5 Minutes with ... Michael Haist
APRIL 12, 2006

Michael Haist with his daughter, Laurie

photo by Shawna Nelles

By Brett Dailey

Factory Connection Canada’s Michael Haist has over 10 years of technical experience and even has a few national championships to his credit that he earned while wrenching for Canadian icons, Ross Pederson and Carl Vaillancourt. This is suspension season, so we decided to check in with Mike and see how business is going. 

Racer X Canada: Thanks for taking the call. You must be busy right now.
Michael Haist: Yes, it’s definitely a busy time of the year.

What kind of schedule are you working these days?
We’re definitely in the peak of the season; that happens in the month of April each year. The country thaws and everybody starts riding ... first races and stuff. There are people that do get on with things earlier in the year but, for the most part, people take care of their suspension right in the beginning of the spring so it keeps us busy.

You have been running Factory Connection Canada for a couple of years now. How has it been going?
Really good; we are going into our third year now. I think we’ve been in Canada for about two and a half years and the growth and the amount of support and enthusiasm we’re getting from our customers I think is really good. We’ve grown dramatically each summer and I think this year is, without a doubt, the biggest sign of growth and I’m super happy with what is going on here in Canada.

Simon Homans is back with Factory Connection for '06.

photo by Allison Kennedy

In your opinion, what is the difference between stock suspension and revalved suspension?
Well, with stock suspension, there are definitely a few things that we look at. For one, the motorcycle manufacturers need to put suspension components on a motorcycle, however, they are not calling you, the customer, and we are not in the day-in-age where you can call and say, “I would like to order my brand new motorcycle and I weight this much and I race in this class and I prefer this sort of suspension.” That’s where a company like ourselves comes into play because we are taking care of detailing all of the hydraulic circuits and the valving, spring rates, and all of these variables inside the suspension components to really tailor it to the customer’s needs. That’s the biggest portion of what goes on when we are doing a revalve for a customer. Obviously, at the same time, we are going through to take care of any production flaws—it’s a blueprint that goes on, basically. So, that’s helping to correct any little things from the production process.

Do you think that everyone could benefit from a revalve? Right from offroad riders to amateur motocrossers to pros?
Absolutely. Again, given that the manufacturer has to put a motorcycle out there for the masses, it’s built for some theoretical person and, even for that theoretical person, it’s a compromise. Juniors, or amateur riders, realize a benefit in a different way in that a good handling motorcycle will allow them to concentrate on their riding skills, techniques and get them up to speed in that area. If you are uneasy about coming up to a double and wondering if the bike is going to kick or if the bike is swapping through a rocker section, it’s very hard for someone at an entry level riding skill to get through that section because they are concerned about what the bike is going to do. As you further your ability and get into the Intermediate and pro levels, now we are looking at it as a performance issue. We are trying to cut lap times, save energy, improve traction, and these sorts of things. For woods guys, it’s completely different. Especially when a motocross bike is put into enduro use, there’s a dramatic change that goes on there. Those guys see the biggest change in performance. A motocross bike was designed to run on a motocross track. If you take a motocross bike and go do some enduro, hare scramble, or GNCC style work with it, there’s a huge change that goes on with suspension. Those guys really benefit from tailored suspension.

What do you do for a woods rider? Lighter spring rates and valving?
Well, as far as spring rate, that is primarily dictated by rider weight. The discipline does come into play, being woods, but lighter spring rates only to a certain point as I think the rider’s weight and height has a bigger role in choosing the right spring rate. However, valving—pressure springs, high-speed springs—those particular products combined with very specific valving for woods work, makes a huge difference.

What teams and riders are you working with this year or is it too early?
Well, I would say we are about 95% there now. There are always concerns, last minute deals that are being made, new teams that are being formed, but for the most part our big guys have signed on and we’ve already started working with them and testing with them. On-site testing with some of these bigger names will probably start in a week or so. Simon Homans and Marco Dube have stayed on with us for their third year now. They have been with us since we opened the door here in Canada. I’m super happy to be working with those guys. They are Canadian, they are long-term career pros that everyone knows in the country. So, I’m really happy to be working with them and they are both good guys to work with. Newer folks for this year—and this is just a really good sign of growth for Canada—we have secured all of the suspension business for the Morgan Racing Team so we will be working with that team exclusively and we also have deals with Gavin Gracyk and Keith Johnson from OTSFF.

Keith Johnson will also use Factory Connection again this season.

photo by Allison Kennedy

For Morgan Racing, I hear that Jason Burke is becoming a pretty good test rider so that must be fun for you to work with him this year.
He has been good to work with. He’s been calling back like he should and we are going through tech support. We have gone through revisions with him for valving and next week, we are actually doing an on-site test with the Morgan team. Jay Burke will obviously be involved in that test and we’ve actually provided suspension technicians from Factory Connection to go work with them and better their settings.

