founder paul turner defunct 2002 headquarters colorado springs united states products suspension forks rear shocks parent sram corporation website www.rockshox.com 2008 rockshox sid world cup suspension fork for mountain bikes . rockshox inc. is an american company founded by paul turner in 1989 that develops and manufactures bicycle suspensions . the company led in the development of mountain bikes . it is now part of sram corporation . contents 1 history 1.1 start 1.2 growth and ipo 1.3 competition and cost savings 1.4 sram takeover 2 product chronology and common specifications 3 references history edit start edit rockshox was founded by paul turner in 1989 in boulder colorado usa . it moved to california four years later when steve and deborah simons bought out dia compe . 1 turner raced motorcycles in his teens . in 1977 aged 18 he established a company that sold motorcycle components . he later worked for the honda motor company as factory mechanic for their professional motocross team . this put him in contact with designers of suspension systems for motorcycles and other motocross industry people . simons is a former motocross rider in his teens and early twenties and entrepreneur . he developed heat sinks for koni shock absorbers to lower oil temperatures and then in 1974 he designed a shock absorber for the company that became fox shox . he then established his own company dynamic enterprises which became simons inc. developing pneumatic upgrade kits for suspension forks . this led to his own fork design and manufacture . he had two patents on suspension forks one which for upside down forks he licensed to motorcycle and suspension manufacturers . in the late 1980s paul began riding mountain bikes and with his motorcycle experience longed for suspension . paul began developing the first bicycle suspension fork . in 1989 or 1990 turner approached simons for help designing a suspension fork for mountain bikes . turner had in 1987 with the help of keith bontrager presented a full bike with front and rear suspension at the bicycle industry trade show in long beach . the industry was not impressed . two years later turner and his wife christi were manufacturing suspension forks in their garage with parts bought from simons inc who later partnered turner when steve and his wife deborah mortgaged their home to buy out dia compe and move manufacturing to mt. view california in 1993 . the r & d and marketing groups remained in boulder co. until moving to mt. view ca in 1994 and then santa cruz in 1995 . manufacturing and engineering move to san jose ca in 1995 . they worked with thomas dooley at tda in boulder co who created the current rock shox logo and was the creative director for all marketing and advertising . turner brought in greg herbold as a test rider and company spokesman . herbold became the first world champion in downhill mountain biking on one of the first suspension forks for mountain bikes made . in august that year the company manufactured its first 100 suspension forks the rs 1 . the start up was financed by the east asian bike component manufacturer dia compe the founders and other investors . dia compe manufactured the next series of forks but later was bought out by simons & turner and disposed of its shares . from then the forks were primarily manufactured at rock shox in mt.view ca . in 1992 turner & simons using the rock shox rs 1 design created a private label fork for specialized working with mark winter . mark left specialized a few years later and joining rock shox in 1995 . growth and ipo edit eight years after inception the company manufactured and sold a million rockshox forks and had revenues of 100 million . the company went public in october 1996 was listed on the nasdaq stock exchange ticker rshx and raised 65 million dollars 72 million before deduction of ipo related costs . the company had 300 employees most in the company s us factories . rockshox had a market share of 60 percent . 1 competition and cost savings edit towards the end of the 1990s competition was fierce and profits were thin . rock shox was one of many brands that marketed suspension forks for bicycles others were answer manitou marzocchi and rst . during this time fox racing shox also entered the bicycle industry . as the number of direct substitutes to rock shox products increased the company experienced difficulties in protecting its position as the leading manufacturer in the business . in june 2000 rockshox moved production to colorado springs which saved an estimated 5 million a year . in 2001 the company lost 10 million . sram takeover edit in 2002 rockshox defaulted on a loan to sram . sram took over the company and its debt obligations for 5.6 million . the company had 300 employees in colorado springs . 1 in 2002 production in colorado moved to taichung taiwan . a small test facility remains in colorado springs . paul turner has been nominated for the mountain bike hall of fame several times but declined . 