It’s that time of year whether we like it or not. If you need installation, service, or maintenance, See here for more information.
Now carrying Sirris Suspension!
We’re really excited to announce that Stoltec Moto is a proud dealer of Sirris suspension products. Sirris is a US suspension company specializing in the design, development, and manufacturing of high-end E-Moto products. They threw the kitchen sink at their F43 fork and R46 shock. Both of these products represent a huge departure from what comes on these e-motos from the factory. If you ride your e-moto hard, stay tuned for updates! Expect to see content on our YouTube channel and products available for purchase here.
2022 Stoltec Moto Black Friday Deals
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:
- All ride-in services and installation work is postponed.
- Mail-order services (such as fork and shock work) will continue.
- We will only be shipping USPS.
- 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.
- 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
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.
‘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.
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!
15+ R1 Radial Master Cyl Retrofit on FZ-10
Happy Friday, everyone:
That’s right…the 2015-2016 R1 Nissan 16 mm radial master cylinder works with the line kit. Making a minor adjustment to the top line with a new fitting and a different hose length. But much to my surprise, we were able to re-use the line! Pretty cool considering that you can upgrade the lines now and retrofit the radial m/c down the road when funds exist. No need to buy a new line and remove anything under the tank!
How about that switch? Well, good news again: it fits! Still waiting on a lever to be 100% sure everything aligns and functions properly, but it looks like we’re a go.
Here’s a view from the cockpit showing the line and harness. The switch is oriented 90 degrees from it’s factory location, so the harness loses some slack. However, there is enough before the wire clamp that you can redistribute the wiring a bit. No binding from lock to lock.
Again, this brake line here has a different m/c fitting and line length up top, so the production kits are going to look a little better up top!
FZ-10: How do we slow this thing down?
Site has been quiet, but there has been plenty of action to report out on. Took some time off with the family to hang out at the Jersey shore for a week (no, Snookie wasn’t there), so that delayed this progress report. But without further ado:
Stainless Steel Brake Lines
No pictures to show and tell quite yet – still tweaking a couple fittings and hose lengths/routes. What we hope to be the final prototype should be here by Friday. But, what I’ll say:
- Stock lines are a mix of hard steel lines and soft rubber lines. We’re going to replace the hard lines throughout. A bit of work up front, but a cleaner install in the end. Plus, it’ll save the customer money.
- Stock lines have 6 flare fittings due to the hard lines. We were able to cut the final count in half down to 3. Fewer potential leak points are a good thing – and these are readily accessible instead of buried under the tank!
- Net weight savings are in the 1.2-1.3 lb range. Not bad for just a line swap!
Pictures to follow during the next progress report – but we’re getting very close to being done. Oh, and a friendly public service announcement – if/when you do this swap, do yourself a favor and just remove the radiator. It isn’t that much work, and you’ll thank me later. Those radiator fins are the most delicate I’ve laid my hands on. Good Lord…
Suspension
Version 2 of the rear shock should be back by the end of the week. We may need to make another final tweak to the layout because the R1 has more tool access around the shock (the FZ-10’s passenger pegs are closer to the shock than on the R1). The bike has been down in pieces for the better part of 3 weeks while we sort some things out, so regrettably, no ride reports – yet. Stay tuned.
Stator Cover
As you may recall from an earlier post in this thread, the FZ-10 has a larger flywheel and a different stator than the R1. As such, the FZ-10 requires a taller stator cover. So unfortunately, this necessitates a new design. Unless of course you’re man enough to retrofit the R1’s stator and flywheel – I’m quietly trying to talk myself out of ruining the FZ by trying this…
Turns out that adding a perimeter spacer to raise the cover or adding more material to cover will price this thing WAY out of the market. Therefore, Eric @ Woodcraft and I have been going back and forth on the right path forward. Right now, we’re looking at this:
Although it’s not as bullet proof as the R1’s billet aluminum cover, there are some positives to this. First, it’s going to cost much less money. Like, a lot less. Second, installation won’t require removing the stator cover. Third, repairing crash damage won’t require removing the stator cover. Not that removing the cover is a particularly difficult task, but why sign up for more work that is necessary.
We utilized a similar design on the FZ-09 – and yes, we’ve crash tested it. It worked flawlessly.
Rearsets
Here is an overlay of Woodcraft’s current R1 rearset on the FZ-10:
As you can see, the FZ’s foot pegs are lower – much lower than the R1’s aftermarket kit. About 2″ lower and 5/8″ back in the [U]lowest position[/U]. In my opinion, this is going to be too aggressive the typical FZ-10 owner. The comfort of the bike is a major appeal, so detracting from that would seem to be a major misstep. Correct me if you disagree.
That said, this is the current design:
It’s hard to tell what changed based on that view alone, but the new low position is about .75″ higher and .625″ back when compared to stock. As of today, the pegs can be adjusted 1.5″ higher (from the low position) to answer your canyon carving or track day needs.
We’re working on getting some parts printed within the next couple weeks so we can see how it all feels. My gut says 0.75″ higher in the lowest position will be OK on this bike since there is a lot of leg room. For fear of completely sidetracking this thread, I’ve created a new thread dedicated to the rearsets – feel free to weigh in here: Woodcraft Rear Sets – Your Opinion is Needed!
FZ-10 Crash Protection Development
Did some parts bin jockeying last week with some of Woodcraft’s goodies.. First order of business was to try out the R1’s axle sliders. Figured it was an easy swap considering the R1 and FZ-10 use the same axles. Success!
Front
Rear
As you can see, the standard spools are also a direct fit (no surprises there).
Tried to assemble the standard R1 frame sliders, but the pucks interfered with the bodywork. However, the standard puck we used on the FZ-09 and FZ-07 works perfectly. Working with Woodcraft to pull a part number and get some kits boxed up and ready to go.
Next up was to try the R1’s engine covers…
Success!
The other side wasn’t so fortunate…
Didn’t grab a shot to show it (SORRY!), but the R1 cover is about 13 mm too shallow. Apparently, the extra flywheel mass we kept reading about was added onto the actual flywheel. Surprising or not, this necessitated a deeper cover. Working with Eric Wood at Woodcraft to figure out a work-around. Have two good options on the table to make this happen pretty quickly, so stayed tuned.
Except for the LH stator cover, things never go this easily. Thank God Yamaha really did just convert an R1 for us. Makes our jobs easier!
As we get part numbers pulled, we’ll add these parts to our web store. Stay tuned to the forum for a group buy or two to kick things off.
On another side note, tried to install the Yoshimura FZ-09 fender eliminator. It looked sooo close. I’m told that close only matters in horseshoes and hand grenades. A shame, because the Yosh kit is really quite top notch. Great light, adjustable signal mounts (and removable!), and perfect fitment. I spoke with Yosh last week and they should have something soon. If that doesn’t work out, Stoltec will make one.