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Spring 2020 Status

There’s no beating around the bush:  things are weird right now.  Everywhere.  The other night I was thinking about our state of affairs:  if I entered a coma four years ago and woke up today, I wouldn’t believe my eyes.  Things are a little scary, but the good news is that we’re all going through this together and we’ll get through it together.  Besides, we always have motorcycles, even if we end up riding less this spring…

In response to this developing situation, Stoltec Moto is taking preventative measures to ensure the health and safety of our customers and our team.  As such, effective immediately and until further notice:

  1. All ride-in services and installation work is postponed.
  2. Mail-order services (such as fork and shock work) will continue.
  3. We will only be shipping USPS.
  4. You may experience delays in order fulfillment.  While we keep ample stock in many components, we rely on a complex supply chain.  We cannot predict how our suppliers will be affected, so please, bear with us.  If an order is placed that we cannot fill (or don’t know when it will be filled, we will be in touch.  Right now, none of our suppliers are shut down…but that could change at a moment’s notice.
  5. Our team is healthy and will continue to employ industry-accepted best practices with respect to hand washing and hygiene.  In short, we won’t compromise the safety of what’s inside your box.

Lastly, we ultimately expect a downturn in business during Q2 and Q3 this year.  We can (and will) weather this storm.  However, we are hereby cancelling the in-house Tenere 700 project.  Between the uncertain times we’re living through and the botched roll-out on Yamaha’s part, it is simply not a prudent investment of our time and resources.  To all of those who have been in touch, we sincerely appreciate your support and interest.  Naturally, we will support the community as best we can!

In the meantime, stay safe and healthy.  Don’t fall victim to the public hysteria, but please prepare for the next several months.  In the least, we’ll all have time to spend with our loved ones as work and school closures slow our daily lives.  Provided we all remain healthy, how can more time ever be a bad thing?

Ride safe!
Nick

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Riding for Flow in 2019

It’s easy to get lost in spec sheets, counting miles, or tracking lap times.  Fun, for sure, but not what really makes us tick.  The Hungarian psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi spent his life understanding flow, how it’s achieved, and why it’s a necessary component of a fulfilling life.  Spend time studying his work, however, and you’ll realize that many live without experiencing it.  What is it and why is it so elusive?  You’re going to need some two wheel therapy to figure this out.

Mother Nature answered your call with crystal clear skies, fair temperatures, and a propensity to ad lib.  The effervescence of late spring transports your soul, each smell conjuring some long-forgotten familiarity.  Lush, vibrant forests give way to fields of floral-spotted wild grass in full bloom.  Meandering waterways abut rolling hills populated only by those sporting four legs or wings.  This rapid-fire immersion in nature’s innocence was enabled by shaking things up – a healthy dose of cognitive dissonance. The stage has been set.

An unfamiliar road opens up, and it’s yours.  Tempting as it is to turn it into your personal race track, you yield.  You’re not carving pristine tarmac.  The road has substance – character, gravitas, history.  Every bump, crack, and imperfection conveys a song.  As with the best performers, the road’s account is dynamic, adapting to the audience all the while retaining a personality.  Listen to the story.  Feel the song.

Shaking things up is good, but not when it comes to your equipment.  Ironically, these rides demand a splash of instinctive routine.  The well set up bike disappears under your control – perfect lever reach, a sorted suspension, intuitive braking, and the seat you forgot about.  Downshifts are coupled with the perfect metering of throttle.  The thrum of the engine is felt but never fatigues.  The exhaust announces your intentions but never incriminates.  The melding of rider and machine is symbiotic, culminating in a dance to the road’s song.  Dance.

Eventualities arrive and the song ends, the dance slows to a stop, and reality returns from the periphery.  These moments don’t arise often, and frankly, that’s by nature’s design.  Their spontaneity increases the allure of happenstance and rewards flexibility.  Moments of flow may be fleeting, but they bind us together like a cosmic superglue.  How will you find your flow this year? Leave a comment and share your flow.

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‘Unliking’ Facebook | Stoltec Moto

Some customers have noticed our sudden disappearance from Facebook.  No, we’re not going out of business!  What gives?

The move appears to be sudden because we didn’t advertise this.  But, it’s a been a process that has taken over one month to complete.  Frankly, it’s been a long time coming.

Spoiler alert:  we’re not a fan of Facebook.  For years, we avoided the social media platform for a plethora of reasons.  We only created a social media presence a few years ago in an attempt to better connect with the loads of customers who use Facebook as their primary means of communications.  We were skeptical it’d magically provide boatloads of new customers, but hey, we’re about experimentation and trying new things.

We never realized those ‘boatloads’ of new customers.  Was our skepticism warranted?  Maybe.  We are blessed to have a solid following of customers, and most continued to email, call, or contact us on various forums.  It’s worth mentioning that we didn’t go ‘all in’ on Facebook, so it’s likely a harder push would have yielded more traffic.  The marketing numbers are out there and Facebook continues to be a solid performer.

So why did we leave?  Well, at the expense of sounding like a broken record, we just simply don’t support the social media giant’s business practices.  There’s no shortage of bad press for Facebook these days, and many of us saw this coming.  As motorcyclists, we’re all sensitive to distracted driving, whatever the cause.  But we’ve encountered more and more people who are seemingly ‘plugged in’ all the time…not just behind the wheel.  Like any new technology, we’re still not sure how this will play out in the end – whenever that is.  How are our social lives being affected?  Are we more disconnected now that we’re all uber-connected?  How are our families and children being affected? How are our societies as-a-whole being affected?

