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Interview: BOS Suspension Drops Into North America

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In the United States, the suspension market is dominated primarily by three big players – Fox, Marzocchi, and Rockshox. There are another half dozen companies producing worthy offerings, many of which we’ve reviewed in the past (e.g. X-Fusion, Formula, Magura, Suntour, etc..) but they don’t carry the same brand recognition or cache as the “Big Three.”

In Europe, and amongst e-riders in the know, there’s a fourth suspension company whose name is  always spoken of in deferential tones. That company is BOS. With deep roots in Dakar and WRC, and even deeper roots in mountain bikes, many consider their suspension components to be amongst the very best currently available.

Unfortunately for the North American consumer, until very recently, there was no OEM warranty or repair services available on the continent. Thankfully, the situation has recently changed. Beginning last November, BOS paired up with a new distributor who is now importing the full range of components and providing quality US based support.

Drop past the break to learn more…

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Marc Castellana and I am the owner of Prestige MTB, the only licensed importer of BOS Suspension components in the USA. My company also imports Leo Seven carbon fiber products.

What where some of the challenges you encountered importing BOS products to the US ?

The biggest challenge is the lack of name recognition. The people who have heard about the components have read great things but never tried or seen the product. Our second biggest challenge is keeping the price as competitive as possible since the Euro is so strong.

Did you have to undergo any special training to become a distributor?

Yes! I spent a week at the BOS manufacturing plant in Toulouse France getting to know the team and learning about the product. The most important thing is to have consistency when handling service and warranty issues. Every potential distributor and BOS service center is required to go through this training.

When and what products will be imported to the United States? Canada?

All BOS products are currently available to customers in both the United States and Canada through PrestigeMTB.

Will warranty and repair service be performed in house or require shipping overseas?

Warranty and repair services will be handled here in New York, which will mean cheaper prices and faster turnaround time for the customer.

How can I get one?

There are a couple of ways to get BOS products:

-If you are a shop owner, you can contact me directly and set up an account. There is no minimum order and we offer industry insider deals to shop employees.
– If you are a customer, you can order online at www.shockandrollcycles.com, or go to your local bike store and ask the owner/manager to get in touch with me.

All suspension components ordered through Prestige are custom tuned for each bike and riders weight.

Will pricing be comparable to European MSRP?

The prices are similar to the European MSRP. If you convert the European prices from Euros to USD, you will see that our prices are cheaper, the shipping charges are a lot less, and there are no import taxes.

BOS Deville DH was designed with extensive input from 10x World Champ Nicolas Vouilloz. Morgan Charre piloted her BOS equipped Specialized Demo last year to victory at Leogang to become the reigning Womens DH World Champ.

What athletes will be competing on BOS suspension in the United States this year?

For the 2013 season Dunbar cycles DH team will be using the BOS Idylle RaRe Air and the Stoy RaRe.

What companies have BOS as an OEM option and do you anticipate working with any North American manufacturers in the future?

Morewood, Zumbi, YT industries all have BOS products as OEM offerings and there is at least one more European company that will be offering BOS as an option for next year. I am currently working towards developing the OEM market here in the states and have a couple of leads in North America.

 The Rumor Mill

According to Marc, BOS has a few new toys in development for wagon wheels and tweeners.

Head over to PrestigeMtb to learn more.

 

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10 years ago

I live in Europe and have never heard of this BOS company :confused:
Maybe it is caused by the fact that I ride Mainly on-road

Stadenko
Stadenko
10 years ago

Wow- that PrestigeMTB website is a complete joke and totally undermines any legitimacy the importer may have. NOTHING is spaced correctly, the font choice is terrible, and the right side of the BOS video is obscured. I would seriously have qualms about buying anything from a business with a site like that. PLEASE get someone decent at web design to take another crack at that page.

greshkov
greshkov
10 years ago

I’m not having any issues with their website. It’s pretty simple and looks like it was thrown up there just to have something, but visually everything is fine. I’m looking at it on Chrome.

Steve M
Steve M
10 years ago

I have no idea what they do. Machine red parts?

Tandumb
Tandumb
10 years ago

My fork eats rocks… like a BOS!

wheelguy
wheelguy
10 years ago

^^^ some of you haven’t heard of BOS? I guess this is more of a roadie website so I shouldn’t be surprised. That’s cool that they have a distributor in NA. My guess is that they will be about as successful over here as Magura has been with their suspension products in NA.

satisFACTORYrider
satisFACTORYrider
10 years ago

hopefully they hit the ground running with all repl parts available and techs who are real pros on tuning otherwise it could get ugly quick. bos pedigree goes way back to sunn and gachet and truly with rally wrc. it ain’t cheap.

Rivers
10 years ago

I can’t wait to see what they have in store for 29ers…I hope it is not an XC fork and more trail/am oriented. Bigger stanchions (35-36mm) and at 140mm of travel would fill the bill pretty nicely.

Joshua Murdock
10 years ago

Prestige Worldwide!

Gillis
Gillis
10 years ago

You must be so cool wheelguy, I’ve been mtb’ing since ’93 and I’ve never heard of them. I guess I don’t have my head buried in a magazine or online enough and am to busy actually riding to know this brand.

I love my Fox, but I look forward to seeing a review and how it stacks up to “the big three”.

ccolagio
ccolagio
10 years ago

@gillis: anyone that rides DH has heard/known about BOS for years. dont be offended that wheelguy and myself are more up to date than your since ’93 self

Gillis
Gillis
10 years ago

right, because DH encompasses all of mtb’ing….

ccolagio
ccolagio
10 years ago

right, because mtb’ing since ’93 means you know everything about everything…even about facets of biking that you clearly don’t do/keep up on…

back on topic – i can still remember ogling over a session88 with front/rear BOS…so damn sexy!

Ben McArthur
Ben McArthur
10 years ago

For those of you out there that have not heard of BOS before, be assured they have a very strong history. They have a much larger profile in the long travel and DH market, their forks and shocks primarily service the 140mm – 200mm segment. Take a look at this article if you have any doubts about their history or quality of the product they produce.
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Bos-Suspension-A-History-of-Victory.html
They have been working with Nico Vouilloz since the late 90’s, and he still remains one of the most successfull riders in DH history.

Bog
Bog
10 years ago

The website is definitely poorly done. I’m not having problems seeing anything (like a previous poster) but it seems to be poorly translated into English.

seramik
seramik
10 years ago

their history is near “Sunn” factory….

Luke
Luke
10 years ago

BOS stuff is very desirable here in Europe. I live in the UK and I think if they were the same price as Fox then everyone would have them. They get great reviews from all the magazines and are meant to be exceptionally good.

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