Exploration Local

Born in Pisgah: The Cane Creek Story with Dorene O’Malley & Brent Graves

• Mike Andress • Season 1 • Episode 111

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What happens when a small North Carolina factory lets the trail—not the spec sheet—make the call? We sit down with Dorene O’Malley and Brent Graves from Cane Creek to unpack 30 years of curiosity, craft, and rider-first design.

From rugged Pisgah prototypes to components trusted around the world, they’ve shaped everything from headsets and titanium cranks to the legendary Thudbuster seatpost and Invert Gravel Fork—all designed to make every ride smoother, more controlled, and more fun.

Step inside their Experience Center, see how forks and shocks are hand-built and tested, and hear their vision for a future where cities embrace cycling for everyone—from school bike buses to e-bike family rides.

Mike Andress
Host, Exploration Local
828-551-9065
mike@explorationlocal.com

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SPEAKER_01:

What happens when a small North Carolina factory questions the Mora's better mindset and lets real-world riding call the shots? Today we're joined by Doreen O'Malley and Brent Graves from Cane Creek Cycling Components to tell that story. It all started in the 1970s when Diacomp moved from Japan to Fletcher during the gas crisis. BMX and mountain bike wave were rising during those years, and in 1995, the Cane Creek brand was created as a way to better distinguish Diacomp USA's more innovative products. The namechains also rooted them firmly in Pisca. That rugged terrain became their proving ground. Prototypes left the lab and hit gravel, bumps, and descent to test what spec sheets could never measure. Control, comfort, and confidence. Along the way, Cane Creek created parts that became legendary. And this year, they're celebrating 30 years of curiosity, craft, and rider first invention. We'll hear from Doreen and Brent about hands-on testing, their new experience center, and innovations like the Invert Gravel Fork. A reminder that listening to riders still drives everything they do. Let's dive in. You're listening to Exploration Local, a podcast designed to explore and celebrate the people and places that make the Blue Ridge and Southern Appalachian Mountains special and unique. My name is Mike Andris, the host of Exploration Local. Join us on our journey to explore these mountains and discover how they fuel the spirit of adventure. We encourage you to wander far but explore local. Let's go. Doreen and Brent, I'm thrilled to have you here today to talk about how Cane Creek has been shaping the cycling industry for 30 years here in Western North Carolina. Thanks so much for making the trek down. Welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_02:

Thanks, Mike. We're excited to be here.

SPEAKER_01:

All right, so for listeners who aren't hardcore, either mountain bikers, gravel enthusiasts, or road cyclists, let's start at the beginning. And what is the simplest way for someone who hasn't heard of Cane Creek to explain what you do and who Cane Creek is?

SPEAKER_00:

We design and produce, sell, distribute, market premium bicycle parts. When I say premium, they could be for the racer, just as well for a commuter in Switzerland, right? They're designed to provide additional benefit, whether it be speed, safety, comfort, you name it, to people riding bicycles. So that's what we do, make premium aftermarket bicycle parts.

SPEAKER_01:

Nice. And something you just alluded to when you said either for the cyclist here or in Switzerland, this isn't just a small regional type of company.

SPEAKER_00:

This is an international company, it sounds like Yes, actually, more than half of our sales are outside of the United States, particularly Central Europe, and we have a good following in Asia as well.

SPEAKER_01:

So we always want to go back to the beginning, if we can, and kind of understand where you came from. So I'm really curious to know how did Cane Creek get its start? And when did you realize that your company had its own identity in this space?

SPEAKER_00:

So back in the first gas crisis in 1974, so OPEC came to prominence, flexed, flexed its muscle and said, hey, we're gonna squeeze petroleum production. And America freaked out. I was only about six years old, and I remember lines literally a mile or two at the gas station with people with gas cans in hand, right? And overnight the sales of bicycles doubled in America. And it was this Japanese company called Die Cump, it's been around since the 30s, that made quality brakes for major brands. Back then, brands were like Schwinn, Huffy, Murray, Columbia, and those brands had factories in America. So the Japanese company, DieCump, decided they wanted to be closer to the hottest market in the world at that time, which was the U.S. How they landed in Fletcher, North Carolina in 1974, I couldn't tell you.

SPEAKER_01:

All right.

SPEAKER_00:

There wasn't not even an airport then.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow.

SPEAKER_00:

But there was some railway nearby, which I understand was a piece of it. But like I said, there were bike factories. Murray had a factory in Tennessee. Obviously, Chicago was a home with Schwinn. Uh Huffy had a number of factories, uh, Columbia. So they built this factory starting in 1974. They shipped machinery over from Japan to truly build a factory. They erected the walls and everything. We're still on that same site in the same major main building that was completed in 75.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow.

