Moots just released some details on their new fork on their website and social media channels. Moots is one of my favorite ti builders and I love pretty much everything they do. So I was slightly bummed to see the fork will be made “overseas” according to the article (I assume this is China?). I made a slightly snarky comment on Facebook, and alluded to the Enve forks they used to spec (Enve makes some of their stuff in the US, but apparently not their forks). A few hours later Moots came back with a very classy reply:
You’re not going to see overseas Moots frames that’s for sure. Forks, that’s a whole differrent beast. The company you name above does not make their forks in the US. We are faced with supplying a fork with our frames that reflects what we want for rake & trail to deliver a ride & handling quality we are looking for. We ran into this several years ago when Alpha Q (owned by True Temper Sports) shut down their bicycle division…we were left with an inconsistent supply of forks that were over priced for what they are. We invested in designs & molds which secures a fork supply for our frames. So many people got out of the fork business when the huge carbon frame makers all went to their own fork & headset interface, it left the small builders srambling to find a supply. You can’t knock Moots for taking the steps and investing in a known supply from a known mfg.
It’s good to get an understanding of some of the challenges for small builders like Moots as the industry continues to evolve. (I admit the fork looks pretty good, and it’s always good to have a fork designed to work with a specific frame.) So consider this post an apology for my remarks and I’m looking forward to seeing their stuff at NAHBS next month!
