Video: Fox Celebrates 2021 Suspension Line With a Walk Down Memory Lane

Apr 12, 2020
by FOX Factory  


There’s an honesty in numbers, and the stopwatch never lies. We’ve put thousands of hours into the design, testing, and construction of our products to shave precious seconds where it matters most. From the top of the track, to the top of the podium, our commitment to excellence shines with every compression. We’ve run the numbers, now it’s your turn.

And now for a bit of Fox Factory history...


A physicist by training, Bob Fox was an avid inventor and motocross rider in his spare time. He started racing using his own motocross suspension designs in 1974, and just one year later, he and brother Geoff marketed an air shock absorber designed specifically for professional motocross racing.

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In 1976, Kent Howerton won the AMA 500cc MX championship on a dual-chamber FOX AirShox-equipped Husqvarna. The next year, the non-factory Team Moto-X FOX upset the motocross world with top results in the AMA National Motocross Championship with riders Pat Richter, Steve Wise and Mark Barnett.




With his success, Fox started Fox Factory, Inc. in 1978 to focus on the production of FOX Air Shox and suspension-related products. The company continued to bring innovative products to market, including the first air-fork kit designed by Steve Simons, called FOX Factory Forx. FOX and Simons soon became giants in the suspension business, with FOX’s AirShox dominating professional racing, and Simon’s upside-down fork and cartridge rod design changing the suspension landscape forever.

In the 1980s, FOX expanded into the Indy car, off-road truck, quad, dune buggy and snowmobile markets, building an enviable reputation as a producer of high-quality, high-performance suspension components.

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Most notably, in the sport of mountain bike riding, FOX Racing Shox-equipped bicycles have become the gold standard for competition and recreational riders. In fact, FOX Racing Shox-equipped vehicles and riders have claimed championships in every one of these disciplines, and the company continues today as an industry leader in suspension development.

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Bob Fox was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2009, and retired from the FOX Factory board of directors in August 2018.


Author Info:
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Member since Dec 3, 2008
53 articles

48 Comments
  • 51 2
 This article got me curious and I learned that Fox apparel was started by the brother Geoff. I never understood why these two companies never sued each other for trade mark infringement.
  • 9 0
 Thanks for you comment; It completely answers to the exact same question I had ;-)
  • 37 1
 One got the Head and one the tail
  • 3 3
 @kazwei: yep! Look at their logos...
  • 1 0
 You always are chill with the homies.
  • 3 1
 I always just presumed it was two divisions of the same company, like Burton Snowboards and their apparel line.
  • 2 0
 Yep, one logo is Fox head and other logo is Fox tail
  • 1 0
 @kazwei: I wonder if they flipped a coin to decide who got what.... haha
  • 1 0
 @scottlink: I'm fairly certain the two brothers ended up hating each other, but would need to triple check that.
  • 18 0
 Imagine when this all blows over how many people will be riding, eating out, drinking having a good time. It will be glorious and a moment the world will remember.
  • 3 13
flag RoadStain (Apr 12, 2020 at 13:36) (Below Threshold)
 Not here....too many fucktards starting fights on Facebook that will stand the test of time. I do not have FB but read enough comments to know there are a few people I would not help out of a ditch.
  • 1 4
 Oh, but in reality that is a carbon fiber Loom. It would be used to weave carbon fiber into a tube structure impregnated with resin and then formed into the shape desired.

youtu.be/j19na8LMBnE
  • 6 0
 YES!!! When we can all resume life it'll be a massive breath of fresh air. I already approved my wife's idea to ride XC topless in celebration of freedom! She hasn't given me permission to ride balls-out, yet....Soon!... It's going to be incredible.

Sucks for RoadStain... Looks like he/she will apparently be fighting people on Facebook eternally, and my wife has awesome tits!
  • 3 0
 Out here, this is the busiest the trails have ever been. The number of bikers is about the same but the number of hikers is staggering! Everyone’s trying to get outdoors responsibly and it’s a pretty awesome sight to see!
  • 1 1
 @mtbikemccoy: I dont even have a Facebook account! :-)

I got screwed into looking by a "friend". Now, I remember why I dont have Facebook and why the site is blocked at all facilities.