SPEAKER_00:

So the company was supplying parts of those bike brands of those factories. And then come the 80s and this thing called BMX. And the Americans that worked in the company were telling the Japanese counterparts, hey, this BMX thing is pretty cool. We should make some parts. And the Japanese were pretty conservative. They said, no, we know our thing. We make these kind of brakes for these kind of bikes. But eventually the Americans convinced them and they made some BMX product, primarily brakes and brake levers. And when I was a kid, it was something to lust over. Wow. I never even got those. I couldn't afford them. And the same story happened again in the mid to late 80s with mountain bikes. They became popular, and the American team convinced the the Japanese to develop some mountain bike products. And this continued on in early 90s, where there became more of a um, let's call it some friction between the two companies. And it was decided to split the companies. And the US was renamed Die Cup USA and was taken ownership by two of the employees. And that continued uh through the nineties, major mountain biking uh boom. And in 1995, the company here in Fletcher was uh developing the first product here.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Not relying on the Japanese engineering and and development lab and so forth. It was a rear shock for a mountain bike. And they decided to call it Kane Creek to really tie into the local scene and right across the street from us is Cane Creek. That's right. And the next year they decided that it was smart to take that one step further to rename the company because there was a lot of confusion. At this time, I was working for a bike company, and the salesperson from Diacump, USA, was coming to me going, you know, die comp this, die comp that. I'm going, which which die comp? Japan, USA, and it's oh, we're changing our name to Cane Creek. So that happened in 1996.

SPEAKER_02:

Didn't you tell him that that was the stupidest idea you've ever heard?

SPEAKER_00:

That that's true. Yes. Peter Gilbert uh retired just a few years ago, employee at Cane Creek for like 35 years, one of the nicest guys you'll ever ever meet. He was calling on me. I was a product manager designing bikes and specing parts, going, Oh, we're gonna use this seat, this brake, and so forth. And he came to me and said, Hey, yeah, here's our new product line for next year. I'll send you samples, here's our price list, and by the way, we're changing our name. And I said, That's the stupidest. I won't use the exact wording but idea I've ever heard. Diet comp is legendary. Why would you change the diet from the die comp name? Well, obviously it made sense, and uh that happened in 96. So when we talk about 30 years, we talk about 30 years of the Cane Creek Company name. But actually, we've been an ongoing concern for 50 years, right? Uh making bike parts uh in that in that factory since 1975.

unknown:

Oh, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_01:

One of the things when you look at Cane Creek that really kind of comes through is this idea of born in Piscah. From what I understand from really hardcore bikers, even the people who go out west and come back here, um, some of this area is not for the faint of heart. Uh now there's something for everybody to ride here. Help us understand how you kind of tapped into that Pisgah-born whole ethos.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, you're right, Mike. There's something for everybody. And people also generally think of mountain biking first, but the road riding here when you get out of Asheville proper is fantastic. I mean, yeah, you might think of the parkway or whatever, but north, northwest of Asheville towards Tennessee, Irwin, Tennessee, and so forth. There are just fantastic back roads for road riding. And I say this because I've had the great fortune of living in some areas with some great riding. Southern California, Northern California, Switzerland, traveled a lot, and the riding here, road and mountain biking, is just fabulous. But to your question, there are a number of things that we we started to uh uncover, if you will, about 10 years ago. The company had gone, was going through a very, very difficult time financially, made some missteps, missed timed the market, had some product that wasn't as good as it should be. And so we had to re basically restart and and yeah, save the company. And so we were like doing some soul searching, you know, who are we, what are we? And it wasn't a matter of coming up with a story or whatever. The pieces were there. We were like archaeological archaeologists, you know, dusting off, oh, yes. We have always been about craftsmanship. When I was at that bike company I mentioned, you know, looking at the product from from the outside, I saw the craftsmanship craftsmanship. The brand has always been about being an alternative, doing something a little different than the big guys, because in the grand scheme of things, we're a pretty small company. There are a number of billion-dollar, multi-billion dollar uh bicycle parts makers out there, and we're a fraction of that size. So we look at ourselves as trying to offer something a little different, a little better, something the big guys can't or won't do, right? But that was always there. We didn't come up with this. We just said, hey, yeah. We've been there, we just didn't put a word to it. Right. So alternative. And then authenticity, right? Being here 50 years, making the product, designing all the stuff ourselves and so forth. That was something we dusted off. And then as we got deeper into it, we got, hmm, what about our local surroundings? Right? Not just in this building, right? What we do, but our local surroundings. And as you said, people come here from all over. It's more of a destination point now, not just from Atlanta or Charlotte or Florida. But we just had people in from Brooklyn last week doing a factory tour. Amazing. Right. Uh and they were down for riding and so forth. So the riding area, right? We go, we actually make the prototypes, put them on our bikes, go out to trails and roads and so forth, and put time on them. And that's in addition to our lab testing, which is really, really critical. But the the roads and trails here truly are, you know, the crucible, if you will, of the development process to make sure they do what they are intended to do. You can check off boxes in the lab and on the on the spec sheet on your on your Excel sheet and so forth, and then you can have this product in your hand and you say, Well, okay, big deal. What do you bring to the table? How's it different or better than anyone else? Why should someone buy this? Right. But when you ride it and you live with it on these trails and on these roads, then you go, yeah, I feel good about this, right? And if I feel good about it, if you're not feeling good about it, how do you expect riders to feel good about it?

