simple supply and demand. There is no factory support within the racing series. Well, there is on a very limited basis. Used to have 30-40 riders in SB, full 40 rider grids in SS. The classes are terrible. The 1200 class is trash and the riders are under 10 at the grid. Rookie's Cup was awesome and great to watch as the action was close and multiple rider lead packs. That is not the case. The SB race while somewhat entertaining, was pretty much 4 riders and it was never a battle. The 600 race was a battle of sorts, but not amongst any riders like it used to be. The bottom line is that people are watching when and where they go. There needs to be a reason to go and honestly, there isn't. There's better racing elsewhere and even if it were better, the traveling is lesser than years past. Even if Laguna was the week prior or two weeks in between, Honda wasn't going to come, Kawasaki wasn't coming and Suzuki wasn't going to be there. Hell, it is the Honda Super Cycle weekend and even though the bikes aren't made here, Ohio is Honda's home state. They didn't even have cars represented! It used to be that you never saw grass anywhere during bike week. Look in the camp grounds, the grass parking areas, vendor row, and on the hill sides where people watch. More grass than ever before. It has nothing to do with back to back weekends. If you have gone or documented the series so far, you'd see that everything is well below what it used to be...

Not at all. Laguna has usually been the weekend prior. There were always vendors before. The crowds are crap at every AMA event so far. No crowds, no vendors. Why spend the money to attend if nobody is there to buy? It is a marketing budget issue and unless the turnout increases (better racing, economy, etc), the vendors are going to be shit. Has nothing to do with next week...

Dude, any pics? I wanted to show the guys at Shift the sequence. We saw it from start to finish and didn't have a camera...