Ridesmart won't let me self tech so I'm taking my ball and going home

I've the same experience during my very first weekend

 

^ STT, why so hostle? i had a great time, no one ruined the day and it wasn't u at tech (was it) i realy did think the teck and control riders were volUnteers, are they not. Plus i didn't think it was a negative statement. I was making the point that i can't see how something so small can ruin you whole day. and the guy wont say what happened. I'd do many T-days with U guys if u were at NJMP more:up:

 

I am one of the three organizers. Dave is the owner of the school, but myself and another person run it for him.
I was present at the tech inspection on Sunday (the day on which this incident occurred).
I will not judge anyone here. Posting here is not intended to judge. I am shedding light on what happened as I saw (and I think I saw about 95% of what happened).

What I saw:

A person arrived at tech inspection on Sunday am (just as we are getting riders meeting started, despite multiple calls to tech before start of meeting - separate story though).
The person was asked to park their bike in the open space under one of the classrooms (2nd level class).
When the person was being teched, a lady (a racer herself), inspected the bike, and approached me saying that she thinks the bike chain is super loose and risks jumping off (apparently that is how loose she saw it) and causing damage to rider or others, etc.
I was taking names or riders to verify registration. I was preoccupied with the rosters so I asked if another tech person could look at the bike and re assess what the first tech person observed.
Another tech person approached the bike and re inspected it. Looked at the chain and must have apparently concluded that the chain is way too loose.

Being preoccupied with event activities, I was not tracking this until I saw a person walk up 'aggressively' towards the second tech person, and say ' well, then you can go to hell'. The phrase was screamed out and the person walked off to his bike, and rode off.

Some time later, after riders meeting, I tracked Dave and the tech person to get their accounts of the story. I saw Dave speaking to the same rider, for quite some time. I did not get involved in the discussion. No need to have 2 cooks doing the same stew here.

After some more time (probably about 15 minutes), I called Dave (owner of RideSmart) and the tech person to get a detailed account of what happened. Here is what I was told.

TECH PERSON:
Tech person said, he inspected the bike, observed the chain being excessively too loose. He asked the rider to go back to his staging area, tighten up the chain a bit and return so we can get him pass inspection.
Tech person told me that the rider said that is is the way he always rides, and that is the way his chain always is.
Tech rider then told me that he asked him to do same, tighten up chain and return to re inspect to get onto the track.
Tech person also said that at that time, the rider became irate about the situation. Tech person told me he walked away, and a minute or so later, the rider was walking up to him as if he was going to assault him (with an apparent really mean look on his face - and general aggressive body position).
When the rider approached the tech person, he put his hand on his shoulder before he started to speak, at which time, the tech person, not knowing what the situation was going to turn out to be, said 'back off'. I do no know any more details about what happened next, but tech person said the rider started swearing and being very irate. Apparently after swearing, etc, the rider said to the tech person that he was going to give him a compliment or something, but instead now, rider said, '....then you can go to hell' (which must have been what I heard myself.
Then the rider rode off.

Speaking to Dave (who was not present in the area at all during the incident), here is what I gathered:
Rider was upset about being turned away from tech due to chain slack. Dave discussed this in detail with the rider afterwards, and asked details, which rider provided (after I speak to him again, I will be glad to put those details down too).
Dave did say he repeatedly asked the rider to stay to enjoy the very promising second day at Barber (which turned out to be great).
However, the rider said that now his mind set was altered, and he would lose his mind on the track and did not want to rider 'pissed off', etc. So regardless of what Dave said, the rider chose to pack up and go home on his own. I will get details of what the resolution Dave proposed was, and will post up too at a later time.

Here is the bottom line. I, with another person, worked very hard to put on a good event at Barber. 99% of people who came were from Texas. There were several from out of state too. Virtually everyone seemed to have a great time.
A rider then came on here and stated that he recommends that no one try RideSmart without specifically stating what the issue or issues were.
I have no problems with people stating their reviews. We have a review after every event we stage, and we stage about 40 of them in a typical Texas season. We work hard at making sure people are satisfied, are having fun, and we try to address every concern to better the school.

I do not consider this review valid for the very simple reason that it says do not go to ridesmart, but I will not get into details why. Well, the 'why' is listed above. After we meet with Dave this week, we will specifically note down all other details of this situation. If you had an issue with the tech person, it would have been very easy to state to myself, Dave what your concerns are, and we would be more than glad to listen to you.
However, you, on your own, decided not to try to continue. On your own, stated that you cannot control your emotions and may have a meltdown on the track due to the event. This shows lack of control on your part.
We have already spoken to the tech person. We will be speaking to him again before passing any final judgment. I hope to speak to originator of thsi thread as well ([email protected]). Here is something to consider; just because you run your chain like this, does not automatically make it safe, or approved for the track. That is your assertion. Final say belongs to the organization staging the event. Imagine me showing up to a NESBA event, going through tech and telling them, don't worry about that oil seeping from oil filter - I always run it like that and never have problems. Would they pass my bike to ride? You can answer that yourself.
If they told me the chain was too loose, imagine if I said 'I always run it like that, don't worry', would they pass my bike to ride?
I did not see the chain, so I am not in position to say your chain was in need of attention for sure. I am saying that if you wanted to contest tech person assessment, channels existed which would be very easy to access to resolve this. At least two people saw the chain, both stated that it was too loose. I will leave it at that.

So to anyone who reads this, I would encourage that you read the entire thread, as this is not a simple, organization was bad and I lost my money. To me, it seems like a situation that could have easily been resolved and all parties would have tons of fun (yes, the day was amazing). Instead, the rider chose to not try to resolve anything, pack up his gear and go home.

I will post a follow up on what else I find out. I encourage the originator of this thread to email me at [email protected] to provide me with a detailed account of events as he saw them. I know it will not bring your Barber trip back, but at least we can try to come to a common ground to resolve this conflict.
RideSmart is an excellent school, and is not deserving of being viewed as the rider states. We have thousands of customers who are very satisfied and happy with our work. We aim to please all our customers, but want to do so NOT at the expense of safety to any participant. Hope to be back here soon to provide more details and to hopefully resolve this unfortunate incident.
Take care.

 

It says in the owner's manual what the bike chain slack should be. Keep the chain within spec and there should be no problems. How hard is it to do this? I also have to say to the opening person, that many many track guys would be more than happy to help you get your bike ready if minor adjustments need to be done. A few years ago, before I learned how to take off my wheels, the guys pitted next to me did all the work for me. And didn't even ask for anything. I ended up buying them lunch at least. Sorry man but you lost your temper over a very small thing.

 

I'm glad you had a great time with us at NJMP- think about joining us at Monticello as well, we have a great facility up there!
i'm pretty sure Monte wuz joking... an playin wit spellin. Having your chain too tight might not ruin your day; it might just accelerate wear on both the chain and sprockets. OTOH, it could also lead to the chain breaking which could not only ruin your day, but someone else's day, too. it's best to have it loose than too tight.

 

I ment the Tech guy didn't ruin our day over such a small thing. Why get pissed, we should all think safety first:up:

 

Relax chief, he's not being hostile, he's being funny. Get it? He mispelled "yeah" just like the other guy misspelled volunteers. Monte isn't hostile, although sometimes his body odor is a little offensive.:up:

 

On a track bike chain tension needs to be less than on a street bike to allow the suspension full travel. So if you pull up to tech with anything other than a novice sticker on your bike you will probably need to have a chain that it is a little slack of what the manual states, otherwise you might not pass tech. This can be pretty subjective though, and there is a point in which the chain can be too loose. It's always best to check chain tension with the rider off the bike.

Regardless, tech inspectors are there to make sure all the equipment on the track is safe. If I find something wrong I ask another tech inspector for their opinion. If we both agree, then I ask the rider to fix the issue and come back. In most cases I'll go find the guy after tech is closed and help him fix it. Either way, arguing isn't going to help your cause. It will just give the entire staff something to make fun of you all day.

 

Here are some reviews from other people:

http://www.highperformancecrew.com/showthread.php?t=12046

http://www.highperformancecrew.com/showthread.php?t=12057

http://wforiders.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14517

 

The guy flipped out and left because he didn't want to tighten his chain? WTF.

I've ridden with RS dozens of times and never had a single problem.

 

He rides like that all the time!!! He was there to take the track record and wouldnt hear of pesky safety requirements!!

 

who was the tech?

 

This is a very unfortunate incedent. I personally am a frquent RideSmart customer and have always been very heppy with them. Dave the owner is one of the nicest people I have ever met and will go way out of his way to make sure people are happy. So if the OP left unhappy it is his own fault. Yes most of the staff is volunters their time and are different levels of racers and experience but all very knowledgeable. The fact is most are at least novice CMRA racers, many expert racers, and some with AMA experience. Also professional mechanics. So if there is any question about chain tension or any other aspect of bike safety there is knowledeable people and in my experience RideSmart will go to any extent to satisfy a customer and settle a dispute. The one thing I respect most though is that if they see something that they deem unsafe they will not let it pass no matter how irate or big a fit someone throws, and personally I wouldnt want to ride with a org any other way.

 

It was 2 people. But you know as well as I do that they would have got every instructor or even Ty over there to look at it if it woulda made this guy happy but he chose to throw a hissy and load up. Then badmouth a great org cus he cant act like a grown up.

 

I made a spelling joke that was totally unrelated to the content of the post. You missed it. No worries.

 

Now after getting the details I can only tell you that you are lucky I was not the second Tech inspector...we would have spent the rest of the day playing the "Too Tight/Too loose" game.

You're a douche for not simply doing what the tech inspector asked you to do.

 

Ya I'm baffled by the guys actions, the organizer works to make everything right and yet he still goes off about ridesmart on here. Then we get the other side and it seems clear why he hasn't replied to any of the other comments on here.

 

Hopefully that game wouldnt involve your fingers and a bathroom stall.

 

Whatever turns you on big boy...I got gloves.

Kinky little thing aren't you.