Throughout my years of racing I have
developed one skill almost to perfection; how to ride around a problem with the
bike and never make changes. The only problem with this skill is that it is not
very beneficial to bike set-up and actually can be very detrimental to
improving lap times throughout the weekend. I have run stock front suspension
throughout all of my racing years and it does have it’s limit. Many weekends I
find myself at the fast end of the time sheets early in the weekend only to hit
a wall in progress as the other racers in the field are still improving come
race day.
This
season is going to be different as I pledge to do more testing and finally do
what I should have done a long time ago, install some first-class fork components.
The phone calls went out and Traxxion Dynamics answered and agreed to
solve my front suspension calamity. Traxxion Dynamics was founded in 1998 and
is located in Woodstock, Georgia founded by president Max McAllister.
The
cure would come in the form of Traxxion Dynamics AK-20 Axxion Cartridge Kit.
The AK-20 Kit is a complete bolt-in upgrade which replaces your stock springs
and cartridges. Precise CNC machining ensures 20mm cartridge tubes are bored
and honed to .0005 and 12.5mm cartridge rods are centerless ground to .0005. A
special bearing design is used to help reduce stiction and ensure fluid does
not bleed past the bearing. Omni springs are used and selected to match your
weight and riding preferences and racing quality fork fluid helps things move
smoothly. The AK-20 kit can also be retrofitted to almost any future bike you
may own saving you money in the future.
The
motorcycle chosen for this test was none other than my Opencheck.com sponsored
racebike, a 2007 GSXR1000. I’ve raced many laps around Buttonwillow with stock
forks on this bike so I had a good comparison to test the Traxxion forks
against. I would be riding it during a track day put on by Keigwins at the Track.
For
professional set-up at the track I enlisted the help of Catalyst Reaction and
they were able to send suspension tuner James Morse for my test on the AK-20
fork kit at Buttonwillow. Buttonwillow is a great course for testing suspension
as it throws nearly every type of scenario at the rider and bike. Buttonwillow’s
first section is very tight and twisty and the back section opens up to reveal
some very fast flowing corners and slight elevation changes. One thing that is constant
throughout Buttonwillow are the bumps, and there are lot’s of them. Some large
enough to completely upset the bike and put you in really bad shape if the
bike's suspension is not tuned spot-on. The Traxxion components would be up
against a very formidable foe in this bumpy, rodeo of a track that is
Buttonwillow.