SPEAKER_01:

Right. Wow. Doreen, that's impressive. And you lead a lot of rides too. Anything you want to kind of add in there?

SPEAKER_02:

To talk about the gravel here in the western North Carolina area, right? We're looking at a lot of gravel, calling ourselves the gravel capital of the east over here.

SPEAKER_01:

Nice.

SPEAKER_02:

Mm-hmm. So there's a lot of product that we do that also complements our gravel folks, the invert being one of them. The inverted front fork, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

That part is the part that really has my attention because I uh I enjoy a lot of outdoor sports and I only have but so much money to spread out. And I have a mountain bike that uh I think I share with you. I've been riding a hardtail Gary Fisher uh for years. It gets me around, but the gravel definitely has my attention because I feel like when it's uh rainy and you can't get out on the trails, you have so much more to do. And to your point, Brent, they are everywhere. We are just inundated with just amazing gravel trails and routes here in these forests.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, like you guys said at the beginning, we have something for everybody, no matter what level you're at, no matter what kind of riding you do. I spoke to someone recently, she said, Well, I ride my bike, but I wouldn't call myself a cyclist. And that's something that we really need to be conscious of is yes, I ride my bike, but I'm not one of those people that you'd say, Oh, I'm bombing downhill and I need to get into it. And what do we call them?

SPEAKER_00:

Enthusiasts.

SPEAKER_02:

Enthusiasts, yes.

SPEAKER_00:

That's a tough word to come up with enthusiasts.

SPEAKER_02:

Hey. After a certain age, forget words.

SPEAKER_00:

But to pick up on that, I mentioned 10 years ago we had to to you know turn the company around. And one thing I found out quickly is I had to write the company name up on a whiteboard. Kane Creek Cycling Components. Okay, doesn't say anything about mountain bike or BMX or road or gravel or track or cycle cross or right? Cycling components. And at that time we were really fixated on extreme gravity slash downhill mountain biking. We had a huge legacy, and what was paying the bills most of those decades were all those other bike parts. So we had to remember who we were and not just be focused. Didn't mean we gave up on making great downhill-oriented mountain bike shocks. No, but we were letting all this other stuff die, right? And that's really what fueled the company turnaround was broadening, reopening our perspective on those other components. People ask, well, what are you? I said, we make cycling components and we will make design whatever we feel like there's an opportunity to make better. And if it's in gravel, that's where we are. If it's in mountain bike, that's where we are. So we're not predisposed to be in one versus another.

SPEAKER_01:

I love that. Well, it expands your market for sure of who you're gonna reach out to and who your users can be. But as we were walking into the factory from the experience center that we're gonna talk about here in a minute, one of the things that I noticed was that saying that was on your wall. And I'm gonna read it because I don't want to mess it up. I think it was your vision and purpose. It says, we believe riding bikes makes life better, so we work to make bikes better. And I think that really kind of dovetails into what you're talking about because it's not just these one percenters, it's not just the ultra-enthusiast, it's really kind of capturing a much broader market from or from what I'm hearing.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, it's it's as simple as it sounds, right? I mean, really, whether it's physically, emotionally, psychologically, riding a bicycle is just healthy and it's good for the world.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

It really is. We just came from a um a convention or conference actually in Bentonville and heard this guy speak, uh, and he's the founder of what's it called, bike bus. Yeah, the bike bus. Bike bus. And it's just fantastic, right? He just started riding bikes, riding uh helping kids ride bikes to school in the morning, right? And they go in a little caravan and they've got, you know, adults around to keep them corralled and do intersections and all this. And it was so awesome to see these kids ride their bikes to school, and it's now or it has been um growing to other cities and they call on him for advice and so forth. But just a great example of of the power of the bicycle, right? Again, congestion, environment, health, right? And for most people, it's pretty freaking fun. Yes, right. So if we can find ways to to improve the bicycle, like I said earlier, it doesn't matter if you're about speed or comfort or just ride longer or feel more confident and safer, whatever it is, we want to make the bike better because we meet believe that riding bikes for everybody is better.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, just a small story about that. We a couple weeks ago, my wife and I and my dad, we got my mom and dad some e-bikes. I may have told you this, Doreen, but it has just brought joy back to them just to see them moving. And so they're out riding again. But my and so we did 20 miles and on an e-bike, that doesn't sound like a whole lot. But my but my brother, um, he has a friend who has a bike shop uh in Charlotte, and so he borrowed his bike. And so he did the and he hasn't been on a bike in a a while. So he does the full 20 miles with us out and back when he got off. He looked like he sent us a meme that he was like a baby giraffe trying to walk and he couldn't get his legs. But it was, we're still talking about it two weeks later about how much fun that particular trip was, and it was all directly related to getting on bikes and pedaling. And love hearing about schools in Bentonville, Arkansas that are finding ways to make that accessible to the kids. I wish we had. My wife and I keep talking about this road right here. We wish there was more sidewalks so our kids could actually that kids could actually ride the bike.

