If you want something done right, do it yourself.

PUSH Industries has been around since 2003, and was born out of a consumer need to get more performance out of their stock suspension. Darren Murphy, the founder, made a living by tuning (or as he called it “pushing”) Rock Shox and industry leading Fox suspension. From servicing fork and shock dampers, to revalving shocks and forks for a completely customized tune, PUSH built a well deserved reputation as the leader in mountain bike suspension tuning. Before long they had expanded on this model, and were machining their own components to replace and improve upon stock internals, assembling a massive repertoire of knowledge, tooling, and expertise.

Piston heads for the Elevensix are CNC'ed before the being de-burred

A few expansions and ten years later, Darren had moved the company from Irvine, California, to Loveland, Colorado. He was keenly aware that the limitations of being a large manufacturer of suspension components made for some strict limitations, constraints that didn’t apply to Push. In that, he saw an opportunity.

The ELEVENSIX

On the sixth day of the eleventh month of 2013, after a round of exploratory CAD drawings, an encrypted folder was started on the PUSH server. By the end of the year, Push Industries had assembled a working prototype of a coil sprung rear shock, one that would be made completely in house and tuned to a specific bike and a specific rider. It would also usher in the resurgence of coil sprung suspension in the era of the hard charging single crown bike.

The very first prototype ELEVENSIX. You can see all the FOX DHX parts.

In October of 2014, PUSH had built an Elevensix shock body completely in house. This commitment to maintaining the utmost control over the entirety of the manufacturing process is a credo that carries through today, despite the huge increase in demand for these shocks.

Still made of domestically sourced alloy and steel despite an over 200% cost increase in the past year alone, PUSH Industries likes to keep things local. They employs engineers, assemblers, service techs, customer service reps, and a sales team, all from the Colorado front range. Many of them have been there for years and years; despite having moved away from Fort Collins in 2014, I still knew half of the employees at PUSH. They employ people who love what they do, and who love to ride bikes. All this attention, care, and dedication shines through to the finished product in spades.

I met David when he was working at a local shop in Fort Collins. He has been at Push for years now.

What’s the big deal?

At this point, R&D and manufacturing of the ELEVENSIX (as well as a few new products like the ACS-3 kit) dominates nearly all of Push’s business. How and why has this product garnered such a reputation in the performance mountain bike world?

To understand that, we need to look at how the vast majority of bikes are fitted with their suspension components.

When a company like Transition develops a new bike, they approach their chosen shock manufacturer (eg. Fox) with their frame. Fox, working with Transition, chooses from a variety of different “tunes” they’ve developed, one that through testing, both computer simulated and real world, seems to create the best ride for the new bike. They then sell that shock to the manufacturer in bulk.

Even with highly adjustable aftermarket shocks, like the Fox DHX2 or the Cane Creek DB, there is still a base internal tune (medium, for aftermarket the DHX2) that might not be ideally suited for your bike and your weight.

PUSH takes that model, made necessary by the scale at which these large companies operate, and flips it upside down.

Cyclinder heads being machined out of a block of aluminum.

Custom is the new black

When PUSH decides they want to add a bike to their ELEVENSIX repertoire, they first procure the bike. Once it’s fully kitted out with their data acquisition hardware, they send one of their in-house shredders out for a ride on something like Bobcat Ridge, one of Fort Collins’ fastest, most techy trails.

After compiling a massive amount of real world data about how the bicycle handles rear wheel impacts, they run simulations on their dynamometer, subjecting a real ELEVENSIX to the same motions and forces that riding it on that given bike would. With this controlled setting, they can easily adjust one variable at a time and come up with an ideal shock tune for that bike’s kinematics.

An ELEVENSIX on the dynamometer.

With that baseline, they then continue to adjust the variables, and develop different tunes for riders of varying weights. For example, with the Evil Offering, PUSH has a damper tune for people from 115-155 lbs, one for folks from 155-215 lbs, and one for folks from 215-240 lbs.

Lightweight and/or heavier riders have likely experienced the importance of this. Stock suspension tends to be over-damped for the former, and under-damped for the latter. Bike brands must cater to the majority of users, and the rest of us either get to deal with lackluster suspension performance or seek out more specifically tuned options.

PUSH Industries: The cream of the crop

If you found this article, you’ve likely already heard about PUSH and the ELEVENSIX. You’re likely aware that it is touted as “the best of the best,” and maybe a friend of yours has told you that it has revolutionized their riding experience. You probably looked it up, and saw that the price tag reflected those claims. At $1200, this could very well be the second most expensive part on your bike, after the frame itself. Let’s summarize what it is about this wild looking shock that may make it worth your while to shell out that kind of money.

• A platform that is not only tuned to your bike specifically, but to your weight and riding style.
• Compression and rebound controls that come set up to your desired spec. Two independent compression circuits means your shock is essentially two shocks in one, and can be changed with a simple flip of a switch (eg. a techy descent setting and a flow trail setting).
• Made in the PUSH’s Loveland, CO facility using domestically sourced materials. Future proof - shock can be rebuilt to different lengths, strokes, and even mounting styles (i.e. Trunnion, standard DU, etc)
• Phenomenal customer support and advice.

The innards of the Elevensix.

If you are seeking pro-level suspension performance for your bike, the ELEVENSIX is the perfect piece of turnkey hardware. It’s a no-fuss purpose built shock for your weight, your bike, and your riding style. In our experience, it simply cannot be matched by any mass-produced suspension product currently available. Is it the end-all-be-all of suspension? Will your bike ride like crap without it? Of course not - your bike will likely ride just fine with the stock shock on your bike. But for those who are completely in-tune with their suspension, and want the best of the best, the ELEVENSIX is certainly worth considering.

Thanks for reading - Dan at Fanatik

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