Dango's Damping: Building Blocks

It has been close to six months since I first wrote about my experience at the Race Tech suspension seminar and I can’t believe how much has changed since then!  I have learned a tremendous amount in the business world, as well as personally grown by leaps and bounds in the people skills department! Before this entire adventure started, I was a kid straight out of high school with no plans of going to college. When the opportunity came to potentially start my own business I could not pass that up!  Like a lot of you reading this, I did not have any idea what the clickers on the suspension were for and I always thought how the suspension guy gives it to you is how you should leave it. This theory worked for me for a long time and I never knew what I was missing right up until I had a shock fall apart so I decided to take my suspension in to my own hands.

    I made the call to sign up for the Race Tech Suspension class and I had no idea what to expect.  When I arrived I was very excited to learn all the things that had always been a mystery to me in the past. The seminar was much more than how a suspension works and how to fix it. When I started running my own business, I realized how much the classes actually taught me that I never thought mattered. The classes were incredibly informative and they were most definitely the best step I could have taken to start my suspension company.

    After attending the seminars I continued to communicate with Race Tech and immediately applied to be a Race Tech Dealer, thankfully they said yes! Following my acceptance, I have been working with the good people at Race Tech for about 5 months now and I am very pleased with all the valving and business support they have been giving me.The Race Tech Valving settings that I put into my customer’s suspension, have been nothing other than exceptional. Every customer that has received a Race Tech Gold Valve system, has had nothing to say other than, “This feels so much better!”  I am very thankful that I have the opportunity to work with a company like Race Tech, because they are always testing and developing their valving specs.  At this time I don’t have the resources to go testing on all kinds of motorcycle models, but I still get to deliver the best valving possible.  Plus if I have any questions they are more than helpful until my issues are resolved. It is so nice to have a company that offers when I do not have all of the answers!   

    I have more tools then I know what to do with but that’s what it takes to be able to work on any bike that comes to my shop. I am enjoying working on suspension so much more then I thought possible.  I tell you one thing, it beats the heck out of painting apartment units! I am confident in the suspension work I am delivering to my customers and I am beginning to enjoy watching my work be put to use to win races. My main focus is going toward the Rocky Mountain Enduro Circuit and Dango’s seems to be really taking off. Over this past weekend I noticed a few people wearing Dango’s Damping T-Shirts and it is neat to see people proud to be representing my young business.There are so many people that have been helping spread the word about Dango’s Damping and I want to say thanks to all of you! Things are starting to pick up now that the snow is gone and I am excited to see what is in store for me this summer.

    Everyone at Race Tech has been so helpful in not only getting me started in the suspension business but also helping me get to another level in my own racing. I would like to thank not only Chris at Race Tech for the advertising help for Dango’s Damping, but also Sydney and Rob for giving my brother and I a tremendous sponsorship opportunity to display the Race Tech products to the off road racing community.  None of this would have been possible without my friend Andrew Campo, who helped me get to the Race Tech suspension seminar. Thank you so much to everyone that has helped me get started, as well as everyone that has used me for their suspension work!  Check out DangosDamping.com for services and pricing, as well as our Facebook for everything that is going on with Dango’s Damping!  Thank you all for reading!

-Kyle Schafer