KDC

Member
Oct 16, 2000
7
0
As the "gloating" owner of a new 520 MXC, I did finally had to admit it's one weakness..."soft suspension". The boys in Austria must dial these things in with 120lb test riders!? Anyway, I'm very finicky about who I have work on it. They're not real easy to come come by...and, I admit, I have spent "way to much" time researching who the best person was to fix them. I think I have visited very motorcycle suspension shop in California, from the biggies (Race-tech's) to the one-man shops, and have talked to alot out of state. Most of these shops felt like a motorcycle "McDonalds"...take a number!

Finally, I found a guy that really knew his stuff and was patient enough to give me exactly what I wanted, and even a little exta. He did'nt try to over-sale me, or "gimmick" me to death. Believe me, there is alot of suckers born in performance shops these days.

I got my bike back after just a couple of days and it's perfect! He's a one-man shop, he's very well informed, and very reasonable. He's spent years as a performance suspension and engine builder. I know, I sound like a paid AD..."NOT". I was just so glad to find someone you really knew their stuff and would give it a "personal touch". The shop is called "Schmidt Performnance", David, will answer the phone...[Moderator edit]
 

JCV 220R

Member
Oct 13, 1999
90
0
I don't know dude,... sounds like an "AD" to me. I would've at least waited until someone asked for a good suspension shop
biggrin.gif


------------------
Jay
2001 KTM 250 E/XC


Chicken Wrist Racing
TWIST IT!!!!
 

sound

Member
Feb 20, 2001
6
0
To me it just sound s like a satisfied customer telling 2 freinds....and if they tell 2 freinds and then they tell 2 freinds, and so....word of mouth advertising is how the small guys bet by.
 

jeb

Member
Jul 21, 1999
633
0
Originally posted by KDC:

I got my bike back after just a couple of days and it's perfect! He's a one-man shop, he's very well informed, and very reasonable. He's spent years as a performance suspension and engine builder.

Thanks for the post. What did he do for the suspension and what did he charge?



------------------
John Brunsgaard - JEB
01 KTM 400 EXC
99 KTM 250 EXC
99 KTM 200 EXC
98 KTM 125 EXC
98 KTM 380 MXC (gone)
96 KDX 200
 

KDC

Member
Oct 16, 2000
7
0
My motivation for the original post came from watching alot of people as soon as they got their KTM's, without breaking them in or even giving their new bikes a chance, run over to the nearest suspension shop and drop($500 to $900)to have their suspension completely modified.

This, I have found, at least for me, is needless! When you can spend alot less money with the right guy and get the bike dialed in perfectly for you. Alot of the KTM suspension "hysteria" has come from the magazine reports that make it sound alot worse than it really is.

The guy (David) who did the work for me said, that he believes, that for 75% of the guys throwing (Big) money at suspension shops it's mostly a "headgame". That he could do a $400 job that would feel as good as alot of $900 jobs coming off the line.

He's probably right, I know I'm an intermediate to expert (on some days) rider and couldn't tell the diff. You'd have to have alot more sensitive "keyster" than I do to feel it.

I probably am selling this guy, but, I'm not going to lose sleep over it. In this business if you can find a place that will put out a great product and not bend you over, that's worth telling someone about. If you have a problem with that you can kiss my "insensitive" keyster.

In respnse to the pevious post, I don't know all the technical stuff other than he approaches the problem on a very indivdual basis. First, he determines the standard "weight and riding ability", with a variety of other questions , like, type of riding you do and where. Secondly, he fixes the general problems inherent in the PDS shock. Then he moves on to fork srings (if needed) and valving. There was a fare amount of testing and fine-tuning to get it exact.

Again, I don't know all the details. Each bike and rider are different...I was just glad I didn't get the "one size fits all" treatment from him. Call him, hopefull he will do for you what he did for me - (909)943-3955.
 

JCV 220R

Member
Oct 13, 1999
90
0
KDC,

I really hope you weren't telling me to "kiss your keyster"! If you don't like the replies I give, ignore them.

Plenty of folks here will ask for a good suspension shop,... and when they do, go ahead and tell them which one you think is great.

Jeez, I don't know, do you think Okie would mind if I told everyone here how great my freind's buisness was and then gave a phone#? Better yet, why don't we all promote our own buisnesses here on DRN for free!.

