In the latest edition of title 24 Ryan Villopoto, Chad Reed had some very interesting things to say around bike set-up changes in the sport and the difference between AMA and MXGP in regards to Jorge Prado’s upturn in speed this weekend since he went back to more familiar MXGP style settings on his KTM
Chad Reed commented: “So working with Jorge last year, I learned pretty quickly that, you know, I think that let’s say your time RV, my time in the sport, I would say that Europe was typically really soft. What I would call typical motocross settings. U.S., you know, we spend the majority of the year on supercross. And so we typically ride more aggressive, you know, like it’s almost like a full motocross setting is super soft and too soft.
“But I would say that the two different series, MXGP and AMA motocross, have completely flipped. You’re seeing guys like the Lawrences, Tomac, Chase Sexton running really, really soft forks. I personally couldn’t ride with forks that soft with a shock that stiff completely off balance and abnormal for AMA.
“But with all things moto, everybody drinks the Cool-Aid and everyone jumps in line really quickly and so I think that’s AMA motocross right now. And I think Jorge is probably completely left or right field, whatever you want to call it, and gone back to his really stiff European settings and you could kind of see it. He rides so differently and so smooth to the point where sometimes you’re like, OK, go, Jorge. In the middle of the turn, you’re like, OK, like get a little excited. But yeah, he’s carrying more momentum than the naked eye can can pick up.
“Again, I don’t know those settings. I don’t work with Jorge currently nor am I aware of what the actual settings are. But I just know that, you know, all things European motocross right now, they’re running really, really stiff bikes.
“And so I’m going to say that he’s just gone back that direction. I would say that the next step that he talks about is how does the US technicians, suspension people take what they see, you know and then go, OK, we’re good here. How do we go to the next step for American tracks? And if they can nail that, it sounds like Jorge could be a real problem in the last four motos.”
RV gave his view on the current set-up styles and said: “Yep, and look, I was just talking to somebody the other day when when Jeffrey (Herlings) was still at KTM. So last year they were they were mentioning how stiff his fork was. Obviously, I kind of know that your stuff was stiffer. My stuff was stiffer, a little bit lower. I feel like the trend, like you were saying here in the US, is to get the bikes up as high as possible.
“So you have the most travel and you have a comfortable machine. Well, I always try to tell like my kids or anybody that’s asking me, what about this? I said, look, an F1 car is not comfortable to drive.. It’s rough. It’s low to the ground. You know, it doesn’t turn. But at speed, it works really well.
“So I feel like a lot of these guys are chasing after like, oh, we want this. We want it to turn and we want it to be comfortable. And we want it to do all these things. But they’re riding on that one percent, right on that razor’s edge. And unless you are absolutely precise and perfect, if you miss something by a little bit or go long or come up short or hit a hole the wrong way, it doesn’t have enough hold-up is what I can kind of see.”
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