As far as amateur support, do you have any plans for sponsorships and trackside support?
Our amateur support program is as important, if not more important, than our pro program. I think I supported upwards of 90 kids this year at the amateur level in Canada. Trackside support is also an ongoing thing for us. We were at Gopher Dunes for the open practice two weeks ago and the response that we had there was fantastic. I was really pleased with what went on there; we offered free sag set-up, clicker set-up and I did a suspension seminar on the Sunday and we were there for the motocross school as well. This weekend I have another school to do out here in Quebec with Buddy Ford and then at the end of the month, I have another school coming up so we are involved a great deal with schools and training and trackside support.

For Factory Connection in the U.S., the 250F riders like Josh Grant, Billy Laninovich, Tommy Hahn and Jake Weimer are all riding well. That must be exciting for yourself and for the team down south as well.
Absolutely. That team is definitely a driving force within the industry—everyone knows the team and, as an individual private team, I think the results are very good. You know, watching Josh Grant and Billy and Tommy doing what they are doing is great. I actually go work with that team about once a year as part of my training. Last year, I went down and did the Southwick test. The owner of Factory Connection, Rick Zielfelder, just throws me in there and asks where I want to go. Sometimes I go trackside with Rick and help test with his riders and he will ask for my opinion. If I’ve gone down a road that he thinks is acceptable, then we will run my changes. If he thinks that I’m a little bit off-track then he will explain why and it helps further my suspension knowledge. Factory Connection's results in the U.S., and their race team, I think, speaks for itself. It’s a good product and definitely the results are there, suspension-wise.

Can you tell us a bit about your background from when you worked with Ross Pederson and Carl Vaillancourt?
Sure. I was a motorcycle mechanic in the greater Toronto area and became a service manager but decided that I was looking for a bigger challenge, technically. Working in bike shops was a great thing but I wanted to push the envelope a little further, so I started working with amateur riders, basically friends, and spent way more time turning wrenches than riding myself. I realized that I was actually a much better mechanic than a rider. So, I chose to spend much more time working on the technical portion of racing rather than riding. I worked at the amateur level for a few years and started going to every event, helping with tire selection, gearing, jetting and that sort of thing. Then, I went to a national in Barrie in 1992 and basically just hung out all day and took it all in. That was the day that I decided it was what I wanted to do for a living; this is a challenge. And I approached Ross toward the end of the day and we had a quick conversation. I knew that his current mechanic was leaving at the end of the year, so I kept in touch with him via telephone and I had some good plugs with some of his friends, Dave Gowland, specifically. So, it worked out and I was his mechanic for the ’93 season. I went on to do very good things with Ross … we won championships in 1993 and then Ross retired after ’93.

And then, it was a similar situation with Carl Vaillancourt, where he was looking for a mechanic and at that point I had put some background and worth to my name. I was definitely a new guy to the sport at that point but I had an exceptional rider to work with [Pederson] and I was fortunate to win championships in my first year as a professional mechanic. So, that was enough to spark Carl’s interest and I came for an interview with Carl that actually lasted a week. He was pretty particular and wanted to know that this was the right thing so he had me come out for a full week to work with him. I rebuilt motors and did this and did that and then at the end of the week, he felt that I was technically apt and that we could get along on a personal level. Back in that era, driving around in box vans and basically living together, you spent more time with those guys than with your girlfriend. So, we were compatible and I had two more years of really good success with Carl and I put together more championships in ’94 and in ‘95.

My career as a mechanic on the professional scene actually ended after that. The motorcycle industry has waves to it and things were in the lower portion of the wave at that point. I actually left the sport and worked as an R&D technician for a transmission department. I did that for about seven years. And looking back at that now, it was actually a very positive thing because, technically, I did very special things working in an R&D department. I ran dynos for years and did a lot of computer recorded data capturing while testing vehicles so, technically, I really polished a lot of my skills there. I came back into the sport, looking to do this Factory Connection thing, about four years ago. I started gently in a bike shop but ran into challenges between being a mechanic and trying to serve my [suspension] customers because I felt that that personal touch from the guy doing the job was important. So, I came to an agreement with Factory Connection that we would open this facility and basically serve all of Canada from this facility. We put that deal together and we opened up the doors in September of 2003.

Marco Dube at the Orlando Supercross.

photo by Jean-Francois Trottier

Do you still stay in contact with Carl Vaillancourt?
Yes, I do. We’ve stayed friends throughout the years, which is great. He’s taken on a very important role in the family window and door company. They actually just built a brand new facility and this place is huge. So, he’s doing really well and has gone into a business career basically and they are a driving force when it comes to windows and doors and house construction and building construction and that sort of thing. He has a wife and two kids and they are still on the fence about making more babies. He still rides a little bit—maybe 10 times a year. I get the yearly visit in the spring to do up a set of suspension for him. We try to get out and actually ride together maybe once a year but we see each other more in the summer while boating—both of us enjoy boating and water skiing and wakeboarding so we will get together with all the kids and have a party and do some wakeboarding.

Well, that’s nice to hear. Thanks for your time and we’ll let you get back to work.
Thanks.

For more information on Factory Connection Canada, visit www.factoryconnectioncanada.com