SPEAKER_02:

We do have a bike bus in Asheville.

SPEAKER_01:

Do we?

SPEAKER_02:

Mm-hmm. Asheville on Bikes has definitely gotten on the bike bus movement. Okay. And then with the Asheville on paved trails that will be coming too, we should be able to get more kids out on natural surface trails.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, I love it.

SPEAKER_02:

In the future, I love that.

SPEAKER_01:

That's so good. So we've been talking about components, and I'm sure that people who are customers of Cane Creek they will know these components we're talking about. But for people who might not be familiar, what are those components that you all focus on that you all make and manufacture out of here?

SPEAKER_00:

We make pretty much every part on the bicycle except for seats and tires. Uh we make the headset, which is your steering bearing set. That's something that uh really put us on the map because we uh had a patent for design that revolutionized bicycles beginning in around 1990 or 91.

SPEAKER_02:

I would say most people do know us for the headset because it came standard on a lot of bikes.

SPEAKER_00:

Depending on your vintage, yeah. Uh cranks. Um the cranks are the lever arms that hold the pedals. So when you push on the pedals, they actually direct your energy into the sprockets. We make sprockets, we make uh the bottom bracket bearings, that's the bearings that are in your frame that when you turn the pedals, they turn. We make rear shock absorbers for mountain bikes, we make front forks, which are front suspension forks for mountain bikes, we make handlebar stems. Uh, we make some unique handlebar stems that actually have a little mechanism that provides some shock absorption. They're not like a full-off mount full-on mountain bike product, but for people riding gravel, as we mentioned earlier, or rougher back roads, it takes the edge off because let's not deny it. Generally, when you climb on a bike for the first time, you're not comfortable. Yeah. Right? And a lot of that is you're not accustomed to it, but the fit, being bent over, all these different things, and there are a lot of products and adjustments now that can reduce that barrier, if you will, way down. And the more we bring it down and the less intimidating we make it, the more people will ride. Another item is the uh C post that holds your seat. We have a post that's called, I didn't come up with this name, called the Thudbuster. And we actually uh worked with the inventor back in the 90s. He developed it for performance mountain biking because this was before full suspension mountain bikes. Before you had shock absorbers on your mountain bike, he came up with a design to put a small shock absorber underneath your seat. Now, when suspension finally came around in the form of full suspension on mountain bikes, then this was obsolete. But it hung around and hung around until, particularly in Europe, they started using on commuter bikes because they ride bike paths and cobblestones and so forth until it took on a whole new life. And now it's one of our biggest selling products to the tune of hundreds of thousands of units. And it just has this little shock absorber, very simple, that takes the edge off. So you're riding, go over railroad tracks or something. It's just nice and smooth, right? And they're most of those that we sell now go onto e-bikes, computers that are e um e-bikes.

SPEAKER_01:

Nice. It does make a difference when you're going over some of the terrain. It's just the you know, the difference of your feeling like your eyes can't focus to it kind of smooths out a little bit.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. That's the thing, right? You want to increase a rider's confidence, no matter what their skill level or what their aims are, the more confidence they have, the more comfortable they're going to be mentally and physically, right?

SPEAKER_01:

So we talked, thank you for sharing all the products that you guys have. If somebody was to kind of become a Cane Creek customer for the first time, is there like a signature component that you would want them? And that may be kind of a loaded question because there's so many different ways to ride. I know that. But it like what would be a good introductory component for somebody?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, it depends on which way you're coming into it. If you come in from the mountain biking side and the performance mountain biking side, we have a crank uh that I mentioned earlier. It's made out of titanium. And it's it's literally, even after only a decade in production, it's it's iconic. I have we have had people from the inside the bike industry, bicycle designers, engineers, product managers call us and say, Hey, Brent, I want one of those. I'll pay for it. I can get anything I want from the other brands for free, but I want to buy your crankset.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow.

SPEAKER_00:

And that's that's really like the high if you're in the industry, that's like the highest praise when people that can get and have anything say, I want yours, right? So if you're coming from that perspective, on the other hand, if you're just riding in Bent Creek on dirt roads and you're on an e-bike, that Thudbuster I mentioned earlier could be your gateway. Gravel, we have what we refer to as the world's first gravel fork, the invert. Um, it's more of a lightweight, dare I say, performance product, not so much your gateway product. But again, it just depends on which door you're coming through. Uh and we have products too that are are very basic. We have a simple computer mount that's like sixty, sixty-nine, seventy-nine dollars that offers adjustment that other mounts don't have. And you can put your your computer there, you can put a camera or light underneath it, and it doesn't encroach on your hand space, on your handlebars, and it's yeah, like I said, affordable.

