Editors Note: Mark Klein is more widely known by the name of MXTuner on the internet newsgroup rec.motorcycles.dirt (RMD) where he is looked upon as the local mech expert. He is pretty much the online version of that buddy who knows a lot about bikes.

MXTuner has agreed to come on board and help us out here at the ORC Dirt Bike page. Don't fret, we still have Super Hunky. Tuner is an addition that just makes our team that much stronger. How can we lose!!!

The Staff here at the ORC Dirt Bike Page has noticed that on RMD many of the same basic questions are asked over and over. Everyone on RMD usually waits to see what Tuner posts in response to these questions.

To that end, Tuner will be writing a series of articles that we are calling "Dirt Bike 101". These articles are going to cover basic theory and maintenance on every aspect of your dirt bike. Eventually, these articles will join and serve as an online basic guide to dirt bikes.

Mark has agreed also to write articles on other subjects that he thinks might be interesting to y'all.

Now Mark is a real humble guy. He has no illusions that he is perfect. In conversations with him he has stressed that he does not know everything there is about dirt bikes. Tuner hopes you readers will feel contact him if you have information contrary to what he writes.

Another point that proves Tuners humility is this bio. When he first submitted it to me I asked him to edit in his recent experience as the mechanic for one of the teams that raced the recent Vegas to Reno event. He felt this was blowing his own horn and did not feel comfortable doing that. Well, I just told y'all about it, and Tuner just learned the power of the Editor. Hahahahhahah Sorry Tuner!

So welcome Tuner on board. I am sure you will find his upcoming series of articles informative and fun. Make sure to drop him a line to say "Hi".

OldFart

Hey Everyone,

My name is Mark Klein (a.k.a. MX Tuner). I'll be doing a little writing for Off-Road.Com in the technical areas. Hopefully, I can help clear up some of the questions some of you may have concerning your bike. I'll be going over everything from maintenance items and procedures to theory and operation. If you have any comments, suggestions, corrections, gripes, or ideas, please don't hesitate to contact me.

A little about my background. I am an auto technician by trade. I've been working at European car dealers for the last 18 years. I've been riding bikes for the last 30 years and been working on bikes for the better part of that. I worked at a local Suzuki/Ducati/BMW/Vespa (yes, Vespa) dealer in the mid '80s. One thing I learned at the motorcycle dealer: bikes don't pay very well. Mrs. Smith will gladly pay $500 to get her Volvo air conditioner fixed.

In 1986 I started tuning for a local roadracer riding in the WERA southeastern region. Lo and behold, we won the national championship in his class that year (B (750) Superbike Novice). He was riding an '85 Yamaha FZ 750. The next season he finished 4th in the nation in his class (B Superbike Expert).

The following season I started tuning for Mike Smith who was riding for Team Suzuki Endurance at the time. Suzuki gave him a GSXR 750 and 1100 for him to race in the sprint races. He bought a 600 since Suzuki was paying contingency in that class as well. So I was doing full time duty trying to keep 3 bikes in tires, jetting, fresh rings, etc, etc, etc.

I had just been married and was working full time. I would go to Mikes house and put in another 6 hours every evening. The wife was feeling short changed and I never had time to ride my own bike. Mike needed someone who could dedicate more time than I could, so we parted company.

Since then I've just been working on dirt bikes mostly. I've lived with two strokes exclusively and, therefore, am not as familiar with four strokes as I'd like to be. I'm learning but I've got a long way to go with fine tuning and some of their characteristics. I do a lot of suspension work (revalving and rebuilding).

I raced motocross for a number of years (including the vintage nationals for a couple seasons) until I broke my wrist. After it was set incorrectly by one of the local quacks, I had to have a bone graft done to repair it properly. The final nail in my mx career was when I spent the night in the hospital with a bruised tailbone. All my injuries were from jumping (actually from landing wrong) so I sold the YZ for a woods bike. I figured dodging trees was safer than all the jumping I was "attempting" to do. I've been riding enduros and hare scrambles in the SETRA series for a couple years now.

That's about it for me. Hopefully, I'll be able to help some of you with your bikes. That is my goal anyway. Again, please write me if you feel the need for any reason. If I give some questionable advice, let's talk about it. Maybe I can explain why I wrote what I did or maybe you can point out why I don't know my ass from my elbow.

Hope you enjoy my ramblings.

Mark Klein a.k.a MXTuner