Former Marzocchi USA Founder To Launch VDO Suspension

The competition in the high-end suspension is about to heat up with the launch of DVO Suspension!

DVO is short for “Developed Suspension” and represents the mindset we have to engineer, design, and deliver fully developed suspension products that are 100%.

30 Years plus industry veteran Bryson Martin owner of Bryson Martin Racing along with Tom Rogers, John Pelino, Josh Baltaxe and Bryson Martin Jr will launch DVO Developed Suspension during the Taiwan Bike Week held in Taichung Taiwan November 2012. We will have a booth at the Splendor Hotel in Taichung during Bike Week.

Bryson and his team were long time Marzocchi employees; they left in May 2012 amid struggles with Tenneco upper management and the direction of the mountain bike suspension business. Bryson Martin was the founder of Marzocchi USA and was the inspiration for the successful Bomber line as well as many other iconic models over the past 23 years.

“After losing our supplier SR Suntour and not having a back up plan, I felt that the future with Marzocchi will be extremely difficult and going my own direction with my own suspension program is the way” said Bryson Martin”.

The new DVO Suspension Team consists of Tom Rogers who is a long time industry veteran and former World Cup racer. Tom worked at Manitou for ten years during their glory days and then nearly ten years at Marzocchi focusing on damper designs. John Pelino was at Marzocchi for 16 years handling operations, after market sales and distribution support. Josh Baltaxe has a graduate degree in Engineering and is a passionate bike rider; he brings the brains and science to all our designs. Bryson Martin Jr is a pro DH racer and business student and will help in tuning, marketing and race support.

Bryson along with his USA based engineering team brings over 80 years of suspension building experiencing and will launch some very cool and innovative suspension products purely focused on the long travel market. “We started with a clean sheet of paper but didn’t look to re-invent the wheel, we addressed some critical areas of current suspension design to enhance performance while making it easier for the consumer to tune or service their own fork if desired”

“We will also launch a very informative web site helping riders better understand the dynamics of suspension in general while providing extensive information on tuning and setting up all of the DVO products”. “Providing detailed and informative information on our web site and backing up our products with excellent customer service and support is key!”

Regarding the competition, it has been a long time since a new company has entered the high-end suspension business of this magnitude, both Rock Shox and Fox the industry leaders have been doing a great job for years. “We feel that the dominance of Fox and Rock Shox has been because there hasn’t been enough good competitors to give them a run for their money and DVO Suspension will be gunning for the top”.

In order to become a player in the suspension business you need to have a solid manufacturing base and SR Suntour the worlds largest suspension maker will install a dedicated production line to assemble the complete line of DVO products (forks and shocks). “SR Suntour is an amazing company with a rich history in the bicycle business, although they are currently known for making low to mid priced suspension, they also produced a lot of great high end products and were once a main player in the early days of mountain bike components” “I’ve worked with SR Suntour for decades, they are passionate about building high end products and have dedicated themselves to making sure DVO Suspension will be a success” says Bryson”. Furthermore, the President of SR Suntour Daisuke Kobayashi rides thousands of kilometers each year, not too many company presidents have the passion like he does for bikes.

For 2013 DVO Suspension will be working with DH Teams and individual riders while heading to as many races and events we can get to and our goal is to support some top World Cup DH Teams in the near future. “We will also work on other market segments within the suspension business and focus purely on the performance aspect” says Bryson.

DVO Suspension is located in Valencia California and is a rider owned company.

2012 US Gravity National Championships Day 3 By Dirt Passion

Well, day there is the in the books….. just one more day left and we’ll determine who will wear the stars andstripes on his or her left arm into 2013. The big news of the day (not to many people surprise) was, Aaron Gwinqualified on top of the Men’s field +5.45 secs in front of Luke Strobel. For the ladies it was Jackie Harmony takingthe top seeding position over Melissa Buhl by a blistering 12.54 sec. Of local SE region interest (hey, Dirt Passion isbased out of the Carolinas, we can be proud and let everybody know) local DHer Ethan Quehl of Grayson, GA andwas also the 2010 Junior National Champion, qualified fourth out of a field of 64. Congrats all round! Note: Thefinal qualified list has not yet been posted to the USAC website)