Oh, is that the purpose of this place? I thought we were here to learn about bikes,... hmmmmm



------------------
Jay
2001 KTM 250 E/XC


Chicken Wrist Racing
TWIST IT!!!!
 

Lee520

Member
Feb 19, 2001
17
0
Save yourself more money by going to a 7 1/2 or 10 weight fork oil and changing the oil height. These two can make a big difference in fork preformance without going to a shop.
 

KDC

Member
Oct 16, 2000
7
0
Originally posted by JCV 220R:
KDC,

I really hope you weren't telling me to "kiss your keyster"! If you don't like the replies I give, ignore them.

Plenty of folks here will ask for a good suspension shop,... and when they do, go ahead and tell them which one you think is great.

Jeez, I don't know, do you think Okie would mind if I told everyone here how great my freind's buisness was and then gave a phone#? Better yet, why don't we all promote our own buisnesses here on DRN for free!.

Oh, is that the purpose of this place? I thought we were here to learn about bikes,... hmmmmm

"I don't know dude",...lots of questions,but,no answers,...hmmmmm? Perhaps if you would spend less energy at sarcasm, you might discover a hidden ability to learn about bikes. Get over it...or try your own advice and "ignore them".

 

yarbonwick

Sponsoring Member
Mar 7, 2000
674
0
KDC we like the idea of communicating complete satisfaction with a company and you've been here for at least 6 months so i don't believe that you're just spamming to the forums. However, your original post was edited by the mods for the phone number and then you write it again in another post. This could be that you didn't see that your post was edited, or a sign of noncompliance with the rules here. I feel it's a touchy issue, like race and religion.

Folks recommend places to get parts and service all the time that don't help Okie pay the bills and that shouldn't be a real problem. We cannot possibly ask everyone to only use the links to the left of this page. To me giving a link to a site is the same as what you did and I didn't really see a problem with it. But then again, I'm not a Mod either. I do believe you and JCV need to shake hands though instead of letting this turn into a newsgroup flame.

------------------
Lloyd TMTC #540 - Y2K KTM 250 E/XC
Please sign my Guestbook at My Homepage
"You're fast 'cause the fast guys stayed home!!"

[This message has been edited by yarbonwick (edited 04-03-2001).]
 

JCV 220R

Member
Oct 13, 1999
90
0
KDC,

Yarbonwick is right, we shouldn't let this turn into a flame BUT, you also shouldn't have told a fellow DRN member to "kiss your keyster" just for offering an opinion! My opinion is that you are going out of your way to give this small suspension shop a free plug. I think that if it was a huge problem, the mods would have deleted your post. Obviously there was a small problem since they did edit your post.

For some reason you found the need to tell us about a great suspension shop when noone was even asking you and you seem to think I'm a jerk for commenting on it. You said youself your rantings sound like an ad,... and they do! And I believe they are.

And lay off the quoting, would ya? I know what I typed. Quoting can be helpful in a thread containing actual information but in a thread like this, it's just plain annoying.

Chill out, relax and spam phone#'s all over another site,... and go ahead and reply to this and try to verbally slay all you want, I really don't care. I'll come back again,... and again - until this thread gets locked. By then the mods will be pissed at one or both of us. Think about that before you tell someone to "kiss your keyster".

L8r

------------------
Jay
2001 KTM 250 E/XC


Chicken Wrist Racing
TWIST IT!!!!
 

Shaw520

Damn Yankees
LIFETIME SPONSOR
May 14, 2000
1,082
6
Originally posted by KDC:
That he could do a $400 job that would feel as good as alot of $900
I know I'm an intermediate to expert (on some days) rider and couldn't tell the diff.

How do you know what the $900 job "feels" like, you didnt get that one?



[This message has been edited by Shaw520 (edited 04-03-2001).]
 

jeb

Member
Jul 21, 1999
633
0
IMO, this type of post should not have been edited. The poster had no apparent personal realationship to the suspension tuner and no profit to be had by posting it. I'd bet the tuner isn't even aware that he was going to put a post on the internet about his work. KDC was only sharing his background work and experience with his fellow KTM riders.

In this post: http://dirtrider.net/ubb2/Forum11/HTML/004888.html
that Ivan started about the rules/FAQ, moderator Gospeedracer said that this kind of post is okay. So why was it edited? The only thing I can see is that it maybe should have been posted to the Product Review forum but it could've been moved there by the mods.

