Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126312
(A bov e) The first Hiiesalu shocks are pretty stock compared to the new version. (Below) The other two members of Hiiesalu Mfg.• Brian and Irene. w By Brian George When kids drop out of school at 14 years of age, they usually enter a world of problems, more problems and a few more problems. But for Alan Hiiesalu , it was the beginning of a new life , a life in the field of inventions. In th e back of their Bu r ba nk home , Alan and his father 18 worked with lathes in a ga rage-size m ach ine shop. Alan became a natura l beh ind the machine , and he began to experi ment with the different id eas floating a rou nd in his brain . Firs t , he began making fork and shock kits for Hondas , hi s bike for th e d esert. Soon , the idea of bu ilding shocks entered his head. and he im med ia tely sat down and began working on a pair of his own .His dad still calls him "crazy, just like most all inventors ," A rather crude pai r of heli -a rced bodies came ou t of the lat hes first . then the insides began to take form . His first pair was what Alan ca lls "junk:' " But it ga me m e a sta rt , somethi ng to go fro m ," he sa ys. When he finished his first pair , a man from Spain named P int o wandered onto the sce ne . H e looked at one of the prototypes , asked about taking a pair. took it . a nd the pair has never been seen since. DC Performance Specialties was nex t to receive a p ai r wh ich H iiesalu gave them to test a nd give feed back . " I wanted them to work with us: ' A la n said , but after perso nal appeara nces and nume rou s phone ca lls, hi s shoc ks were gone. H e r ece ived n o feedbac k on t he sus pensio n. and he learned o ne big les son in the business world . . As hi s sho c k d ev el opm ent progressed . so did his busin ess. He soo n formed Hii esalu Manufacturing and moved in to the machine shop used today to build the Hii esalu su spensi on . Mon ey has a lways been a big prob lem , as is evident in th e machine and equipment used to bui ld shoc k components. A 1935 la the . totally reworked by Hiiesalu himself, puts out all the necessa ry parts for ' producti on . Pe r so n n e l at Hii esalu Mfg . is lim ited , A grand tota l of three worker s make u p ' the assault on th e sho ck market. ca lling for ex cessive work and hours .of dedicati on to th e factory. Alan heads th e operation and works with his brother Brian - with whom Alan is talking about splitting th e business - and th eir PR person , shoc k helper a nd bookkeeper (a lo ng with Alan 's mother) Irene T heofanis . The shocks? They are presen tly one of the most reason a bly priced air shocks on the market. And they are, in H iiesa lu 's strong words , second to none in quality, Only the highest quality aircraft aluminum Roes into each part; no steel is used in the construction , Bearings a re made fr om th e same type of alum inum silico ne bronze used in m aking Pors che va lves. Shafts are co nst ructed of 2024 aluminum . then hard chrome- p lat ed 28 th ousand ths of an inc h thick . "T hey're not just ch ro m ed like th e Japanese shocks:' sa ys Alan. " You can take a file to a Japanese shaft and literally file it in half, but you ca n file on ou r sh aft for hours and not phase it:' One of th e fin est qualities of the H iiesalu a ir sho cks are the new hyd r a u lic damping adjusters. The shoc k can be d ialed in to your own specifications in only a couple hours, and all adjustments o n the shock can be done whi le it is sti ll mounted on the b ike . Even oil and pressure changing can be completed on the bik e. New fins have been added to the shock bodies for cooling. T he casti ng is black a nodized , The body forms a d ual -rate system , designed by H iiesal u on his very first shock . Tests with mounting the pneuma tic sp ring which holds a cupped piston to ' the reservoir. or main body, were at parallel , then a 20° angle . Although . the parallel version was easier to produce, the heat buildup from the a b flowing oil was tremendo us. This created t he switch to the a ngl c;g p neuma tic sp ring which became iI sta ndard on the system , giving a more grad ual , coo ler flow. 2 As the days go b y and new shocks get built . Alan finds new and better ways to make his suspension work better. " Ea ch week ." states Hiiesalu , "we find som eth ing new to improve our shocks." on "T he best thing about m y shocks is the 30 -day money-back trial. If yo absolutely ca n't adjust them . ca n't diai them in or th ey plain just don't work for you , you can ge t you r money back ," H iiesalu added . ~ Future plans for the Hiiesalu Mfg ? Co . look a littl e brighter than in th e pasrx The number of employees, the time it takes to run the old machines and the effo rt ne eded to build a sh ock to Alan's quality specs are the main reasons th ere are plans for two new' machines. ....TJ " W it h new m a ch ines" Alan says " we co u ld make enough shocks fa supply the orders in less time than before . and possibly even lower th retai l price a bit. " . vni T he m ach in es he's shooting for are $30 .00 0 Traub Screw Machi ne , for construction of m ost all the Hi iesa f inner components, and . comp uterized Pra tt & Whitney Turret, La the, cos ti ng in the neighborhood_of $100 .000 . _ ge Hi iesalu Mfg. ce.. 120 West Cyp ress Ave .. Bu r ba nk . CA 91502.213 /845 -7161 . •