TAICHUNG, Taiwan (BRAIN) — BOS Suspension forks and shocks have been some of Europe’s most desired suspension components, but unless you ordered from Europe you were not going to ride them.
Playing hard to get on the U.S. market may have pumped the brand's mystical status for hard-core riders, but it makes it difficult to develop OE business when so few riders stateside have ridden the components.
“For such a high-end brand we are surprisingly competitive as an OE supplier of certain forks and shocks. But it’s hard to get interest from product managers because we are little known in America and we had no warranty and service support until recently,” said JM Gagne, founder of Seven O2 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Seven O2 distributes Commencal bikes and BOS suspension components. Seven O2 is an authorized factory service and warranty center in North America.
BOS Suspension was founded and is owned by Olivier Bossard, the suspension legend behind Sunn Bikes' downhill program that put Francois Gachet, Anne-Caroline Chausson, Cedric Gracia and Nicolas Vouilloz on top of so many podiums. After his mountain bike success, Bossard successfully developed suspension for rally cars and motorcycles, which is still the bulk of his business. He returned to mountain bike suspension a few years ago. All BOS components are assembled in Toulouse, France.
Seven O2 launched its distribution of BOS in the North American market at Sea Otter. All BOS forks are 26-inch or 650b compatible and come with universal 15- or 20-millimeter axle compatibility. But the company had no 29er fork, a problem in the North American market. At Bike Week they are showing BOS’s first 29er fork built on the enduro Deville platform, which is available in factory-set travel of 100 or 120 millimeters. Gagne expects the oil cartridge fork will retail for $1,150. The company’s open oil bath 200-millimeter downhill fork, Idylle RaRe, sells for $2,100.
“Since Sea Otter, interest and sales has been surprisingly strong. There are a lot of people that followed Olivier’s race success with the Sunn team and remained very interested in his new mountain bike products. And the current success of racers on BOS forks is causing others without the historical knowledge of the brand to check it out,” Gagne said. He added that now that suppliers know BOS has a support infrastructure in Nevada, OE discussions are getting underway with North American brands.
