Working for the Weekend: The Story Behind the Rebuild

Working in the moto-realm is a dream come true. But like any business, so much of our Monday through Friday is dedicated to the daily grind. Inboxes fill up, emails need answering, calls have to be returned, computers need fixing, warehouse issues come up, and before you know it, the day is done.

We love to build bikes.

 TST Industries was founded on a love for motorcycle technology. Every person on our crew is passionate about riding, racing, modifying, and building motorcycles. It’s incredible to spend the work week innovating new ways to make motorcycles faster, more aerodynamic, more aesthetically appealing, and we love facilitating better bikes for our customers. By the time Friday hits, we are all eager to get our hands off the keyboard and around a greasy wrench and a throttle.

Saturdays and Sundays are for riding, racing, and bike building. This last weekend was devoted to a special rebuilding project for our superstar engineering assistant, Dexter.  Most people wouldn’t exactly look forward to spending their days off at work, with their boss. But here at TST, spending a day with the boss isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

The best part about this rebuild is the backstory.

Dexter’s bike is a particularly special rebuild, not only due to the fact that he is part of the TST team, but also because of his bike’s interesting backstory. Last October at a track event, Dexter got a well-deserved opportunity to rip around the track on the TST Factory Race Bike that he had maintained and worked on during the 2016 racing season. Dexter was thrilled to get the chance to test the result of his labor on an official track.  Naturally, he wanted some video footage of his ride, and asked Bart, TST founder and president, to ride behind him and film. Bart hopped on Dexter’s personal bike, camera on, and took off. The guys had previously tinkered with the suspension on Dexter’s bike, leaving Bart on a ride that felt very unfamiliar. On top of that, amidst all of the excitement, the front tire warmer wasn’t plugged in, leaving Bart unknowingly at the mercy of cold tires. With an unexpected suspension setup and a cold tire, the lap around the track didn’t go as well as expected. Rounding the track at the halfway point, Bart felt the front tire come out from under him and down he went, taking Dexter’s bike with him.

Bart assured Dexter he would not only fix his bike, but he would also facilitate a full TST Industries upgrade. In that half-lap ride on Dexter’s bike, Bart realized the suspension left much to be desired. On top of the suspension situation, there were leaky fork seals, out of whack geometry, and brake calipers needing some love.

Let’s do this.

This weekend, the great rebuild commenced. Everyone showed up, first thing in the morning, ready to begin taking Dexter’s bike from barely-safe street status, to a custom intermediate race bike. Here’s what we accomplished so far:

• Disassembled and rebuilt the brake calipers
• Removed the front fork, installed Ohlins valves and proper springs
• Installed new fork seals and dust caps
• Removed redundant street parts
• Simplified wiring harness
• Installed our Womet-Tech Axle Block Protectors
• Devised a method to cut and re-weld one of the coolant line collectors to facilitate the use of a simple GP shift linkage

Before we knew it, the day was over, and we were reluctantly packing up our tools and cleaning up shop. We’re looking forward to a few more weekends with Dexter’s bike. Bart keeps reminding us of TST Industries’ unofficial motto, one that helped kick off this project, “Friends don’t let friends ride junk.” Keep your eyes peeled! We’ll keep you updated on our progress here.

About Erica Nocita