AMA pushing Penske shocks

[Magoo]

Has anyone else noticed that in a few AMA races the commentators have been talking up Penske's motorcycle shocks? The first time I heard it I was a little off put that they would so blatantly pimp a product during a race, but the Daytona Sport bike race I watched recently took the cake. I think it was the first race at Road America, Ralph Shaheen was talking about how one of the riders switched from Ohlins to Penske and then claimed that with the Penske shock the guy shaved off a half a second from his lap times!

To be fair I have no experience with Penske shocks, and I suppose it's possible that the rider was using a lower end Ohlins unit, but I still seriously doubt the claims made. Seems like a lot of hype and BS to me.

Any other AMA watchers notice this?

[dv8ryan]

Maybe Penske forked over some money. Penske is still made here in the U.S. aren't they? That could be why. I've never used Penske either, I think they have limited applications for Ducati which is why we never really hear about them. But they do make a lot of stuff for the 4's.

[ZDM]

GW had mentioned Herrin or one of the Yamaha guys (?) shifted from Ohlins to Penske and picked up a second+ a lap.......It would be great if Penske would inject money into the series.....but I doubt it was nothing more then a FYI from GW.

[Chuckracer]

I've used Penske shocks on a couple race bikes and love them. They are made in Pennsylvania and you can talk to the guys who will be building your shock and explain what you want (if you know what you want). They come with dyno graphs of your shock and a LOT of very informative reading material, so if you do need to change the valving or piston, you can make an informed decision.

You can also work on them yourself and Penske will sell you any part you need.

My Penske shocks have worked perfectly right out of the box.

[dv8ryan]

Originally Posted by Chuckracer

I've used Penske shocks on a couple race bikes and love them. They are made in Pennsylvania and you can talk to the guys who will be building your shock and explain what you want (if you know what you want). They come with dyno graphs of your shock and a LOT of very informative reading material, so if you do need to change the valving or piston, you can make an informed decision.

You can also work on them yourself and Penske will sell you any part you need.

My Penske shocks have worked perfectly right out of the box.

Hmmm, may have to try them out. I just picked up an 09 gixxer 750 for the track. May have to consider the Penske this time.

[Chuckracer]

Originally Posted by Magoo

Has anyone else noticed that in a few AMA races the commentators have been talking up Penske's motorcycle shocks?

Sorry for the hijack, Magoo.

I didn't watch the race, but...could be. Just like product placement in movies and TV shows, perhaps there's a little Penske kick-back moola involved. Why not?

[Austin748]

I heard the comment during the race, but to me it just sounded like the commentator said that Penske gave that rider a shock to try and dropped a half-second or so off his time. I didn't hear them say he switched from Ohlins to Penske. Of course, I was more interested in watching the race rather than listening to the commentators, so I might have missed the big sales pitch. I thought it was more about Penske offering up a shock to a rider than anything else.

[Chuckracer]

That explains this pic on Soup:

[SP3]

Originally Posted by Magoo

To be fair I have no experience with Penske shocks, and I suppose it's possible that the rider was using a lower end Ohlins unit, but I still seriously doubt the claims made. Seems like a lot of hype and BS to me.

More likely, the Ohlins was never valved properly for the bike/rider/track combo and the Penske was.

I've spent time inside both of them. Both are well made and (can) work well.

Also, there is the mental component. Pilot doesn't like X shock. You tell him (don't show him) that you put on Y shock and a lot of the time pilot goes faster. Even if you did not change a thing. Sad but true.

You could not do this with someone with excellent mechanical knowledge/set up/communication skills (Lawson is one that I worked with and comes to mind) but many will not know the difference.

I did actually watch some of both of those races on the tube but was tuned out of the announcers blathering. Could have been a badly implemented plug or just an interesting behind the scenes tidbit.

[ZDM]

.....much to do about nothing....Greg White made the comment.....nothing further was said by Russell.....I don't pay much attention to Sheehan.....it was just an FYI.....but I wish Penske would get sick of NASCAR/Indy car and come over to AMA and get this series back on it's feet....