On to the details…. Day Three started out pretty much just like Day Two. Overnight there was a steady rain on thetop of the mountain which lead to what we believe was thicker fog than previously. Riding the lift to the top wecould not see the lift house until, what felt like 50 feet. First up was the Cat 1 group practice which started in thefog and ended in the sunlight as the fog burned off very quickly. By the time the Pros made the way to the coursefor their two hour practice session the sun was a shining. As with Day Two, lots of time was spent dialing in thoselines one last time through the Rock Garden from HELL! Spending any amount of time there, one could tell thatriders did their homework the day before, smoothness and speed where definitely showing their faces today.

12:45 p.m. rolled around and the current USAC recognized National Champion Logan Binggeli of KHS FactoryRacing was the first down the course, followed by the two TWR riders….. the current fastest man in the WorldAaron Gwin and his young team mate Neko Mullaly. After the field of 64 put in their best efforts, it would be AaronGwin over the field. Ladies followed suite and it was Melissa Buhl smashing the field ahead nearly 13 seconds.

With the DH runs done for the day, all attention turned to the old Beech tubing slope and the new/revised/longerDual Slalom course. With almost 6 hours of track time, kicking off with practice, running through amateur raceruns, and proceeding to the Pro’s race runs, in the end it would be Neko Mullaly of Trek World Racing edging outBlake Carney for the “Best in the US” title for Dual Slalom. Congrats Neko!

Tomorrow is the BIG SHOW! First off will be the Juniors, Cat 1 50+ and Ladies 40+ at 10:15a.m., followed by the fullCat 1 field at 11:15a.m., then the main event kicks off at 2:30p.m. Who’s it gonna be? Place your bets!

Last minute addition…… the rain has again started to fall on the mountain (9:45 p.m.). Once again Beech hasdelivered. Should make things interesting on race day.

2012 US Gravity National Championships Day 2 By Dirt Passion

Day one remained unscathed in terms of moisture, well at least up until the sun went down. About 8:00 p.m. theThunderstorms rolled in. Not sure of the total amount that actually fell, but about 0.5 miles away where the DirtPassion crew crashed, it rained for a good solid hour and for the next few hours it drizzled. 

That meant the next morning would be wet, not a repeat of race day in 2011, but still it would make the morningpretty interesting. At the top of the mountain visibility was about 0.25 miles….. the fog was THICK! The spikes wereout, tape was getting taken out left and right, spectators were slipping on the wet grass, and mud pellets weregetting thrown in every direction.

A chilly morning with the blanket of fog started to make its way out just after the first Amateur rider made theirway down for the first race run of the 2012 Nationals. With clearer skies (not sunny), the temps went up as did thespeeds as the Cat 2 folks started their race runs. Full results for the Cat2 and Cat3 folks can be found on USACycling at the following link. Congrats to All!http://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?permit=2012-23 

With the weekend “Signed, Sealed, and Delivered” for the Amateurs, all attention will be directed at the Cat 1 andPro riders for the rest of the weekend. The Pro course being newly groomed for this specific event it wasguaranteed to be Greasy, Greasy, Greasy from top to bottom with no sign of things drying out soon, especially withthe threat of rain for the rest of the weekend.

With about four hours of practice split to between both the Cat 1 riders and the Pros, most of the time on course,reviewing lines, watching others, pushing up and doing it again and again was at the “Rock Garden” Definitely acrowd favorite, the attrition rate, those that either went down or those that had every ounce of speed sucked out  of them, was about 70%. Rightfully so, riders spent lots of minutes trying to figure how to successfully get throughthe twenty yard stretch of rock hell!

of them, was about 70%. Rightfully so, riders spent lots of minutes trying to figure how to successfully get through the twenty yard stretch of rock hell! Pro seeding start tomorrow just after the noon hour, then those that have entered the Dual Slalom will get theirchance to be named the best in the US for Dual Slalom. The night will be topped off with the “Brews and Views”,beer tasting, live music, and bicycles! What more could you ask for?