I'm not trying to stir up trouble. I'd just like to know what rule made putting contact information in this post wrong. I read the FAQ from the link at the top of the page and I didn't see anything about this.



------------------
John Brunsgaard - JEB
01 KTM 400 EXC
99 KTM 250 EXC
99 KTM 200 EXC
98 KTM 125 EXC
98 KTM 380 MXC (gone)
96 KDX 200
 

JCV 220R

Member
Oct 13, 1999
90
0
Jeb,

Maybe it's wrong, maybe it's not but how do you know that KDC isn't good buddies with the shop owner?

Like I said before, it is my opinion that folks should wait until they're asked before posting phone #'s

------------------
Jay
2001 KTM 250 E/XC


Chicken Wrist Racing
TWIST IT!!!!
 

yarbonwick

Sponsoring Member
Mar 7, 2000
674
0
Doing a little search of his profile indicates that when he first got his 520 he was searching for suspension shops, including popular ones. He then found a shop in California. If he were good buddies with the owner, why waist his time asking folks to recommend him a shop? I don't see any hands reaching out.

------------------
Lloyd TMTC #540 - Y2K KTM 250 E/XC
Please sign my Guestbook at My Homepage
"You're fast 'cause the fast guys stayed home!!"
 

jeb

Member
Jul 21, 1999
633
0
Originally posted by JCV 220R:
Jeb,

Maybe it's wrong, maybe it's not but how do you know that KDC isn't good buddies with the shop owner?


Sorry to quote you but it seemed to work here. I don't know that he isn't good buddies. It seems like most people get the benefit of the doubt on this type of post. Why not KDC?

My opinion is that I appreciate this kind of post and his including the contact information.

I'd still like to see the rules that pretain to this post's alleged wrongness. Maybe I just mis-understand the rules?


------------------
John Brunsgaard - JEB
01 KTM 400 EXC
99 KTM 250 EXC
99 KTM 200 EXC
98 KTM 125 EXC
98 KTM 380 MXC (gone)
96 KDX 200
 

JCV 220R

Member
Oct 13, 1999
90
0
I just gave my opinion,... and I wasn't nasty. When someone tells me to kiss their keyster I get a little peeved. He should go tell a DRN big wig to kiss his keyster and see how far that gets him.

I don't care if KDC plugs his brother's biz, his cousins' biz and his best freinds' biz. This isn't my site - I maintain: it sounded like an ad to me

------------------
Jay
2001 KTM 250 E/XC


Chicken Wrist Racing
TWIST IT!!!!
 

jeb

Member
Jul 21, 1999
633
0
Originally posted by JCV 220R:
When someone tells me to kiss their keyster I get a little peeved. He should go tell a DRN big wig to kiss his keyster and see how far that gets him.


Yep, I can understand that. That sure would've raised my hackles.



------------------
John Brunsgaard - JEB
01 KTM 400 EXC
99 KTM 250 EXC
99 KTM 200 EXC
98 KTM 125 EXC
98 KTM 380 MXC (gone)
96 KDX 200
 

KDC

Member
Oct 16, 2000
7
0
Let me clear the air! JEB, as you, and others have stated the guy I "plugged", in the previous two posts, is not a "buddy", nor, do I have any type of relationship with him, other than business. In fact, the first time I met him was last week when I dropped my bike off. As was mentioned ,in an earlier post, I have been searching for a long time for a good suspension shop. I have several other friends who have been on the hunt, too, and had asked me to post my findings on this forum,which they frequent.

So, in response to your statement (JVC), you're right, no one on this sight had visibly posted an inquiry about a suspension shop; but, there were others, whom who were not aware of, who were looking for my post.

I've seen other names and numbers on the site, so, I thought it was "OK" to post them. I have since gone back and read the rules, and found that I was in the wrong to have done so. For that...I am sorry! I personally, did not stand to benefit, in any way, from someone else calling this shop. I simply wanted to pass the word to some friends and to there friends, whom I don't know, nor do I have access to, other than through this site.

This site has been very informative and helpful to me. I have no intentions of "flaming out" on it, or "locking it up".
The reason I responded to JVC the way I did, was because I thought his first post "smacked" of sarcism, and his second one was "dripping" in it.