Stoltec Moto doesn’t employ any psychologists or sociologists, so we’re not qualified to answer those questions.  However, we ARE motorcyclists, and one thing motorcyclists rely on (to some extent) is FEEL.  And the bottom line for us is that something just doesn’t FEEL right.  Whatever it is.  So until we figure that out, you won’t find us on Facebook.  As always, you can contact us here.

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Authorized Fork Service Provider!

Unsure of your ability in revalving your forks?  You’re not alone!   We understand that not everyone wants to dig deep into their forks’ internals to eliminate brake dive, that pogo stick action, and improve ride quality.  While we’d love to provide this service again, we’re focused on developing and retailing the finest suspension products you can obtain for your ride.  That said, we heard your pleas!

We are proud to announce that Washington Cycle Works in Washington, NJ is now Stoltec Moto’s authorized installation center.  These guys have been road racing and building customer bikes for the better part of 20 years.  Most importantly, they are a small family-owned and operated shop who value honesty and integrity above the bottom line.  We don’t take our recommendations lightly, but Ron and crew are amongst the best people in the industry.  They know their way around a bike’s suspension!

Contact us about your suspension needs and we’ll help coordinate installation with the good folks at Washington Cycle Works!

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Staged upgrade packaged now available for the FZ-09!`

Stoltec Moto is proud to announce our staged upgrade packages for the Yamaha FZ-09.  We’ve created three packages that address various levels of capability at different price points.  But most importantly, we lumped components together that work well as a system for those price points.  Regardless of which package you choose, you’ll end up with a well-engineered solution.

Penske 8900E
Fork Springs w/ Oil
Foot Peg Pivot Pins
Front Brake Lines (silver lines w/ silver fittings)
1 bottle RBF600
Woodcraft Frame Sliders
Penske 8983
GP Suspension Fork Piston Kit (pre-built cartridge option will add $100)
Foot Peg Pivot Pins
Front and Rear Brake lines (silver lines w/ silver fittings)
1 Bottle RBF600
Woodcraft Frame Sliders
Woodcraft Clipon Adapter w/ 10 mm offset Spacers
GPR Steering Stabilizer
Penske 8987
GP Suspension 25 mm cartridge kit
Foot Peg Pivot Pins
Radial master cylinder retro fit kit (front lines, reservoir mount, LSL reservoir, RBF600)
Woodcraft Frame Sliders
Woodcraft Clipon Adapter w/ 10 mm offset Spacers
GPR Steering Stabilizer
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End of Year Special!

On behalf of our tuning partner, 2 Wheel Dyno Works:
With such great success of the Black Friday Weekend and Cyber Monday sale we have another great ECU flashing BUNDLE Sale to say Thank You!
2WDW Holiday Sale December 21- end of New Years day!

Attention riders! To show how thankful we are for our supporters and fan base, 2 Wheel DynoWorks is having a End of Year Special!! Specific ECU flashes, listed below, are on special for $299.95, including 2-day return shipping to the continental US and a FREE TShirt. That’s right! Just $299.95 on all available flashes, return shipped with a TShirt!! This includes your full custom built fuel maps, custom ignition maps, full custom throttle maps, full custom secondary throttle maps, removed restrictions, removal of speed limiter(where applicable), lower fan temperatures(when available), fuel cut removal, quickshifter activation (when available), and more! Treat yourself this holiday season, and make your bike ride the way YOU want it to! Eliminate the need for a Power Commander or other piggyback! FREE UPDATES APPLY!

The ECU receiving date will be extended until March 1st 2016. Our biggest concern is Holiday shipping and a potential lost ECU. We figure the “NO SHIP DATE” to be from 12/21/15 – 01/03/16. It is OK to ship when you are ready. Payment will still need to be made by Friday 01/01/16 at Midnight to lock in the tune license discount.

ECU flash must be paid for by Midnight on Friday 01/01/16. Payment can be made with credit card over the phone, or through PayPal to 2wheeldynoworks@gmail.com All orders must include contact information, return shipping address, year, make, & model of your bike, as well as a complete list of modifications, if you want the bike to start in A mode or STD mode. If you have any specific questions, please email us before shipping your ECU to make sure they are all answered properly. If you are local, FREE removal and installation of ECUs for flashing!

List of Applicable Flashes:
Yamaha
-FJ09- to current
-FZ09- to current
-FZ07- to current
-R1 07- to current
-R6 06- to current
-XT1200 Super Tenere all
-FZ1 2006 to current
-FZ8 All

Kawasaki
-ZX6r 05- to current
-ZX10R 04- to current
-ZX14R 06- to current

Suzuki
-GSXR600 06- to current
-GSXR750 06- to current
-GSXR1000 05- to current
-Hayabusa 02- to current

All ECU flashes are specific to your modifications and can be adjusted to customer request. Please feel free to call or email with any questions. We have hundreds of dyno, track and street proven tune files for nearly all modification! Turn around time is same day with free 2 day return shipping. Out of country ECUs apply to this offer but shipping charges apply.

We have $550 insurance available for an additional $9.50.
We have Nine 2WDW Jackets left and can include one with this bundle for $29.95 extra.

From 2WDW,
Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!

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Stoltec Moto in the News: Electric KoolAid for the Road!

Recently, Lloyd Horton and I crossed paths.  Lloyd, an avid motorcyclist and owner of a Triumph Tiger 1050, puts out a pretty cool weekly web broadcast:  Electric KoolAid for the Road.  Not only did the Yamaha FZ-09 pique Lloyd’s curiousity, but he was interested in hearing more about what Stoltec Moto is, how we operate, and what some of our plans are.  Take some time and listen to Electric KoolAid for the Road.

The segment in question can be found here:  Stoltec Moto. Historic Moto Gran Prix. Yamaha FZ09