SPEAKER_02:

I'd say the suspension seat post and the suspension stem, especially if you're coming at it to just do gravel and you're on one of those you're on an older hardtail. I want to keep your old steel bike, just make it a little softer. Yeah, yeah. Suspension seat post and the suspension stem.

SPEAKER_01:

All right, adding it to the list. Family, if you're listening, Christmas is right around the corner. I would love to. The one thing I'd love to talk about a little bit more is this invert, because this was a very new concept to me. And I know when we were in the Experience Center, you were very, very, very proud of that, Doreen. And I love for you guys to kind of unpack that a little bit more for folks who may not be aware of what this little invert fork is.

SPEAKER_00:

That that's a that's a good story. Really good story. We have this huge heritage in mountain bike suspension, and our suspension is for the enthusiast. It has all these adjustments, and to get the most out of it, you need to spend time trying different adjustments out to see what works best for you. And so when we started talking about doing a suspension fork for gravel bikes, it was just natural. You should put all that technology, all that sophistication into the gravel fork, right? That's just what we should do. That's what people expect. And some of us were, we don't know if that's the best route. Why? Well, we see a lot of gravel riders as people that are looking just to ride a bicycle. They don't see themselves doing big jumps in a full face helmet. They don't see them themselves, you know, riding a road bike against all the traffic or or whatnot and shaving their legs. They go, I just want to ride a bike, right? And gravel riding has opened that up to a lot of people. Riding back roads that are all choppy, maybe that dead end or turn into gravel, whatnot. They're away from cars. It's just more of a uh sense of freedom, adventure, maybe even escape. And with that in mind, we're the question was why would we put all this sophistication, complexity, weight, cost into the gravel fork if people just want to go out and ride and have a good time? So to test that theory, we actually built some prototype forks, and we set up some test um sessions, and we had both internal riders, employees, and some external people, local riders, bicycle shop employees, and so forth. And we set up a very, as much as you can, a structural structured test where it was a 20-minute loop with some gravel roads and a small walking trail, not for mountain bikes, but you could ride a gravel bike on it. And then after every lap, the engineers would interview them and try to quantify what they're feeling. But they didn't know what was inside the forks.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh.

SPEAKER_00:

So we had some forks that had sophisticated sophisticated damping, hydraulic damping, like our mountain bike suspension does, some without it, some with an airspring, some with a coil spring. And at the end of the day, with such a limited amount of travel, suspension movement, they could not tell when we had the sophisticated damping inside and when we didn't. And so it's wow, if they can't tell, if it's not providing a real benefit to them, why are we gonna add cost, weight, and complexity? Why? Well, because that's just what you do, right? You're always gonna add more, right? If you don't, your competitor will.

SPEAKER_01:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

And we had a real challenge, you know, coming to Jesus kind of moment, like what are we doing here? Are we really, you know, walking the talk and saying we don't do product unless it really is authentic and provides real rider benefit? If that's the case, then don't put it in there. And so we didn't. And that was the cornerstone of this invert fork. Invert meaning upside down. So traditional suspension on all mountain bikes and gravel bikes, if they have a suspension fork. The moving portion, uh, the lower legs is usually the outer side, outer section. And with an invert fork, you flip it upside down and the smaller sections on the bottom. It uh provides some benefits that uh really speak to gravel bikes. One, it's visually integrates well to the bicycle. And we heard time and time again all around the country when we talked to people about putting suspension on their gravel bikes, they said, I don't want a mountain bike fork on my on my bike. It doesn't I don't want a mountain bike, I don't need it. And we dug into that deeper and they didn't like the look. Wasn't the function of it? Well, part of it was a function, it was too much.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

It was too much, it was too much weight, it was too much complexity, it was too much aggressive look, it didn't look right. And sometimes when something doesn't look right, you have to say, hmm, maybe it's not right. So going through this process, we identified four key what we call pillars that we felt like were really intrinsic to gra for for most gravel riders. One is simplicity. Like I said earlier, they just want to get out and ride, away from cars, not doing crazy stunts, right? Just ride. So keep it simple. The other is lightweight, right? It is a drop bar bike, and weight's always important because even with a motor, you're still doing work, right? A third is the aesthetic. Like I said, we heard people say, I don't want a mountain bike fork, it just doesn't look right. Right? And the fourth is offering true suspension benefit in terms of control and comfort. Okay. So each one of those things had been delivered by other brands for several years. And arguably some brands had maybe delivered two or of those uh pillars, but no one had delivered all four in one product. Wow. Keeping it simple, really visually tying it in, right? Offering true suspension performance and keeping it lightweight. So I said, you know what, guys, this is the world's first mountain bike fork. And oh no, we can't say that. We can't say that because brand X had this and brand Y had that. I said, Yeah, but they didn't speak to these four pillars. Do we believe these four pillars? Do we really believe them? Then when we believe them, go out there and proclaim it, right? In the very least, it's just start a dialogue. And people go, how can you say that? Here's why. You just open the door to give me an opportunity to explain why, right? So we did that. And we still get some pushback so forth. I said, great. That gives us an opportunity to have some dialogue on why this is the world's first gravel fort and why it's best for most people. They just go out and ride. Yeah, if you're a racer, that's great. Okay, it worked for you. And yeah, if you're doing this underbiking, trying to ride your gravel bike on steep, technical, downhill trails, that's fine. You can do that. But for the majority of people, just getting out and trying to get away from cars and explore, be out of nature, get some exercise so forth, this is for you.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, that's great. So I'm that category. That I mean, that would be me. And so what I'll do is I'll go just down the road, I'll go into North Mills River. And uh if that gate's closed, um, I just kind of go around that. I mean, you can, you can ride, right? But so I try to climb to the top, usually and go through the switchbacks and then kind of bomb down. When I say bomb down, this is Mike's you know, 57 year old bombing down. But um, but I still kind of experience some of that. Same thing going through the gravel, and you probably can't get rid of it entirely. But would this fork really kind of mitigate? Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Are you talking about riding up uh towards the parkway? Yeah, yeah. To the bridge and back down? Yes, yes. That's that's like the gravel riding, right? That's what we define as you know the riding for this type of fork. Crushed shale if you're in Florida or roads or whatnot. But taking away the chatter. Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And does that chatter also affect the the steering? So you kind of feel like you're you're kind of staying more to the ground than the chatter just kind of flapping, I'm imagining.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. So when you're coming down from the parkway on that that that gravel road, right? You start to go into a corner and you have the braking butts or the braking bumps or road uh rain ruts, right? And so what do you do, right? You grab your brakes, you tinch up, right? Yeah, and you just turn into this rigid structure and you're going, this is no fun, your eyeballs are bouncing around your head. That's me. And you feel like, hey, you feel like you're on marbles, right? Yes, yes, yes, yes. So there's always gonna be some aspect of that, varying speeds. Uh, but when you put on suspension, it changes dramatically, where you can go in there and go, oh, you know what? I can stay on that line. I don't feel like I'm gonna have my tires wash out. I have control, I'm not tensing up because you your body is your best form of suspension. Beyond any shock or fork you put on any bike, your arms and legs are the best suspension for your body. So when you lock up, and which is natural, right? You just freeze, uh holding on tight, that makes it worse. The very thing you're trying to avoid, you're just compounding. So when you have the fork, it actually snowballs the other way. You feel a little more comfortable, you don't tense up. Now you have your arms and legs providing a suspension, and you actually can carry your speed more safely, controllably through that corner and down the hill.

SPEAKER_01:

Amazing. Yeah. Okay, that's the second thing from my list. We've got the thud buster and the invert. Dang it, but we're gonna have to cut this episode off because all of a sudden I'm gonna be in the No, I'm just kidding. All right, so uh we talked about the the Experience Center, and I don't want to kind of bypass that because uh unfortunately I wasn't able to make it to your 30-year celebration and it was in the Experience Center. You were thoughtful to have me over and tour the plant, and it is amazing, both and just how it sort of shares the whole story, the color schemes, the product that's out there, everything. Tell me about the Experience Center Doreen and who can come in and when can they come in? Check it out.

SPEAKER_02:

The Experience Center was actually our old cafeteria. So the building was built, as Brent mentioned, in 74, 75. And literally we had the tables and chairs in there from 1974. And over the past few years, we thought maybe we should open an experience center somewhere else, a little closer to trails. And one of our employees said, Why don't we use the cafeteria? It's 800 square feet of space, and nobody uses the cafeteria. So we thought that was a brilliant idea. So we transformed that cafeteria into the experience center. And what the experience center is, is a museum of what we've done over the last 50 years, along with a retail center, along with a coffee bar. And you can come into the experience center Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. till 5 p.m. Yeah, and that's what the Experience Center became. And we actually had it happened during the hurricane that we were doing this, and Josh Whitmore with Mountain Bike Skills Factories actually came in and did some of the work for us because he obviously couldn't work out on the trails and he's used to building things, so he came in and helped us out with the transformation.

SPEAKER_01:

Nice.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, it tells a beautiful story. Thanks. Uh yeah, you're welcome from the aesthetics to the product that's out there, and definitely for somebody like myself or somebody who may not be, you know, as versed in some of these high-end alternative performance components, it allows you to really kind of dive in and kind of understand what this is all about.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. And the gentleman that works in the experience center is an enthusiast of bicycle parts, and he can tell you about anything from A to Z. Me, not so much. I'm more of the I'll tell you why I don't want that, but I can't tell you why it works so well.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

But he's also not just an enthusiast of parts, he's an enthusiast of people. He loves to try to find solutions to people's problems or or help them out. I mean, he has patience to the end of time that I don't have.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So he's great at that. I mean, you you can go into traditional bike shops and find someone knowledgeable, but you're not getting helped.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Right? It's intimidating and it's a different language and so forth. And the gentleman we're talking about, Craig, he's the opposite that. He is he's a Boy Scout. Nice. And he's fantastic at the at the job. But going back to the word you mentioned a moment ago, understanding, we had been doing factory tours for several years. And people would come in and they would see shocks being built or forks being built, and they really didn't know what they were looking at. All these small parts and subassemblies. And we also didn't have a way, if someone said, Hey, I want to buy a shock or even a t-shirt, we didn't have a way to satisfy that, right? So that was another piece of the Experience Center was encapsulating all we do out there, and they can say, Oh, that's what this is. So you walk in the Experience Center, you can see the products, do the factory tool, or vice versa. And we try to show how the products are used. You know, I'm in gravel here, all the products that are apple to gravel or mountain biking and so forth, in addition to the history wall. And the story I just told you about the invert development, we have that on a wall. So you can see that original pro one of the original prototypes and some of the stages of development on how we got to the end product.

SPEAKER_01:

I love that. I absolutely love that. And we don't have to go into a full thing about your your the the inside of the shop, but one of the things that really got my attention was that once we left the experience center and we started through that factory tour, we started to see these little workspaces. And even the people that we could talk to in these workspaces loved talking to people. They loved talking about their products. But one of the things that really stuck out to me and still does is the fact that it wasn't a machine that all these bits and pieces were going through. These were people who were just true craftsmanship. Or that's what it was. It was true craftsmanship. It was an artisan sort of approach to this. And it was really kind of hands-on. And I'm amazed at the amount of product that you actually do push out when it's not mass-produced, and you just have, you know, all these people doing their little little bits. But that part really kind of got my attention. I thought this is truly custom people who put their whole heart and soul into what they're building.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, they're building one fork, one shock at a time. We do some prep and with the subassemblies, but basically they're built one at a time and they're all calibrated. Uh, we have these dynometers where you run a suspension fork or shock on it to ensure that it has the proper damping characteristics within parameters. And we record that. So we know when you buy a fork or shock, we record that damping report with that serial number. And two years later, five years later, you know, if there's an issue or just for servicing, you know, it comes back, we can go back and look what it was like when it left. Right. You can't do that with the other brands. Now, don't get me wrong, those big brands make great product and it's great value. Great value. They also produce in one week 10,000, you know, more than we do in a year, right? But ours are built one by one and you know, but they have that sp the spoke kind of feel to them.

SPEAKER_01:

I love it. I love it.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, we also get to do all our prototyping in-house. Right? I think you saw the machine in the back, which we've only had since the last year, actually, that new machine. Our CNC gentleman is never leaving. He's happy with his new CNC machine. So yeah, all the prototypes are done in-house so that they can go back and forth from RD to prototyping really quickly.

SPEAKER_01:

Nice. So we're celebrating 30 years, but we've really been in this space for 50 years. When we think about the next 30 years, or at least the foreseeable future, and then you think about the future of cycling and Cane Creek's role in that, what excites you the most?

SPEAKER_00:

I think the next 30 years in America specifically uh is uh is already out there for the us to see, and that's what's gone on in Central Europe for arguably a hundred years, right? How cycling can actually go from being uh for the uh people of means to play uh and compete to the bicycle being a valued utility for people to go to school, to the shop, to work, and infrastructure built around that, uh both in the workplace and riding to and from the workplace or school to support that. And when you when you're in Germany or Switzerland or Austria, the Netherlands, right, it's just uh all over the place. And it's amazing. By coincidence, you know, they tend to be healthier, they tend to have higher scores on mental wellness and so forth. So that is there for us to see. And organizations like People for Bikes, a U.S. organization that's trying to to advocate and support cycling infrastructure and use in America, you know, they look to Europe as that model. Right? It's there in front of us. And that's that's real promising uh and very needed. When I was a kid, we all rode our bikes everywhere.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. That's exactly right.

SPEAKER_00:

You just rode your bikes, and now if I see a kid riding a bike somewhere in the neighborhood, I'm going, what's wrong? You know, where's the parent? Is that safe? And that's that's terrible.

SPEAKER_01:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

It's terrible. When I live in Switzerland, I would ride to work in the mornings or go out at lunch ride lunch and have a a short ride, and I'd go through a little village and I'd see four or five little girls walking down the sidewalk with no adult inside. And literally, I would stop and go, Oh my gosh. You know, somebody better call an adult. But they're safe and secure there. They've really invested in an infrastructure. And so to see that come back, potentially come back, and like I mentioned earlier, the bike bus, that's that's a little piece of it. And then there are towns, Portland, to some extent, Boulder, Austin are few that have invested in that, and you're starting to see that opportunity present itself, right? So that's where the bright future lies in the US for cycling, I think.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I I would agree with all that, and I've experienced a little bit of of that too, even just being in Europe, not the piece about wondering, but just being having the freedom and the flexibility to go. I lived in Spain, and it was nothing for my mom to send me with you know 25, 30 pesadas to go and buy bread at the market. And I was like in the fourth and fifth grade. Yep. And I would go through the little villages in Spain, and that's a core memory for me. Like I will never forget that. And uh also M Boulder had a chance to kind of uh be there last this time last year. Uh Carson took me and just to see how many people are actually getting around, and that's their mode of transportation was amazing. Um, from the little canyon road into town, all around town. And then most recently, being in Charlotte, when I can ride from South Charlotte all the way to uptown and ride through different neighborhoods and different parks, y'all. I mean, I was seeing things that I had never seen before, and that happens a lot when I'm riding the bikes, but but it was community, it was people that was, you know, they were out and they were all ages, and most of the people were actually on bikes. I mean, there were people who are walking and jogging and running, but most of the people were on bikes, and I would love to see that more. I know even here in Hendersonville, you know, we have the Acusta Trail. Yeah, and I can go down to you know horseshoe right here by uh cognitive and right across the street from cognitive and and ride bikes down to my son's house and visit and then ride home. We have to do more. Yeah, we really do.

SPEAKER_00:

So on the opposite side of this innocence loss that you you touched on, I just touched on, right? That we used to do this when we were kids. What we do have now that I see did not have when I was a kid. Yesterday I was finishing up a mountain bike ride in Penn Creek yesterday, and right before I came out of Hard Times Connectors, this couple was coming my my direction. And they were every bit of 75 years old on regular mountain bikes heading out for a ride. When I was a kid, or even 20 years ago, you would never see that. Okay. Also, I don't know how many times we went riding, and to see deep in the woods, out on ingles or something, a mom and her 12-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter on mountain bikes. Holy cow. I tell you, if Martians would have landed in 1975 in my yard, that would have been easier to see than my mom riding with her sons out on a trail. Yeah. Right. So while we don't have that innocence that we had, we do have those things, right? More people getting out to ride. And participation studies time and time again show that cycling is now in the U.S. at the highest level ever of people just getting on a bike to ride. So that's very positive. Love that. But there's a lot of work to do in terms of infrastructure and safety to make it more accommodating.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Yeah. Well, listen, y'all. Um I have thoroughly enjoyed this. But before I I let you go, I really have to ask, is there anything that we um that you would love for listeners to know that we haven't touched on?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, we've talked about it, but I would just like to to really crystallize. We invite anybody to come by and visit. Okay. Don't think that you've got to be a cyclist, you've got to be a racer or whatever. If you've if you ride bicycles for whatever reason, right, come by and visit. I pretty much guarantee you'll find it interesting and fun and enlightening. Um yeah, just come by and visit. For sure.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Our Experience Center, we're going to start doing some tech talk Tuesdays, and we'll get I ride and lead a group called the Silver Shredders. And so we're going to do some courses just for women. I do a saddle workshop just for women. So all the Experience Center is going to start having more activities out of there. So things for people to learn more about their bicycles.

SPEAKER_01:

Love that. Yeah. All right. Where are you located physically? And then how can we find you on the internet?

SPEAKER_02:

We are located at 355 Cane Creek Road, right across from Cane Creek Creek. And you can find us at CaneCreek.com.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, Doreen, I know it's taken us a couple of years. I think the first time we had this conversation was the Outdoor Economy Conference.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep. Two years ago.

SPEAKER_01:

Two years ago. Well, we did it, and uh, and I appreciate you all taking the trip down and certainly appreciate your enthusiasm for cycling and all things cycling and the amazing components that you all are producing.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you for having us. We're excited to be here.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. Thank you much, Mike. My pleasure. That was Cane Creek, celebrating 30 years of curiosity, craft, and rider first invention. From Hall of Fame classics to new breakthroughs like the Invert Gravel Fork, their story shows that paying attention to riders and the trails never goes out of style. Thank you for tuning in. If this episode resonated, follow the show, share it with a rider who could use more comfort and control, and leave a review so others can discover it. Follow me on Instagram and Facebook, drop me a note at mike at explorationloc.com if you have ideas for future episodes or you just want to say hello. And don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss the next episode. Well that's gonna do it for this episode. As always, I encourage you to wander far but explore local.