On The Pegs February 2018 - Volume 3 - Issue 2

On The Pegs THOMPSON JOSH STRANG;S ME- OLT IN ONE OF THE MANY ALL THE PARTS AND FAS- REBUILD THE BIKES. all the parts that got used he Ohio warehouse and e hotel the following week- p if we have a weekend off. lding the bike. If Thad has make sure that part is or- . Actually in Missouri, Thad aged to do some damage damage to the forks. So, I nd everything I could. I flew home with the steering, So everything gets mea- ds it. the way down to the bare apart for inspection and putting it back together. Vol. 3 Issue 1 - January 2018 P 137 We got more in-depth on bike maintenance by doing a Q & A with Josh Strang’s mechanic, Michael Thompson. What happens after a mud race. Do you guys throw pretty much everything away and put all new parts on? You pretty much just want to find the nearest trashcan and just throw your bike in it. You can’t re- ally do that. As far as the technical side, you want to save as many parts as you can. Then just use your judgment on the rest of the parts, like electronics, wheel bearings. There are a lot more things that you need to replace during a mud race than you would in a normal, standard slightly wet, or dusty race. Does the suspension fly back with you every week? We’re always traveling with suspension. Our semi is set up where our suspension guy, Leon Hansen, he can rebuild suspension here. So, he’s either rebuild- ing suspension here or we always fly with suspension that he’s built. Riders come up with different specs during the week. We’re always kind of changing set- tings. Friday when you’re tearing the bike down, you’re looking for cracks? Yeah. You’re inspecting the bike for everything. It’s not just tearing it down just to rebuild it and make it fresh. You’re looking at the frame. You’re looking at the hubs, the rims. There’s always something that you can kind of change on the bike that you maybe rushed on, that you didn’t have the time to necessar- ily do. There’s always something to look for. It’s me- chanical, so anything can happen. Are there items that you change out every week, certain bolts maybe?

On The Pegs February 2018 - Volume 3 - Issue 2 | Page 137