As for the wife? Congrats!!!! Let me know what happens when she is 45+ ;-)
  • 1 1
 @schulte1400: Exactly. God bless the bill of rights!
  • 2 0
 @mtbikemccoy: You know the age old saying..... pictures or it is not true, just saying
  • 1 0
 @RoadStain: 45+ time to trade them in on a 30 YO thats why divorce was invented hahaha
  • 1 0
 @fabwizard: I used to work with a Neurosurgeon....he always had three blondes (all quite attractive). He got older, they did not....replace as needed.
  • 12 1
 Why wouldn’t this be a Ride down memory lane? Oh right, we have to walk from our houses now. Gotcha.
  • 8 0
 I'd love to see a DH racer survey similar to what they do in professional golf. They ask the golfers anonymously which equipment they would use if they weren't contracted. Nearly all of them name a brand of iron that you barely see on Tour, Mizuno. How many pro DHers would use another fork, shock, tire etc, if they could choose whatever they like?
  • 3 1
 A few riders have mentioned how they were happy to return to using fox products from riding other brands, from memory brendog & recently Greg Wiliamson.
  • 1 0
 @zyoungson: Big thing here is Fox's unrivaled level of support and service at races.
  • 11 0
 93 inches per second is 2.362 metres per second
  • 5 0
 Thanks for giving me something to read!
  • 3 2
 What’s that giant Tioga tension disk thing in the first picture? It’s definitely a composite filament-winding setup — appears to be Kevlar, fiberglass, UHMWPE, or some hybrid yarn or other yarn, wet out with a liquid resin (per the protective plastic on the “hub” mount). Also appears to be a removable winding mandrel inside. Maybe a Baja Monster Truck tension disk wheel? =P
  • 2 4
 That is almost exactly what the Tioga disk was...at the same time frame we had the J-Disk and Uni wheel covers.
  • 2 3
 Oh, but in reality that is a carbon fiber Loom. It would be used to weave carbon fiber into a tube structure impregnated with resin and then formed into the shape desired.

youtu.be/j19na8LMBnE
  • 3 0
 @RoadStain: Cool video! My colleagues at Toyota / Lexus in Japan came up with that for the Lexus LFA carbon fiber A-pillars. And the company I worked for at the time sold Lexus materials for their RTM & infusion processes for the LFA tub and structures.

I did McLaren’s carbon fiber “Monocell” tub / chassis prototyping on a similar braiding machine, just bigger, and vertically oriented. The one in the Fox picture is a filament winder though — essentially a lathe (with winding mandrel attached) and a computerized traversing feed of fibers is wound onto the “spindle” / mandrel / tool...so the tool / mandrel rotates and has a single bundle of fibers wound on it. But with braiding, often 72 to 144 bobbins of fiber are rotated around a mandrel / tool that’s fed through the braiding machine (like in the video). Lots and lots of setup time to spool-up and reload the 72-144 relatively small bobbins on braiding machines like Lexus used, and like I used for McLaren. So we switched to a non-braiding process for production.
  • 7 3
 Fox Head and Fox Tail from the same carcass
  • 2 0
 so,who got the abdomen?and what product do they make?
  • 3 0
 @mnurhaqiem: Fox bowels, mostly condoms and adult diapers!
  • 2 0
 @justincs: condoms & diapers with relieve valve?and bottom out resistance?does it accept volume spacers?
  • 2 0
 @mnurhaqiem: I make my own volume spacers.
  • 4 0
 Bob Fox real guy...Marvin Rockshox fake guy
  • 2 0
 @OceanPhil That maybe so but Steve Simons had his hands in both companies.
  • 1 0
 paul turner was rockshox.. turner is a good name for someone making forks that help you steer.
  • 5 0
 Roadstain sucks.
  • 5 0
 Yeah reading his ignorant stupid ass comments is getting old really fast. He'll make Waki look popular by comparison.
  • 1 0
 Designing suspension and lifting cars? I guess that’s one way of figuring out what kind of load the suspension will need to carry.
  • 1 0
 Snowshoe ! Yeehaw !
  • 3 4
 I'm glad I didn't sneeze or would have missed that dose of amnesia !
  • 1 1
 What’s Gwin running?
  • 1 0
 RST forks and shocks this year
  • 1 0
 @CrispyNuggs: Imagine back when he started out in DH racing, that someone would predict some of the top riders would be running Tektro brakes and Suntour suspension. Yet here we are. I can imagine if RST wants to be competitive in WC racing, they probably can.
  • 1 0
 Yeah true I remember the usd USA made fork they did late nineties think rob warner rode one briefly @vinay:







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