So who the hell is this Max guy and why should I care if he writes a book?
I’ll tell you why…
My name is Max Fish, I have owned and operated Bio Kustums since 1997 where we specialize in suspension design, engineering and fabrication. I have written many advanced technical articles for a myriad of the most respected truck magazines, from Sport Truck to StreetTrucks to Minitruckin’. I tried my best to utilize the space I was allotted, but I felt that the articles always suffered due to lack of space. After a while, word spread that I knew what I was doing and StreetSource.com offered me an online technical forum where people could ask me questions about whatever was ailing them; most of the time the questions were technical, but occasionally someone would ask what the meaning of life is or how to get their wife to like kustoms as much as they do. Many people ask where I went to school or how I learned everything I know; well the thing is I didn’t go to school anywhere. Everything I know has been learned through one of these three methods : reading, asking questions, or doing. Being self-employed has afforded me the freedom to test my theories without being stifled by a boss or supervisor.
So how does any of this make me qualified to write a book about suspension design?
You know how you see interviews with people who are amazing dancers or makeup artists? At some point they usually talk about how when they were 10 years old they would practice dancing in the mirror or making their friends look like they have a huge wound on their head; yeah, that was me. I was lacing up bicycle wheels and truing them, building a dirtbike that I bought in a bucket (including rebuilding the transmission), or working on my VW Bug all before I was 15. Mechanics has been in my blood from the beginning, but of course that has little to do with suspension design and engineering…
With everything that I have ever done, the ‘why’ was always more important than the ‘how.’ For me, the ‘how’ is easy to figure out once the ‘why’ is answered. Many years ago I built a 4-link that when driven at only 35mph, felt like the vehicle was going to roll over from a crazy dynamic relationship that I had unknowingly designed into the link system. It was at that point when I realized that there must be a right way and a wrong way to build a 4-link, so I started doing some homework. Luckily for me, the legendary Dave Clark was building a TrophyTruck just up the street from where my shop was at the time and he was gracious enough to share some technical advice with me to get me headed in the right direction; I’ve been cultivating and sharing information ever since. The insistent need to feed my brain and better the next project has kept me pushing for a better ride and cleaner designs that are appropriate for specific needs. A natural progression seems to arise from the point of manipulating existing suspension systems to suit my needs, to designing and building from scratch. The knowledge I’ve gained from this evolution is only a part of what I’d like to share with the industry. My constant push to build straight-forward, correctly-designed suspension systems has caught the eyes of several suspension industry leaders with whom I have become friends and share a mutual respect of knowledge, two of which I have invited to take part in my book. Everyone that I have talked to says that I would be the perfect person to write a book such as this because not only do I have the technical knowledge, but I also have the ability to explain things in a way that people can understand. If you are still unsure whether I’m qualified to write this book, please feel free to take a look at some of my past suspension designs here or you can let yourself out here.