Originally Posted by
Farmer_John
But is it? Saddles, pinned slipper, shocks, shiny bits... Some yes, some probably not. I just can't see Associated doing all of the changes to the truck that many of us have.
Marcus, Mack, do you see AE adopting your clutch bits or two stage pistons? Either through you or just downright stealing the ideas?
If you haven't thought of it, figure out a way to protect your assets!
Just speculation on my part.
There is no way to protect against it AE is HUGE, i cant afford to fight them and there is not enough sales to warrant it. They dont have a history of stealing ideas. WE are only helping not hurting. If you look at the history of all of the major companies they only improve on the obvious and let the aftermarket take care of the rest. Without our improvements the truck would not be as good as it is and that would put more pressure on AE to fix it. Now a brace, better shocks and little dimensional changes they will change . i am only speaking from my perspective, not sure how Mac feels about it! i got into a battle with GT bikes years ago as i came up with the "ahead" stem system and put it on all of my team's bikes, went to the grand nationals with it and 6 mths later they introduced it on their new bikes and now EVERY bike on the planet has it. i pissed of 10g's and still lost......
i think the new FT truck will have:
FT shocks (hardened and nitride coated shafts)
pinned rear top shaft assembly
upgraded arms
upper brace
V2 slipper spring
sway bars