2 product chronology and common specifications edit suspension forks 3 4 5 6 product year introduced year discontinued stanchion diameter travel lengths spring types rs 1 1990 1991 25.4 mm 1 air oil return mag 20 1992 1992 25.4 mm 48 mm air oil return mag 30 1992 1992 25.4 mm 48 mm air oil return mag 21 1993 1997 25.4 mm 48 mm 60 mm long travel air oil return mag 10 1993 1995 25.4 mm 48 mm air oil return mag 21 sl 1994 1994 25.4 mm 48 mm 60 mm long travel air oil return quadra 1993 25.4 mm elastomer quadra 5 1994 25.4 mm 48 mm elastomer quadra 21 r 1994 25.4 mm 60 mm elastomer judy xc 1995 2001 28 mm 50 63 80mm mcu spring elastomer oil return judy sl 1995 2001 28 mm 50 63 80mm mcu spring elastomer oil return judy dh 1995 1998 28 mm 80 mm coil mcu spring elastomer oil return indy 1995 mcu spring elastomer sid 1998 present 32 mm as of 2009 ; previously 28 mm 80 100 mm or 120 mm dual air until 2013 then solo air . dho 1997 1998 28 mm 100 mm mcu spring elastomer boxxer 1998 present 32 mm 1998 2009 35 mm 2010 present 150 mm early 180 mm 200 mm present coil world cup model with solo air coil u turn boxxer ride jett 1999 2001 ruby road 700cc 2000 2000 metro road 700cc 2001 2005 psylo 2001 2005 30 mm 80 125mm coil u turn fixed coil hydra air dual air duke 2002 2005 30 mm 80 100 mm hydra air 63 108 coil u turn hydra air solo air with a coil negative spring coil u turn 63 108mm pike 2004 present 35 mm 2005 2011 pike was 32 mm 140 150 160 mm older models were coil or air with or without u turn . 2014 onwards are solo air or dual position air . pilot 2003 2005 reba 2005 present 32 mm 80 100 120 mm dual air 90 120 mm air u turn 130 140 mm trail specific 29 dual air air u turn trail specific 29 solo air since 2013 recon 2006 present 32 mm 140 mm some models like the 335 80 100 120 mm 80 100 29 solo air coil coil u turn revelation 2006 present 32 mm 130 140 150 mm dual air 120 150 mm dual position air dual air dual position air air u turn argyle 2007 present 32 mm 80 100 mm coil dart 2006 2012 28 mm 80 100 and 120 mm 80 100mm 29er model coil domain 2007 present 35 mm 160 mm 180 mm single crown and 200 mm dual crown coil lyrik 2007 present 35 mm 115 to 160 mm 2 step and coil u turn 160 170 mm t a solo air and coil 2 step air coil u turn solo air and coil tora 2006 2012 32 mm 80 100 120 mm 80 100 mm 29 coil ; 85 130 mm coil u turn and solo air coil coil u turn and solo air totem 2007 2014 40 mm 180 mm 2 step solo air or coil sektor 2011 present 32 mm up to 150 mm coil u turn and solo air bluto fatbike fork 2014 present 32 mm 100 mm or 120 mm solo air rs1 upside down fork 2014 present 32 mm 80 mm 100 mm or 120 mm solo air other features there are usually several versions of each product typically distinguished by the presence or absence of certain features such as material type preload rebound damping compression damping lockout remote lockout and replaceable bushings . this article does not attempt to list all specifications for all versions . references edit a b c sram corporation company profile information business description history background information on sram corporation . retrieved august 9 2010 . the mountain bike hall of fame profile steve boehmke museum of mountain bike art & technology suspension timeline bikepro forktable http www.sram.com rockshox products http www.mtbr.com v t e american bicycle manufacturers current american star bike friday bilenky cycle works bohemian brooklyn bicycle co. bontrager calfee design cannondale catrike centurion chumba racing co motion columbia cortina cruzbike cycle force group dahon diamondback dynacraft bsc electra ellsworth handcrafted fantasy toys lowrider bicycle & hobby felt fuji fyxation gendron inc. gt haro huffy ibis independent fabrication international surrey company iron horse italvega jamis k2 sports kent international kestrel litespeed magna marin masi melon milwaukee mongoose moots next nishiki novara pacific pope priority pure cycles quality quintana roo r e rans designs razorusa redline rhoades car ritchey design rivendell roadmaster richard sachs santa cruz santana schwinn seven shelby shinola soma fabrications specialized surly terracycle terrible one tommaso torker transition trek turner suspension univega valdora van dessel sports villy custom volagi waterford precision wilderness trail worksman yamaguchi yeti zigo defunct american american machine and foundry chicago clark kent e. c. stearns eagle fat city fleetwing gary fisher gormully & jeffery jmc klein kogswell lemond lotus merlin murray overman pocket rambler ross serotta sol stelber sterling wright components bell sports bicycle technologies international coker tire fox racing shox fyxation giro hayes brake burley design rockshox slidepad speedplay sram l.h. thomson zipp rolf prima retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title rockshox & oldid 733791898 categories cycle parts manufacturerscycle suspension manufacturersmanufacturing 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