Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

t» D By Do n n Ma ed a sk any insider ioho's the hottest up-and-comin g young motocrosser, and chances are that the name of Team Suzu ki's Damon Huffman will come up. Th e newly-crowned Western Regional 125cc Supercross Champion has what is arguably the smoothest, most effortless riding style since the'days of Ron Lechien, and to the delight of his American Suzuki Motor Corporation employers - his talents are evident in bothindoor and outdoor successes. . Huffman began racing at an early age, and before he had the luxury of racing factory machinery - he still competed aboard what many of his competitors considered to be amongst the fastest bikes on the track. But unlike many amateurs, Huffman didn't need to rely on the local hop-up shopfor his race-mods, he simply turned his bikes over to hisfather, DaveHuffman. My dad has been building my bikes since I raced pee uiees," says Huffman. "when I started winnini}a lot of other pe0plestarted to ask him to build theirsas well. I guess that's how Cycle Engineering got started." As expected, with a factory contract came a factory mechanic and factory machinery. "It was a little weirdatfirst, not having my dad tuning my bikes," admits Huffman. "But we've all gotten used to it. And he still builds my practice bikes..." d1 'J U After thoroughly enjoying our Showa Only-modified RM250 suspension, we were anxious to let the Riverside-based company tweak on our 125's suspenders. "Our RMI25 mods work even better than the 250's," claimed Showa Only's valving guru, Al King. "We've got a coup le of extra-trick mods for the 125." That was enough to convince us. Stiffer .38 springs were installed in our forks, and KYB 01 fo rk o il was added and set at" a he igh t of 150mm. Showa Only machined the compression piston to accept a KYB valve stack and the addition of a KYB compression sub valve . King claimed th at the s ti ffer sp rings, increased oil he ight and KYB valving allow the forks to ride higher in their suspension stroke and resist extreme sagging under braking. In the rear, Showa Only ins talled a stiffer 5.0 shock spring and set the sag at 95mm. The shock was revalved for increased high- and low-speed compression damping with increased bleed, and a greater separation between high- and low-speed damping . The rebound DAMON'S DOUBLE 28 Though it wo uld probably be impossible to build a rep lica of Hu ffm an 's Tony Berlutti-tu ned facto ry RMI25 , the Cycle News staff though t that the nex tbest thing would be to build the same machine that Damon practices on day in and da y out. Like mo st factory riders, Huffman spends many of his free weekends at local and regional races, keeping his skills fine- tu ned for the followin g weeke nd 's Na tional and Supercross eve n ts. And anyone who's seen H uffman d estr oy the field a t a local track will agree that his "practice" bikes aren't tha t far off from his factory fliers. We were excited about the p roject bike right from the get-go, especially af te r speaking wi th Huffman's father about the idea. "Sure, I'd be glad to build y o u a replica of Damon's motor," said the senior Huffman. "But only as long as there's no chance that it will end up in the hands of another hop-up shop..." With such secrecy and confidentiality in the air, we were convinced that the Cycle Engineering motor would really be something to write home about. Alter having spent a few days in the CEF headquarters, our project bike was returned to us with a complete "Damon replica" motor. Though Huffman Sr. was reluctant to go into detail about wha t modifications were made, he d id d isclose that the cylinder had been ported, the head reshaped, the cases blueprinted, and the stock pipe and silencer replaced with CEF's handmade units. Huffman also rerouted the carburetor overflow tubes in the same fashion as on a stock Honda. Though Cycle Engineerin g also offers suspension services, we elected to tum ou r s uspenders ov er to Showa Only. (Above and below) Though you cen't get your hands on one of Damon Huff man' s works bikes, It Is relatively simple to build a close replica of what he trains on dally. (Left) The Cycle EnglMering-modlfled engine definitely packed more of a punch than a stocker. There's not much pOwer down low, but when It comas on, It reatly comes on hard . damping was left stock, and the compression adjuster was set 12 out from full in, while the rebound was set at 11 ou t from full in. Rounding out the modifications was the addition of a works KYB bottoming bumper. According to King, the changes would keep the back end of the bike from squatting under acceleration, and im p rove the bike's han d ling over square-edged bumps by keeping the shock in a softer part of the lever sys tem . Okay, so we've got the motor and the s us p e n sion d one, b u t our bike s till lack ed that "w orks" look. One call to Terry Good at On the Line Racing, and w e wer e set. As the excl usive U.S. importers of Technosel sea ts, gra phi cs and numbers, Good w as happy to

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