Story And Photos By Shan Moore
Mechanic: Lars Lindstrom
Chad Reed surrounds himself with good people and he spares no expense when it comes to getting the best mechanics. Besides his chassis mechanic, Lars Lindstrom, Chad also brought in award winning mechanic Mike “Goose” Gosselaar to the team this year, along with Oscar Wirdeman from the L&M team.
Chad’s bike has similar components as the factory Honda riders like Trey Canard and Justin Barcia, however, since he runs his own team, Chad can use aftermarket items that the factory boys can’t and pick and choose from a variety of vendors.
According to Lindstrom, the biggest difference for them this year, besides the obvious differences between the 2012 and the 2013 models, is the Showa air fork system. “We’ve worked hard to get Chad happy with the forks,” says Lindstrom. “It has a lot advantages that the old system didn’t have, but then there are also some disadvantages, so we’re trying to figure out the best combination of both and make it better than it was last year, and I think we’re getting there.”
All Chad’s engine work is done at Honda but by the TwoTwo Motorsports engine guy and according to Lindstrom, the improvements made to the engine give it a little more power than Canard’s and Barcia’s factory Hondas, although he adds that Chad likes the power delivered in very broad manner.
Chad also changed up the tire combination that he’s been running for a long time for a new combination from Dunlop.
“Chad is always making changes to the bike,” says Lindstrom. “Even at the races, he’s always testing big components that other guys wouldn’t think of testing at a race. So at any given times we could be running something completely different.”
Chad uses Hinson clutch components but when it comes to triple clamps he opts for the factory units with the production off-set. Meanwhile, Pro Circuit supplies the exhaust system.
