BIO
Eric Harvey started riding dirt motorcycles at the age of 10, in the mid-1960’s, along with his childhood friend Billy Grossi, around the Santa Cruz mountains. Eric riding a Hodaka Ace 90, and Billy riding a Honda S-90 handed down from older brother Bob Grossi, they would try to keep up with their dad’s riding through the hills and other off-road events their dad’s would take them to.
Eric and Billy started riding motocross in the late 1960’s, and Eric’s dad became involved in a Yamaha, Maico, Bultaco, Triumph, Sach/DKW, and Hodaka dealership in Santa Cruz. Working and riding out of the shop, Eric learned the right way to work on bikes and how to make them work better. Eric went on to ride a Yamaha 125 in the 1977 National Motocross series.
Working at the shop, Eric was fortunate to work along side some great innovators of the sport. His dad Dick Harvey (a great machinist), Lynn Mobley (Bultaco guru), Craig Filmer (Yamaha engineer & factory HD mechanic), and Mike McAndrews – Jeff Wards mechanic and Factory Connection suspension originator.
When the professional motocross days ended and the motorcycle shop was sold, Eric continued racing motocross and other off-road events, and brought his son Brad into the sport as his father had done for him. In the early 2000’s, Eric reconnected with his shop friends and some of the earlier bikes he used to modify and race. With help from his good friend Mike McAndrews, they developed engineering to update the Yamaha Monoshock and front suspension, with current suspension technology. The old bikes responded very well to the new technology and the results proved to be very rewarding. Eric & Brad then began providing suspension upgrades out of their shop in Grass Valley.
Eric also continued his hub machining and wheel building work as he has done since the early 1970’s, reducing unsprung weight and lacing up wheels with stronger spokes and rims. The result is lighter, stronger, and factory-looking wheels.
Eric also continued his engine performance work learned from his days riding a Yamaha on the National Motocross circuit. Eric understands that engines that have a smooth powerband and produce power from low RPM, yet pull hard and have good RPM over-run, are the easiest to ride, and go fast on. Our engine packages consist of components that do just that, and are reliable.
Eric and Brad wanted some of the trick billet parts found on the factory works bikes, but they were unable to find the parts they wanted, like triple clamps, brake stays, reed spacers, etc., and the fit and quality of the parts that were available just didn’t measure up. So they decided to get into specialty CNC Billet parts and bought a CNC mill, and learned how to program specialty parts. Today, we offer high-quality billet triple clamps for Yamaha and Maico, and brake stays and reed spacers for Yamaha’s.