Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/935202
February 2018 37 German. It had a rake like Peter Fonda's Captain America. It was high time to tear into the chassis. Since our plans were to enjoy this bike as it was intended— for competition use — we pulled the rolling stock. Fortunately the rims were straight and true. We replaced the wheel bearings and brake shoes along with cleaning out the drums and greasing all pivots. Kenda USA supplied the rubber front and rear. With a 17-inch rear wheel, tire options are slim. Incredibly, Kenda still offers the K760 Trakmaster in a 130/90X17. For the front, we chose Kenda's K781 Triple-Sticky for our rocky New England terrain. The next step of the build would be the suspen- sion. For this we turned to our friend and ISDT legend Drew Smith of Works Enduro Rider (WER). When it comes to rebuilding vintage Oh- lins, Drew is the man. The forks and shocks were boxed up for Drew to work his magic. Within days of receiving the legs, Drew had everything dis- assembled. A handful of emailed photos showed evidence that all rubber and plastic components had deteriorated. WER is a RaceTech dealer so all components were sourced through them, along with proper springs for my weight and rocky New England terrain. Since this bike will be ridden and raced aggressively in NETRA's popular Vintage Scramble series, Drew suggested installing a set of RaceTech Gold Valve Cartridge Emulators to make the forks perform like a modern cartridge fork. This particular project has been a lot of fun. Wak- ing up vintage a Husky is always an enjoyable feat and the people we've dealt with have made it so much more fun. Dealing with ISDT/E champion, Drew Smith at WER was nothing but a pleasure. The man is a legend, at the very top of his game and extremely humble. Certainly no prima-donna syndrome in his camp. Within a couple weeks of sending out the forks and shocks we had them back and installed. Although we've yet to take it for a proper rip (we've still got a couple feet of snow on the ground here at TR headquarters), it sure feels supple but firm. With fresh suspension, tires and brakes, we're now ready to hammer this Husky in Howie's honor during the 2018 NETRA Vintage Series. Please friends, if you haven't done so, get your colon screening. I miss my old friend tremen- dously and can't bear to lose any more to this horrific disease. -Kurt Here's a brief description of RaceTech Emula- tors from the RaceTech site: Gold Valve Cartridge Emulators remedy damping rod style forks as they are notorious for being too harsh, too mushy and too easy to bottom. Gold Valve Cartridge Emula- tors remedy this problem by controlling the damping with a tunable valve that sits on top of the damping rod and is held in place by the main spring. Simply put; Emulators make damping rod forks perform like well-tuned cartridge forks. Installation and tuning for any condition or rider preference is very straight-forward.