When it comes time to personalize and fine-tune a new motorcycle, many things are often overlooked. Most new-motorcycle owners are quick to run out and buy the latest after-market exhaust, or the coolest new billet product available. But the majority (not all) of those products won't help you get around the course faster, or with less fatigue. This is where personalized suspension tuning falls into the picture. The '02 Hondas have good, high quality suspension right out of the crate, but it is designed for what they consider the "average" rider to be, which is typically around 170lbs., or even slightly less.

A fully race-prepped machine ready to handle nearly anything...

After talking with Dick over the phone a few times, we discussed the problems that are involved with the CRF's forks and shock. "The CRF's Showa forks and shock are unbalanced. The forks are too stiff, and the shock is too soft," stated Dick. I quickly agreed, as this was an obvious problem. The forks didn't seem too bad, until I began to realize how harsh the initial stroke of the forks was. When landing from a jump onto flat ground, the forks sent a painful vibration through the bars. It felt as though the forks did not move at all.

"What I noticed about the shock, is that when I'm running in high gear across a long set of whoops, the rear end wants to swap left to right a little, " I commented. "That is because the shock spring is too soft, and the rebound is too slow...the shock is packing and doesn't have anywhere to go when it is forced through something like a set of whoops. When I increase the rear spring rate, we'll increase the damping too," answered Dick Wilk.

The Dick's Racing suspension improves control in any environment.

Ever since the CRF came out in late 2001, Dick has been testing the Showa twin-chamber forks and the Showa rear shock, in both off-road and MX applications. After talking a few more times with Dick, he stated that he has a few different programs targeted toward specific avenues of riding. He can tune the suspension for 100% off-road, 100% motocross, or he explained that he has found a great happy medium for the GP rider who likes to do both, which fits me exactly. This is what Dick had in mind for my suspension:

• Revalve the forks
• Reduce the oil level from 425cc to 350cc
• Change the spring rate from .47 to .46
• Revalve the shock
• Change spring rate from 5.4 to 5.6
• Increase rebound in shock
  

Pick a line, any line. The improved feel of the forks made for easier and more confident line choices through corners.

At the last minute, I finally worked out travel arrangements to get up to the Washougal WORCS race. I conned the guys at RTT Motorsports into hauling my bike up north, while RTT Motorsports co-head honcho Sonny Morgan and I flew up to have a few days of fun in real dirt, and real riding country. Just days before, I dropped my suspension off at the Dick's Racing headquarters in Las Vegas, with a scheduled completion time just before the departure date.

Everything came together after a few stressful moments, and suddenly I was at the beautiful Washougal motocross track getting ready for my first race with the new suspension. The first aspect noticed, was the great feeling coming through the forks....nothing! They were plush as could be, and produced an obvious improvement over stock. The WORCS course started on the MX track, looping us through the trees, a great rolling-hills grass track, and more rutted, rough woods trails...a great course. The first eye opener was discovered while dicing through the grass track. It had of course rained throughout the day, creating extreme braking and accelerating bumps in and out of every corner. The Dick's tuned CRF never swapped for a second, as it allowed me to push harder into corners, and pick phenomenal lines while exiting.

Dick raised the spring rate of the rear spring, making for a more balanced playing field between the forks and the shock.

The shock just followed up with the stellar performance of the Showa twin-chamber forks. Finally, the bike was balanced front and rear, whereas before the rear end of the bike always felt as though it was wallowing through the bumps, not reacting as quickly as it should. The biggest eye opener came on the first lap (which is when most eye openers happen). The course dropped out of the woods and down toward the MX track. I didn't net the greatest start, and was doing my part to make up time. This is when most of us throw our brains out the window and put the controls on "auto-moron". At the bottom of the hill lied a camouflage bump....a BIG bump. It was the kind that made you pretty sure that it was time to bail. But I was confident, and just hit it as prepared as I could be. The result? Nothing, really....the bike just soaked it with the rear wheel just barely coming off of the ground.

"Well, what did you think of Dick's suspension?" asked KTM's Chuck Sun. "Without any time to test, or even be remotely prepared....I thought it worked great. The front end never swapped coming into those huge braking bumps in the grass track, which was major. It was a great feeling to be able to pass people because of the ability to keep it on the gas longer into corners. It also seemed to allow the ability to pick and choose any line I wanted...the front end just stuck. That CRF is incredibly stable, " I answered, still covered in Washougal mud.

Push harder in to corners and feel the difference....

As stated earlier, Dick offers different tuning programs to suit any rider's requirements. Dick's forte is building suspension that handles anything an off-road course can throw at you; whether that is a huge rock unseen until the last minute, or an invisible 10 foot drop off. Dick's Racing has been designing a special fork targeted for pure off-road use for months. Before we decided what to do with my forks, Dick, Chuck Sun and I went up to the brutal mountains of Northwest Las Vegas to test his new creation on the ORC CRF.

Dick's Racing set the forks up to where each adjuster had it's own duty:
• the lower right adjuster controls Rebound
• the upper right controls Mid Compression
• the upper left controls bottoming resistance
• and the lower left controls low speed compression

How did they work? The forks felt strange at first, reason being is that they are dramatically softer than the stock forks. But the more I rode, the more I realized that "strange" turned into "excellent control". Right out of the back of our trucks, the course we decided to take was a whoop-littered speedfest. Thinking that I had something to prove, I forgot about a relatively large drop-off that comes up on a rider quite quickly. Problem? Other than my heart rate, no. The forks soaked up everything that the drop-off had to offer, and just kept on going. Dicks' creation allowed the forks to stay on the ground more, and allowed for a better, but much different feel. After covering a wide variety of terrain, we stopped to see how much travel I was using. Amazingly enough, there was still a solid 4-5 inches yet to be used! The forte of these forks is the ability to soak up nearly any rock, whoop or any obstuction at high speeds, while still have great resistance to bottoming, as we found out.

Its pretty easy to say that the Dick's Racing suspension is nothing short of a huge improvement over the stock suspenders. Dick Wilk is still doing all the work himself, seeing to it that each and every fork, shock, motor and carb it taken seriously and massaged with his multitude of experience.

Suspension Tuning by Dick's Racing

Rating System 1 = poor / 10 = excellent

(702)641-4002 dicksracing@aol.com

If you have any questions, opinions or comments, let us know!

Kevin Gorzny