Because We Said So!

05 Nov Because We Said So!

The following post (the second of AJ Day) was written by our head fabrication engineer, AJ. You might remember his RC car from the previous blog entry, or perhaps from our description of his bike from a month or two ago. Either way, here’s his take on Fluid and why we do what we do:

Because I said so…

The immortal words we have all had implanted in our heads by our parents growing up. Why can’t I see if a bed sheet works like a parachute when I jump off the roof? Because you said so? ….Damn it.

Now that I have two kids, I have often wondered when the first time those words would come out of my mouth. I know now that when they do it won’t be because of a lack of reason behind them; it will be because I really won’t have the patience to describe to the little brat my entire thought process. Why will I answer the door with a large gauge chain in my hand when my little girl’s first date shows up? Because I said so.

My first encounter with Fluid was because of a car with the same attitude. Goldwheels. The name rings like the timer for my daughter’s curfew. Working on my track bike one evening I hear what appears to be the rumble of some sort of ‘roided NASCAR engine behind the glow of two headlights slowly coasting down my street… it passes my driveway as it is aimed a few doors down from me. Before it comes to a stop, it seems to go quiet… “ha ha… he stalled it” my male ego immediately thinks. It sits for a minute… then silently starts to move. Wait, what happened to the Schwarzenegger NASCAR? About thirty feet later…oh, there he is. What the f@#k?

To this day I am glad OJ was just going down the street for a quick U-turn while the passenger dropped something off at the house before meeting again back in front. This was my opportunity. Seeing the car quietly coast back to the driveway, the titanic battle between male ego and male curiosity was fought in my head. I had to do it… I walked straight up to the driver and as politely as I could, I asked, “What the holy hell is this thing?” Then I saw it. The little half smile both OJ and Craig have down to a science; in one instance, it tells you that what they are about to show you will embed itself in your subconscious and haunt you until the 500-dollar-an-hour therapist attempts to drag it out. Without a word, the hood came up.

Why was Goldwheels built? Because Fluid said so. Why does the company continue to produce vehicles that draw attention from both young children gazing out the window from car seats, to soccer moms stuck in their minivans? Because they can. Why do our little brothers over at Stanceworks live and breathe by these same criteria? Because…

It’s not a statement that is taken lightly. It is the artist giving all he wants to give and letting you decide what you want to take from it. Be it good or bad, you are guaranteed to take something away. You will not walk away without a thought in your head and that thought will not leave you any time soon. What do my co-workers see in Rusty that I don’t? I have no idea…maybe because I’m an old man. What do I take away from Rusty? Respect, and tons of it.

I am new to the style that is Fluid. I am new to some of the thinking that is behind the reasoning fueling certain designs. I even admit that sometimes I see something, and now, thankfully because the stars lined up for me and I engineer for Fluid, I have to work on things that I wouldn’t actually consider to be my taste. But the irrefutable fact is absolutely nothing comes by me that isn’t thought provoking. And what I am NOT new to is doing something you are passionate about at a level even beyond what society would think to be its fullest, and push that edge to the point you are dangling precariously just outside it.

Why take a car around a track, propelling it to all the limits its components can handle? Why drift a car around a course in a ballet of tire-melting chaos? Why fling a bike through corners until the vibrations from a front tire that’s beginning to skip across pavement at full lean can be felt flowing up through the triple clamp into your hands? Why slam a car so low to the ground that you have to take speed bumps at an angle? Because that’s what we do. Because that is what the Fluid family does better than anyone in the business today. Because our family around the world from Tennessee to Dubai believes that provoking thought is an art.

I eventually came to Fluid for a race sponsorship. I soon learned that our beloved Goldwheels was just the beginning. The knowledge OJ has about the field is unparalleled to anyone I have met…in any field period. Hearing him talk a client through an internal process of an engine and why the tiniest detail is making the biggest difference is like nothing else. Then there is Craig. Our website says he’s possibly from Canada. I challenge anyone to stand in our fabrication shop, look at the factory weld on an exhaust done by an automated robot, compare it to a weld in the next bend done by Craig’s hands, and tell me he’s from any country existing on this little blue planet. Art does not adequately describe his work. The Guggenheim would be so lucky. As for the staff these two founders have accumulated, they are unequalled. They see the sun rise and fall from the Fluid MotorUnion compound. They breathe it. They live it. They are Fluid.

I didn’t approach Fluid for sponsorship because I thought they had billions and could easily dump insane amounts into a race team on a whim. I wanted a sponsor I believed in and was excited to tell people about when they asked. Though my main drive exists on two wheels, I understand the necessary love required to produce the best in both two-wheeled and four-wheeled endeavors is exact. When the opportunity to join the family was presented to me, it was all I could do to not call my company and tell them I wouldn’t be there the next day…or the next… or…well, you get it. However, “because I said so” does not work on a wife…at all. A little work and she came around though.

If there is a point to me stealing a blog spot from the ever-creative hands of Andrew, trust me when I say it’s not just “because I said so.” It’s to remind people that as much as they like experiencing the products Fluid creates, there are people behind them that make them happen like nothing you’ll find anywhere else. There is a Maserati Gran Turismo up on a lift as I write this. Why will that Maserati be like no other Maserati in existence when it leaves? Because of the people behind the company quickly becoming the juggernaut it is destined to be.

So write us, call us, visit us… anyone and everyone is welcome. Ask for AJ and I’ll even tell you about finally getting payback on my mom when she asked why I purposefully slam a body part on the ground at 120 mph…. “Because I said so, mom.”

Here’s a video of AJ on his bike, a FMU-sponsored CBR1000RR. All props are to be sent his way, as the entire video was created and edited by him. More technical specs are available in the earlier post on the bike: