Who Is Super Shox? Meet Brian, the Brains Behind the Perfect Shock Setup

Racers learned that Brian answers the phone. In 2012 the ASCS Lone Star sprint car points leader said of Super Shox, "if you have a question [Brian] is only a phone call away," and described a manual and a dyno sheet for every shock "so you know exactly where you are at." That same year Brian sat on the "State-of-the-Art Sprint Car Shock Technology" panel at Knoxville Raceway, the self-described Sprint Car Capital of the World, alongside guests from AFCO, CSI, Penske and Pro Shocks. Harley riders got the same treatment later. When a rider emailed with detailed valving questions in 2015, the reply came from Brian himself.

"Being a precision machinist, my approach has always been accuracy and precise fitments," Brian says. When the shop assembles a shock, the shims are measured and the oil is metered by a filling machine. "The shocks are serial numbered and dyno tested to match the targets we have developed. If the shock does not match it comes apart and gets corrected until it does match the valving profile. There is not a close enough for us it is either right or not." Springs are checked on a compressor at every quarter inch up to coil bind, so the shop can track each batch. Getting a setup right, he says, takes hours of riding on as many different road conditions as possible, at varying loads and speeds.

Brian did not set out to put Super Shox on Harleys. "I always wanted to keep motorcycles out of business because that is what I did for fun." As friends started asking for bagger shocks, he tested the idea. "In 97 I got a new Road King and did not really like the suspension and asked a few dealers if there was interest from riders in a better shock, but the feedback was not really and with being so focused on racing it was not a good time to work on motorcycle shocks."

"In 2004 I built a set of shocks for a V-Rod and those worked great." He had moved on from the Road King by 2003 and was riding a Buell and a custom V-8 chopper with a 383 ci 500 hp engine and a rigid suspension. He had not been on a bagger in 10 years. "When I did get on one in 2014 it was harsher than the rigid V-8 chopper. That’s when I figured it was time to get to work on the bagger shocks."

"By Daytona Bike Week 2015 we had bagger shocks and since then the demand has taken over our business and bike shocks is most of what we do." Super Shox launched the SR1 for Harley touring models on June 1, 2015, "engineered for a smooth ride, eating small bumps while lessening the impact of the big hits the rider and their passenger encounter." Every major part was made in-house in Grayslake, every shock was dyno tested, and it came with a 30-day money-back guarantee and a limited lifetime warranty. American Iron Garage called it "the company's spearheading effort into the motorcycle market." American Bagger wrote that year that Super Shox was "loaded with Harley enthusiasts who knew they could take their suspension expertise and apply it to the rough ride of their Baggers." As Brian puts it, "We still stay involved with racing and enjoy helping the racers who use Super Shox win races and championships."

Looking back, Brian does not point to one trophy. "I have been fortunate to celebrate many wins with racers and work with the best in the business. Hearing from riders who love the shocks and how it has changed how they ride is just as rewarding." He has also heard from riders who say the difference was being able to go hundreds of miles in a day.