Inside Push Industries

Push Industries' story begins in a small warehouse in the early 2000s, when Darren Murphy decided to open up his own custom suspension tuning business, with the goal of providing consumers tuning options that were typically reserved for professional racers. His plan worked, and it wasn't long before the phrase, “getting your shock Pushed,” became common parlance as more and more riders began to take advantage of the company's services. By 2006 Push had moved from California to Colorado, and began CNC machining their own parts - to this day all of the engineering and production takes place in house.

Most recently, it was Push's ElevenSix that put the company on the radar of mountain bikers looking for a high end, US-made coil shock. Manufactured entirely from domestic materials, the ElevenSix was Push's first foray into creating an entire suspension component, rather than installing their parts into another company's body. Curious as to what it takes to turns blocks and rods of raw aluminum into a shock, I recently paid a visit to Push's headquarters in Loveland, Colorado.




Push's headquarters are split into three sections. Manufacturing takes place on one side of the building, in a spacious room full of very expensive machines that can turn metal and plastic into nearly any shape imaginable. The other side of the building is where the assembly takes place, along with the all of the shock tuning and testing. A conference room and a few offices are located just inside the main entrance, but it's the production, assembly, and servicing that dominate the facility.



TUNING








MANUFACTURING


Coffee and computers are what it takes for an idea to become a reality. Using SolidWorks and Autodesk software, Push's engineers create a product virtually before turning on the machines to bring it to life. Everything from polymer reducers to shock shafts are manufactured in house.






Whether it's a shock reducer or a piston head, Push has the capability to quickly turn a concept into reality.




As the demand for Push's tuning services grew, they began to look into manufacturing the necessary parts themselves. Their in-house manufacturing kicked off with the production of the shock bridge used as part of their MX-Tune for Fox shocks, where the stock bridge (the part that connects the main body of the shock to the external reservoir containing the IFP) was replaced by Push's version, which added the ability to adjust low- and high-speed compression.

The success of the MX-Tune made Darren Murphy realize that is was entirely possible for Push to manufacture complex parts without any need for outsourcing. More CNC machines were ordered, and Push's employees began learning and exploring the options that the new manufacturing tools opened up.

The ability to rapidly create a prototype part, whether that was a shock piston or something as basic as mounting hardware, sped up Push's testing and development process, and it wasn't long before they realized that they were making almost all of the parts necessary to build a rear shock.




The DMG Mori NLX 2000 can quickly and easily turn a solid rod of aluminum into a polished, threaded tube. The bit that does the work is hollow, allowing coolant to spray out the center as it is removing material.










ASSEMBLY




It was the creation of the Dual Overhead Valve that provided the final impetus for Push to enter the market with a shock of their own, largely due to the fact that they didn't want to put the technology they'd developed on another company's product. The Dual Overhead Valve has two separate compression circuits, each with their own externally adjustable high- and low-speed compression adjustments that can be selected with the flip of a lever.

Two mules of the ElevenSix were built, one that was intended to be a more affordable, pricepoint oriented model, and the other a no-holds-barred version, with all of the adjustment's Push's employees were looking for. A tube sock was pulled over the shock when it was in use in order to keep the prototype hidden from the curious eyes of the scores of mountain bikers that ride the trails near Push's headquarters, earning it its 'Sock Shock' nickname.


















Tools of the trade. A vacuum bleeder and a tank of nitrogen are used to get the ElevenSix full of oil and ready to rally.