Moto-Steadicam Pilot Starling Praises Öhlins Mechatronic
September 12th 2012
Robert Starling, a Steadicam owner/operator who often transports cameramen on his BMW for filming, has written to tell us how well his job is facilitated by a set of Öhlins TTX Mechatronic shocks on his R1200GS.
Without further ado, Starling’s words in his note from last month are, “The new shocks have transformed the bike in so many ways. My work as a professional moto-pilot requires me to push the bike and the suspension system to its limits; especially when I'm carrying a photographer or videographer.
“Today, during the USA Pro Cycling Challenge in Colorado, we went from valley highways out of Gunnison to twisty mountain roads, to twisty mountain dirt roads that climbed to well over 12,000 feet twice, and a mad dash downhill from Independence Pass into the town of Aspen. At the top, or what we refer to as the King of Mountain, we bomb down the descents ahead of the cyclists who can easily hit speeds of 70+ mph and overtake a motorcycle. Pushing a 650-lb bike with 400+ pounds of riders on it down these descents is really where the Öhlins’ shine.
“I feel a very positive contact with the road regardless of the surface, and there's no hint of sag in the rear. Simply put, it goes where I point it instead of wallowing around or bobbing like the stock ESA tended to do. Two days ago we raced through a downtown area that had significant gutter dips in the street. Two of our TV bikes bottomed out so hard that one broke a footpeg and one broke off the TV transmitter antenna mast. I barely bottomed out on just one.
“For this week, I'm carrying on-camera talent where I ride next to the lead riders while another camera bike shoots us in a live interview. The ESA system is so great that even my photographer for the race picked up on it without me telling him! I've been on the bike for 23 days straight!”
Starling’s website is: http://www.westcoaststeadicam.com. No, he doesn’t do weddings. The cool picture was taken and copyrighted by Hodes / Veloimages.com.
