On Track Off Road No. 189

FEATURE
prior art and patent submissions
in line before we could
show or test anything with
anyone. We wanted to protect
our idea obviously and that
was a process that took some
time. We were testing in the
background meanwhile so
there have been a lot of cycles
on our idea and it has evolved
since the race testing. The goal
is to have product in stock
globally by the end of October,
so we have opened up tooling
and we have our final design
done and working and the
first samples. Then it is about
showing our major clients and
gauging interest to confirm
a timeline for release, order
quantities and forecasts. We’ll
do a proper media launch and
get some guys to ride around
and use the device by themselves.
There’s quite a bit of
momentum then…
I believe so. My customer
service guys sits twenty metres
away from me and says he gets
numerous calls a week asking
about it. That’s exciting.
Why so?
We’re entering a product area
that will mean zero cannibalisation
for other ProTaper
products. It is an idea that
we had to fill a void and fix a
problem on the market right
now. Start devices obviously
work fine but you can speak
to anyone who has been to a
few motocross races and they
always see someone struggling
to lock one down or put it in.
With the advent of start grid
the buttons are lower than they
have been before. It can sometimes
take two mechanics to
engage the device. I think it is
cool that nobody has thought
of it yet and that our team was
able to figure it out and a way
to do it [riders turn a self-releasing
cog] I think it will help
to elevate the ProTaper brand
because you will be able to
practice starts by yourself and
won’t need a mate with you. It
was an idea from the whole ProTaper
team talking and I bring
a lot of race-consumer knowledge.
Our product engineer
is full of great ideas and we
talk among ourselves and our
Product Source expert knows
a lot about the materials and
techniques so we can create
something that is still affordable.
The toughest thing with
this one was how technical
and expensive it was for us to
build. So if we weren’t creative
with the manufacturing then
it wouldn’t have been a reality.
We couldn’t have offered a
start device for three hundred
dollars. Nobody will buy it. To
be competitively priced with
whatever else is out there took
some doing.
Again was it tough to make it
universal for every bike?
That was one [area] that took
the most time to get right, I’d
say. I really pushed to make
that happen because right
now there are maybe 30+ part
numbers to satisfy all the bikes
from the big OEMs when you
consider a start device and
that is hard for a dealership
to constantly stock. So then
you are dealing with a special
order part and people have
to wait for a couple of days.
With ours you can stock one
skew and satisfy every single
customer that walks in the
door wanting one. That was a
big benefit and a feature that I
think dealers will appreciate.
Has a start device increased
in relevance and importance?
Anyone that is half-serious
about racing needs one? It
wasn’t essential ten years
ago…
I became quite well-versed in
the patents surrounding start
devices and they have been
around for twenty years now.
So they have been about for a
bit but, yes, I do believe they
have become essential for a
racer because it has become
that common.
It seems the Ducati’s have
quite a ‘trick’ device in
MotoGP…
I had someone comment about
that recently and how ours
might help because they obviously
don’t have anybody on
the grid helping them engage
it. I’ll definitely have to check
it out.