VOL. 53 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 20, 2016 P135
ence in the handling of the bike
as well. Those were a pretty big
difference. We can feel quite a
bit of stuff, so those were a pretty
significant change, and from then
on I was doing a lot better.
It's amazing how much feel
you guys have on your motor-
cycles. I bet you could tell if
you have a loose spoke.
Yeah, totally.
Can you try to explain that
level of feel that you have to
us mortals who have never
experienced that?
Well, at that level we're at, the
smallest things make the biggest
difference. Also, it depends from
rider to rider, and the character-
istic of the rider, because some
of us are more sensitive than
others. Little changes can make
a massive difference sometimes.
I guess there are probably only
a handful of people who can
ride on that level, and there's a
reason for that. For a regular
person on one of these bikes,
it's really hard to describe what
the difference is, but there are
a handful who can go that fast,
and when you go that speed,
you're on the edge, and little
changes make a big difference
to make it more comfortable or
less comfortable, depending
on the changes. Most of us are
pretty sensitive to a click differ-
ence on a bike, for example,
with suspension.
Back in 2009 or so, one
of the guys at the Geico
Honda team told me a story
about Kevin Windham. Ap-
parently, they were trying to
sort out some settings on
Kevin's factory 450, and they
had brought out two bikes
that were set up exactly the
same, but one of the bikes,
Windham swore it was doing
Ken Roczen's year was hot
and cold—started off cold
but ended hot.
Roczen seems
to know how
to balance fun
and serious
when it comes
to racing.
something different. He said
it felt different and that he
didn't like it. During the day,
his mechanic was changing
a clutch, and one of the guys
saw that the bike he was
working on had a carbon
skid plate, and the other
had an aluminum one. So,
just to test Kevin, the team
occupied him in the box
van while the guys switched