2012 US Gravity National Championships Day 1 By Dirt Passion

July 19, 2012 – Dirt Passion Press Release Day One of the Best in the U.S. – US Gravity National Championships Well, it’s finally here… the battle for the best in the US started today for the second and final round to be Beech in the Southeast for the first time in more than 10 years. Arguably, the biggest thing on the minds of most was the stars and stripes decorated that coveted annual sleeve. What would we see this year? Who has what to prove to who? Maybe nothing, either way I think it’s safe to assume it will be interesting.

The morning started early, with USAC trailers, Gear Vendors, Food Vendors and each of the team with their madscramble to get set up before the mountain flipped that switch for the lift at high noon. Trailers here, trailers over there, bikes, bike parts, tents, buckets full of gravel, rope, stakes, work-stands, bike racks, you name it was there…. Looked like a mound of workers ants.

With all of the moisture that has been plaguing the SE region on the past month, and it’s typically a reoccurring question in the “High Country”, how would the weather cooperate? Search the weather, all you see is those little clouds with droplets of precip and the word on the mountain is spikes, spikes, spikes……. Fast Forward 6 hours after the start of practice and would you believe, a little humid, but nothing but sun, sun, sun.

Overnight that did change with thunder-boomers in the distance which brought about 2 hours of rain. From Dirt Passion’s perspective based on what all the talk was on the Pro course, BRING THE RAIN!...... pointed toward,please wash those greasy rocks off.

Day two is the day for the Amateur’s to show what skills they got in store for us. First rider down in the race run forCat2/3 is at 9:15a.m. Yeah, they are Amateurs, but Grassroots is where it’s at. We’ve all been there! Rip it Guys

2012 VP Components Dirt Club Enduro

The VP DIRT CLUB ENDURO was  a fun ride with friends- going easy on the hills but pinned on fast, fun, descents, with timing and prizes.  Who could ask for anything more?  Watch the video- it tells the story!

We are also in the planning stages of a November event because the riders were so stoked on this event, and of course we are planning for a bigger 2013 event that keeps the successful smooth and mellow vibe of our first event.

Thanks to all of our sponsors: VP Components, Body Armor, X Fusion Shocks, Light and Motion, KHS Bicycles, TRP Brakes, Cane Creek, Kore, T.H.E. Industries, Kenda, Nema Brand Clothing, Decline Magazine, Mountain Khakis, Gamut, SDG, TIME, MRP, Adidas Eyewear, Lazer, SR Suntour, Novatec, Osprey, Clean Bottle, WTB.  Thanks also to Volunteers, Staff, and the Riders.

OPEN MEN RACE RUN DOWN:  

Session 1 was composed of 6 timed runs and saw runs averaging 2:30 with saddle time around 2 hours for 2000 feet of climbing (and descending).  The overall DH flavor made mistakes costly, but there was a big incentive to ride the hardest lines as they could be worth as much as a full minute at the end of the day.  Anthony Medaglia posted the fast time in the opening session of 11:59.2 combined for all 6 runs.  Craig Harvey trailed him by only 4 seconds with former BMX pro Jared Kolich down by only 12 seconds.  

Session 2 was held after a big break of hanging out, live blues, beer, and tri-tip sandwiches.  Once the sun went down, the lights came on and the riders rolled out to tackle two timed sessions.  A big thanks to Light and Motion in the night session who supported the event with free demo lights to anyone who didn’t have lights of their own.  Anthony Medaglia again put the hammer down and did his two runs in 6:30.7 thanks in part to some aggressive line selection in the dark.  Jordan Lopez was second best 13 seconds later with Craig Harvey 18 seconds back.

Session 3 featured the most pedaling with a slight climb that a fit rider could blast over, and also included a few floaters, doubles, a 25 footer, and a long high speed off-camber section of trail.  There were 4 timed stages on the final day and Jordan Lopez got the most power to the rear wheel, hit the jumps, stayed off the brakes, and posted the fastest time in 11:31.3 followed by Medaglia in 11:33.8.  Third position went to John Hauer, 18 seconds in arrears.