I made an error with the "phone number" thing, but, there's a better way to inform someone about a mistake, than to be sarcastic and condescending. If JVC doesn't think his (4/2) post was, in his words, "nasty"; then maybe he ought to try reading it, again...with a different set of goggles on.

I'll lay off the "quoting"...but, I would ask a fellow DRN member to take their annoying satire to another place...where it might be appreciated.
 

JCV 220R

Member
Oct 13, 1999
90
0
KDC, you just won't lay off will you?

I don't know dude,... sounds like an "AD" to me. I would've at least waited until someone asked for a good suspension shop

there is my first post. Where is the sarcasm? Your post DOES sound like an ad to me! I guess it isn't,... so what? If you consider my reply "annoying satire" then get over it. I never said "don't post that kind of stuff" or "that's against the rules". I turned on the sarcasm after you told me to kiss your keyster,... and with good reason. I've been a member here for a long time and I'm not saying I've never pissed anyone off but I've never showed that kind of disrespect to a fellow DRNer because I thought their post was sarcastic. I've seen plenty of sarcasm here that hasn't resulted in the diarrea of the keyboard that you've displayed.

Go ahead and hide behind your keyboard but I guarantee I would not allow you to tell me to kiss your keyster if we were face to face.

I am done replying to this post,... If you feel the need to babble more, feel free to email me and get it off your chest. I will not waste any more space here

L8r

------------------
Jay
2001 KTM 250 E/XC


Chicken Wrist Racing
TWIST IT!!!!
 

cphillips

Member
Feb 25, 2001
90
0
Guys,

Are we gonna talk ridin, or are we gonna argue all day? This forum has been a great asset to me and the members have been nothing short of fabulous. So lets forget about it and post on some other positive issues.



[This message has been edited by cphillips (edited 04-03-2001).]
 

DKA

Member
Apr 4, 2001
1
0
I have been a fan of this site for a long time but never joined in a forum.Im a california racer from the days when saddleback park was the #1 place to ride,race and meet new friends.People would always be willing to help anyone who would need it.Now with computers you can get help fron almost anywhere.It seems that some people want to help and may forget simple protical while others just want to act like a two year old causing problems instead helping new people like JVC has done.Now with that said I have just bought a new 520 with the same problems that KDC has been having. I have tried heavier oil and different dampners but the bike is still soft and spungie. I weigh 195 lbs and need someone that is good with suspensions. I been to several shops around the area and everyone has a different idea.KDC if you can help put your reply up or e-mail with a #. Thanks and ride fast.
 

KTM400MAN

Member
Sep 6, 2000
76
0
DKA, I highly recommend Shock Therapy in Brea
Ca., they have done my suspension, and several of my other friends suspensions with great results. My friends and I all race, either desert or MX, at all different skill levels. Steve,(the owner), is VERY familiar with the rfs KTM's suspension, and has worked with Factory R&D to come up with some very trick suspension components including a
rear shock bladder/reservoir, that works extremely well. I live here in Orange, and if
you like, lets hook up and go riding and you can try out my bike and see for yourself just how good the suspension is. I'm 190lb. vet intermediate (mx) rider, so my suspension should suit you well. Let me know, Erik

------------------
visit our club's website at www.ruts.org
 

KDC

Member
Oct 16, 2000
7
0
Dittos...Erik! I've spoke with (Steve) at Shock Therapy several times and have heard nothing, but, good things about his work. DKA, you've got about several good choices within 25 minutes of you. White Bros.,Race-tech, Pro-Circuit all are located along the 91Frwy between you and Corona.

As was stated in a previous post, I ended up having a small shop called "Schmidt Performance" located in Perris, CA. do the work on my 520. Most of these places think along the same lines, and probably do similar work. It just gets down to how much you want to spend and if you have a comfort level with them.

DKA, what did you pick up an SX,EXC or MXC?
I probably ride at alot of the same places you do...I'll have to hook up with you and Erik sometime. Also, don't be saying bad things about are "friend"...you can get in BIG trouble for that!
 

BP

Member
Jun 25, 2000
83
0
Sticks and stones will break your bones...but words should never hurt you !

By the way...I'm telling your mom on you guys !


I love this place !!!

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'99 KTM 200 MXC (wife's)
'99 KTM 250 SX
'98 KTM 300 EXC
'96 Harley 1200 Sportster
 


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