Kib's stuff
By TMX Archives on 15th May 03
WHENEVER YOU attend a Pro race - be it a British championship, a GP, an AMA supercross or a US national - you're bound to spend some time wandering about the pits to check out the bikes and teams.Obviously, you'll also see the factory WHENEVER YOU attend a Pro race - be it a British championship, a GP, an AMA supercross or a US national - you're bound to spend some time wandering about the pits to check out the bikes and teams. Obviously, you'll also see the factory mechanics doing their thing in their fancy crew shirts and looking all cool. After 15 years of doing exactly that myself I'm here to tell you it ain't all just posing about - even though to be honest there is a bit of that. The actual race day is about the easiest day of the week so I'm going to show you what a mechanic goes through preparing for an AMA supercross. In this case we follow Australian ex-pat Christian Kibby (just Kibby to his friends) who's Nick Wey's wrench for the Yamaha factory satellite team Mach1 Racing as he gets ready for the Salt Lake City SX. Thursday April 24 12:30pm After flying into town Kibby shows up to the team's hotel in downtown Salt Lake City. He's carrying Nick's suspension in a gun case which was shipped to him at his Michigan home from Enzo Racing's Ross Maeda. He changes into his work clothes to start prepping the bike. 12:50pm Kibby unloads the bike from the team semi. The bike was washed following the Dallas race but has been untouched since then. An over-keen fan stole the gas tank while Kibby was washing the bike (this is another reason why the AMA may soon close the pits) but the team have already ordered another to replace it. 1:30pm Kibby starts to strip the bike down to the bare frame - a task which gets done every week - and the motor is due to be completely serviced. 3:00pm The frame gets washed ready to be painted and rebuilt. 5:00pm The motor is stripped and the piston, main bearings and clutch are all replaced. The whole motor is cleaned and inspected thoroughly. 7:00pm The motor is back in the freshly-painted frame and the suspension linkage and steering bearings are all prepared to go back on. 9:00pm The bike's starting to take shape and there's only the new plastics to fit to keep the bike looking good. But fitting a new chain, sprockets, brake pads, chain slippers, graphics, seat cover, grips and cables keep Kibby working late into the night. And that's just the first day! For Kibby's full weekend schedule check out the June issue of DBR Words and photos by Doc Wobbly