Photo: Check out the Pit Bull sticker in the Lucas lab photo of my samples ready for testing.
During his 30 years in the suspension business Jim tried most of the suspension fluid that existed. When I asked him what brand I should use he said Maxima or Silkolene. I think he came to that conclusion after a lot of trial and error.
That made it easy for me, I had been sponsored by Silkolene since 1996 and they were willing to continue to work with me as a dealer/sponsored rider.
During this time, because of my work for “Roadracing World” I met Mark Sromalla of Lucas Oil Products. Mark is a smart, hard working guy but I really noticed Lucas when I got a tour of the Lucas facility, it’s just down the road in Corona, CA. As Mark showed me around, I was amazed by how clean and organized the place is, then I started to notice that all the people we met looked happy and were working hard. It’s clear that these guys are doing a lot of stuff right. When Mark asked if I’d like to become a Lucas dealer I turned the offer down because of my long relationship with Silkolene.
“Roadracing World” did two “Shops” stories about Lucas, one for their Corona facility, this after I told them about my tour, and later, earlier this year, about their much larger manufacturing facility in Indiana. These and other word of mouth stories I heard about Lucas kept them on my mind.
Then Silkolene was bought by someone who does not believe in the value of sponsorship. My deal ended. Meanwhile, Lucas is sponsoring lots of racers, including my friends at the Geico Suzuki Team. So I called Mark.
But that’s not all I did. I saved some used oil from forks and shocks and gathered different brands of new oil. I took six samples to the Lucas lab for testing. Laboratory Supervisor, Hugo Ramirez did the work and explained the results to me. Here’s the short version: Modern oils are all good, they get dirty before they start to break down. Lucas suspension fluids are equal to all the best.
My wife is always looking for an excuse to pick up her Mom and take her to do stuff, so we set up all my Lucas orders as Will Calls. Every time they go, they come back with stories of how friendly and nice the people are, how nice the flowers on the grounds are, how everything is neat, clean and organized. More proof I made a good choice. Lucas, good products, good people and made in the USA.
Photo: Lucas suspension fluid in stock.
