RocketRobin
PR Founding Father
I agree with some of the above statements......... First, being a fast rider has nothing to do with knowing how your bike works or what to do to make it go better. I'm amazed at how many "fast" guys that I come across that are afraid to turn their clickers on suspension for fear of making it worse and just ride it because that's what the suspension guy said to set it at. Stewart may not be the best at bike set up or relaying what he's feeling and what he wants it to do differently to his team and it shows with some weird swaps and such out of his bike on the track.
Second, I think any "factory" level bike like Stewart's can be made to feel like anything they want it to feel like if the rider can relay that info to the team. They use offset bearing races to change the geometry of the frame without changing the frame, triple clamp offsets, shortened / lenthened subframes, wheel clamp placement, etc to make the bike feel differently. If Stewart wanted a YZ to "feel" like a KX, his team could certainly mimic the geometry and dimensions of his old KX's if they wanted to. Make it turn easier, make it more stable, make it whatever with the use of components available to them....... so while it "IS" the bike, it probably could be made different with rider input saying I want more of this and less of that.
I remember being at Loretta Lynn's in a quagmire when Jeff Emig was there on break from the AMA National series and the annoucer asking him....... "Jeff, what do you do to your bike for these muddy conditions to make it easier to ride when it's muddy like this?" And astonishingly Jeff answered completely honestly and said "I really don't know what to do to the bike to make it better in the mud. I only know how to put gas in it, and take out the air filter when it's dirty and that's about it. I just ride it and let my mechanic take care of all of that stuff." Jeff was in the battle for the 250 MX Title that year and had no idea anything about bike set up....... just get on it and ride fast!
Second, I think any "factory" level bike like Stewart's can be made to feel like anything they want it to feel like if the rider can relay that info to the team. They use offset bearing races to change the geometry of the frame without changing the frame, triple clamp offsets, shortened / lenthened subframes, wheel clamp placement, etc to make the bike feel differently. If Stewart wanted a YZ to "feel" like a KX, his team could certainly mimic the geometry and dimensions of his old KX's if they wanted to. Make it turn easier, make it more stable, make it whatever with the use of components available to them....... so while it "IS" the bike, it probably could be made different with rider input saying I want more of this and less of that.
I remember being at Loretta Lynn's in a quagmire when Jeff Emig was there on break from the AMA National series and the annoucer asking him....... "Jeff, what do you do to your bike for these muddy conditions to make it easier to ride when it's muddy like this?" And astonishingly Jeff answered completely honestly and said "I really don't know what to do to the bike to make it better in the mud. I only know how to put gas in it, and take out the air filter when it's dirty and that's about it. I just ride it and let my mechanic take care of all of that stuff." Jeff was in the battle for the 250 MX Title that year and had no idea anything about bike set up....... just get on it and ride fast!