ROCKSHOX SUSPENSION FORKS
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IT STARTED WITH 1 It started as a simple idea: Increase the fun factor by adding suspension to the mountain bike. But most mountain bikers of the late 1980s were, well, cyclists, not motocross riders and they were bound to the notion that adding ‘shock absorbers’ to their mountain bikes would make them heavier, less efficient and slower. A chance test ride on a borrowed bike in Durango, Colorado, in 1988 became the catalyst for revolution. John Tomac was hanging out with Greg “HB” Herbold in Durango, when a sales rep looking to ink a Duegi shoe contract with Tomac paid them a visit. It just so happened that the rep was sporting a first-generation RockShox RS-1 on the bike perched on the roof of his shiny new Volkswagen. Willing to do whatever it took to get the deal done,
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the rep agreed to let the two mountain-bike pros test his bike. So they went and rode ‘The Ridge’, trading bikes several times during the ride. “I knew right away that it was going to be a big deal,” HB recalls. Johnny T, on the other hand, was slightly less enthusiastic about embracing the change. Though he agreed that the ride was better, the shift in geometry and body position on the bike concerned him. With the shoe deal signed and the bike back on the roof, everyone said their goodbyes. But before the rep could even make his way down the driveway, the seals on his precious RS-1 let go. Oil shot into the air and back down through the car’s sunroof— and all over the passenger seat of the brand-new car. Despite the hiccup, HB called RockShox
founder Paul Turner in an attempt to score himself an RS-1. There was initially a bit of dodging on Turner’s part, but HB’s persistence ultimately paid off and Turner agreed to give him a fork. HB hit the road in his ’55 Ford and made for Boulder. When he got to Turner’s Boulder garage, he learned that he would have to actually put the forks together himself—and that a couple trips to the local hardware store would be required before assembly was complete. As HB remembers it, there were “like, lawnmower main-shaft seals as the oil seal.” Further, Turner put him to work moving boxes around before he was allowed to return to Durango with his new RS-1. Despite this inauspicious beginning, HB and Turner became fast friends. Suspension savvy from his own motorcycle background, HB became