News

Jul 17, 2023

Pro

If you’ve watched MotoGP with an eagle eye, you may have noticed many of the front-runners with a little yellow and black Pro-Bolt sticker attached to their bikes. Pro-Bolt is the world’s leading

If you’ve watched MotoGP with an eagle eye, you may have noticed many of the front-runners with a little yellow and black Pro-Bolt sticker attached to their bikes. Pro-Bolt is the world’s leading supplier of aluminum, titanium and stainless-steel fasteners for racebikes, and they also have their hands in aviation, watercraft and construction.

If you’re racing, the number-one thing you want (aside from copious amounts of horsepower) is as little weight as possible, and when I bought my Suzuki GSX-R600 last year, one of the things on my wish list was a titanium bolt kit. They are beautifully crafted pieces of engineering, and the bling factor alone is almost worth the price of admission.

The various nuts and bolts are usually dramatically lighter than stock, and almost all the bolts come pre-drilled for lock wiring—a must for any race organization in America—which saves you plenty of time in race preparation. Pro-Bolt has aluminum, titanium and stainless-steel fasteners for pretty much every motorcycle on the market dating back around 20 years.

Standout Feature: Beautifully crafted. They make my bike look properly factory!

MSRP: It depends on your bike and what material you use.

I was fortunate enough to meet American-Brit David Cork at the American Racing Team launch in Calabasas recently, and when he asked me if I wanted to try out some Pro-Bolt titanium pieces, I thought he was joking.

These are real racebike pieces, exquisitely crafted and they give a significant weight savings over stock.

David sent me a titanium bolt and nut kit consisting of sprocket nuts, front-brake caliper bolts, front-axle pinch bolts, middle- and top triple-clamp bolts and handlebar-clamp bolts, a rear-axle nut, sump plug and an oil-filler cap.

You must be careful not to overtighten a titanium bolt, so a torque wrench is a must, and everything fitted like the proverbial glove.

However, there were a couple of pieces that were heavier than stock. The oil-filler cap is nearly 50-percent heavier (titanium versus plastic) and the handlebar clamp bolts for the top triple clamp is about 40-percent heavier. Needless to say, I did not use those pieces, because if I’m trying to save weight, I’m not going to add any.

In all, the titanium bolt and nut kit came in at 305 grams, while the aluminum stock bolts and nuts weighed 452 grams. That’s a saving of 33 percent, mainly in unsprung weight. I’m not going to lie and say I can feel the difference on track (I’m not that good of a rider), but less weight anywhere means less mass to accelerate and therefore, faster acceleration. And when you’re 190 pounds on a 600cc supersport, you need all the help you can get.

They are lovely pieces of kit, and I’ll be interested to see how they last in terms of their finish over the course of the season.CN

For more information, visit www.probolt-usa.com