Anthony Medaglia turned out to be the best of the bunch with Jordan Lopez and Craig Harvey rounding out the podium in second and third respectively.  Jarrett Kolich and Tom Obrien occupied the spots just off the steps in fourth and fifth.

Results

Place	Name	Team	Class	Bib	Saturday AM	Saturday PM	Sunday	Total
1	Anthony Medaglia	SRAM Factory	Open / Expert Men	6	0:11:59.2	0:06:30.7	0:11:33.8	0:30:03.7
2	Jordan Lopez	SPECIALIZED / Victory Velo Racing	Open / Expert Men	7	0:12:19.7	0:06:43.9	0:11:31.3	0:30:34.9
3	Craig Harvey	Harvey Custom Homes	Open / Expert Men	1	0:12:04.5	0:06:49.2	0:11:58.3	0:30:52.0
4	Jarrett Kolich		Open / Expert Men	4	0:12:11.1	0:07:13.4	0:11:54.9	0:31:19.4
5	Tom O’Brien		Open / Expert Men	8	0:12:25.8	0:07:10.5	0:12:06.9	0:31:43.2
6	John Hauer	X-Fusion	Open / Expert Men	2	0:13:52.4	0:06:39.6	0:11:49.7	0:32:21.7
7	Michael Cody	Best Friends Bike Club	Open / Expert Men	5	0:13:07.8	0:07:12.3	0:12:44.2	0:33:04.3
8	Cedar Kyes	Devinci / X-Fusion	Open / Expert Men	3	0:12:46.4	0:07:28.3	0:13:42.8	0:33:57.5
1	Mary Moncorge	Santa Cruz Bikes / Endura / Kali	Open / Expert Women	30	0:14:10.1	0:07:58.4	0:14:26.2	0:36:34.7
2	Olivia Harkness		Open / Expert Women	31	0:16:37.6	0:20:40.7	0:15:52.9	0:53:11.2
1	Nathan Loyal	Team Helen’s	Expert Men 35+	46	0:14:26.3	0:07:33.8	0:13:57.3	0:35:57.4
1	Christopher Muntz		Sport Men 19-34	43	0:13:36.1	0:07:55.2	0:13:08.3	0:34:39.6
2	Aaron Guerrero		Sport Men 19-34	42	0:14:49.9	0:08:08.2	0:14:14.1	0:37:12.2
3	Patrick Green		Sport Men 19-34	53	0:14:39.7	DNS	0:13:40.0
1	Ted McToldridge		Sport Men 35+	47	0:12:57.3	0:06:53.8	0:12:14.4	0:32:05.5
2	Blake Garnand		Sport Men 35+	54	0:13:02.0	0:07:15.1	0:13:13.9	0:33:31.0
3	Luke Jones	Dirt Club	Sport Men 35+	48	0:15:40.1	0:08:42.0	0:15:27.0	0:39:49.1
4	Gary Lucia	NEMA	Sport Men 35+	45	0:21:35.7	0:09:23.6	0:17:53.3	0:48:52.6
5	Andy Somerville	Team Duke	Sport Men 35+	52	0:17:02.6	DNS	0:15:18.2
6	Mike Tjaden		Sport Men 35+	41	0:15:52.0	DNS	DNS	DNF
1	Joshua LaForge		Beginner Men 19-34	40	0:17:58.0	0:09:25.3	0:16:55.2	0:44:18.5
2	Demar Morris		Beginner Men 19-34	44	0:23:37.5	0:10:23.9	0:20:06.8	0:54:08.2
1	Damion Dasaro	Ten Four Graphics	Beginner Men 35+	49	0:16:59.7	0:08:58.6	0:15:54.6	0:41:52.9
1	Thomas Phelan		Junior Men	50	0:07:21.3	0:08:46.6	0:15:56.2	0:32:04.1
2	Gus Phelan		Junior Men	51	0:07:48.3	0:09:14.4	0:17:44.5	0:34:47.2