June 13, 2014 Comments off   ssignbarciaJustin Barcia.  A lot of
people wonder why a rider would change teams when he is doing so
well at the team he is currently at. In most cases they mean
Justin Barcia and Ken Roczen. There are several reason why a
factory rider would jump ship:  (1) Machinery: Not every rider
gets along with every bike. It is no secret that Justin Barcia
does not like his 2014 Honda CRF450—which is strange given that
he has been a Honda rider for most of his high-profile life.
But, it does happen (reference Chad Reed at Honda and James
Stewart at Yamaha). Ken Roczen, on the other hand, is supremely
happy with his KTM 450SXF—and hasn’t quibbled about the setup
very much in the 2014 AMA Nationals.  (2) Money: Even the stars
of the 1970s knew that you could make more money by switching
teams than by staying loyal to one brand. If Suzuki is willing
to pay you $300,000, you might get raises with each successful
year that you stay at the team, but eventually they will not
want to pay you more—e