Fox Shox and Fox Forx Question

Same company. Started out as Super Trick Shit with a CZ performance book until they decided the name probably wouldn't go over too well. As I've read one or both of the Fox brothers spent $300.00 back the to have the Fox head logo designed. A buttload of money in the early 70's for something so trivial at the time. But that logo has made them more money than anything else. This right here is what put them on top of the world in motocross though.



Kent Howerton raced this bike with the first of the Fox Air Shox along with Brad Lackey. Kent managed to overcome all of the weaknesses of the Husqvarna that year to wrap up the 500cc national championship against the better equipped Japanese mfgs. Anything Fox related from that time period brings a premium price these days.

And Kent raced back in the day when if you didn't like you grips, you probably didn't have a spare set in the box van to try. He took a razor knife and trimmed his to his liking. Imagine one of the current crop of riders bikes showing up on the back cover /ad of a magazine with their Renthals all haggered to shit like these.

Geoff was a partner in Grand Prix cycles in the south bay with another guy (we used to cut school to go to the San Leandro shop). Apparently that guy wanted to stick to shops and Geoff wanted to focus on mail order, and that led to the mail order side changing from Grand Prix Cycles to Moto X Fox.

I think Geoff did the first gas shocks. Brother Bob came along, did the airshox. At some point 78-79, Bob sun Fox Factory off from Moto X Fox, continued to develop the airshox, the forx, swingarm and then the Fox Factory Shox, all of which were distributed through Moto X Fox. This was the period they ran the race team.

I guess the company was losing money as a hardware business and committed to gear, etc, in the early 80's. Fox Factory suspension developed suspension for virtually everything that touched the dirt and still does. They are separate companies, both very successful.

I think GuyB did and article here awhile ago on Fox Factory, and here's a link to an older article: http://www.motoxmuseum.com/Articles/fox_air_shock/history_of_fox_air_shox.pdf

You can see in these shots that as they were developing from single to double stage air chambers they experimented with running coil springs over the Fox Airs. Howerton, Lackey and Richter (then KTM) ran them in late Trans Ama 76 races.