Mountain biking is rich with brands making awesome components and bikes, and some of the best-known marques in mountain biking are actually named after their inventor or founder.
Here is a look at some brands which came to life named after the person who started them.
In some cases they bear the name of athletes, in some cases engineers or even entrepreneurs.
Juliana
Juliana Furtado is one of the few pro riders to have been World Champion in both cross-country (XC) and downhill (DH). She became XC World Champion at the first ever Mountain Biking World Championships in Colorado in 1990, and two years later became DH World Champion in Bromont, Canada in 1992.
She rode for brands including GT and Rockshox during her career before getting on board with Santa Cruz.
In 1999 Santa Cruz Bicycles launched their first ever women's-specific mountain bike model called the Juliana Cushtail.
In 2013 Santa Cruz Bicycles created a dedicated sub-brand for women, which took its name from Furtado.
Foes
Until 1992 Brent Foes was best known for designing and making off-road trucks. He used this knowledge to create Foes bike, subsequently releasing the six-inch travel Foes LTS in 1993. Such a long-travel bike with an aluminium monocoque construction was very futuristic at the time.
Foes was adamant about reducing the leverage ratio between the rear wheel and the rear shock, speccing longer, softer shocks than competitors. This offers increased control over the bike’s rear suspension and reduces the amount of work the shock has to do.
Foes still make full-suspension MTBs, focusing on the same design philosophies.
Shimano
Shimano Ironworks was established in 1921 by Shozaburo Shimano. He was a lathe-operator by trade and turned entrepreneur to rent his own premises outfitted with a lathe borrowed from a friend.
Shimano made its first mountain bike groupset (Deore XT M700) in 1982.
Notable innovations that didn’t catch on were the incredible Airlines pneumatic shifting, Rapid Rise shifting to reduce rider effort, and Dual-Control levers which integrated the shifter into the brake lever.
- Read more: Screw Di2, I want Shimano Airlines!
Fox
Bob Fox was the founder of Fox Factory Inc, which he started in 1978.
He was a physicist, inventor, and motocross racer who began running his own suspension on his motocross bike in 1974. In 1975 he marketed motocross air shocks and won MX championships in 1976 and 1977.
Fox mountain bike products came later in 1993 when Fox air shocks were specced as standard on Cannondale’s flagship Super V full suspension MTB.
The first Fox Forx fork arrived in 2001. Brian Lopes became the first Fox suspended World Champion winning the World Championship 4X title in 2002 using a Fox Forx Float 100 RLC fork.
Atherton
Atherton Bikes was named after – and is owned by – the Atherton siblings: Dan, Gee, and Rach.
With multiple World Championships between them, the dynasty of successful racers branched out to create their own bike manufacturing firm based in Machynlleth in the heart of Wales.
It began in 2019 using construction technology from Robot Bike Co and suspension designs from Dave Weagle.
Its models include the less expensive S-Series bikes made from aluminium and with DW4 suspension, up to the boutique titanium and carbon A-series with DW6 suspension, which is available in a whopping 22 sizes.
Öhlins
Founded by Kenth Öhlin in 1976, Öhlin's suspension has a rich motorsport heritage. It started making mountain bike products in 2013 when it partnered with Specialized.
Its forks and shocks are at the cutting edge of technology with five-time downhill World Champion, Loic Bruni’s secret handlebar-mounted buttons often the talk of the pits.
It was bought out by Brembo in 2025 – another motorsport giant – which moved into selling MTB products with its GR brakes.
Chris King
Named after its founder, Chris King has made products in Portland, Oregon since 1976 and is famous for its headsets and hubs.
Chris King takes pride in its environmentally sustainable production, the longevity of its products, and their repairability.
Ritchey
Ritchey makes framesets, handlebars, stems, and seatposts, but over the years it has produced many different cycling components across all disciplines.
Founded by former racer and frame-builder Tom Ritchey in California, Ritchey made his first MTB production MTB frame in 1979 as part of an informal brand created alongside fellow mountain bike pioneers, Gary Fisher and Charlie Kelly, called MountainBikes. The Ritchey website claims that MountainBikes was the first bike brand to sell exclusively mountain bikes.
MountainBikes was dissolved in 1983 and RItchey USA was incorporated in 1985. Ritchey began improving rims and tyres, even making its own clipless pedal in 1995.
Gary Fisher
Gary Fisher was a road and cyclocross racer, before turning to mountain biking, and is credited as one of the founders of the sport.
Once Charlie Kelly and Tom Ritchey left MountainBikes, it then became Fisher MountainBikes under Gary Fisher in 1982.
In 1984 Fisher built his first eponymous mountain bike starting with the Excalibur.
Gary Fisher's full-suspension RS-1 debuted in 1990 with a Lawwill-designed rear suspension linkage, and a rear disc brake.
The brand was purchased by Trek Bicycles in 1993 and continued innovating until the brand was shuttered in the early 2010s.
Bontrager
Keith Bontrager started as a frame builder who switched from motorcycles to bicycles as mountain biking dawned in California in 1978.
Bontrager built some of the most coveted mountain bikes of the 1980s and 1990s. He was passionate and meticulous about construction and was famous for experimenting with different materials and engineering techniques to create better bicycle components.
His famous adage "strong, light, cheap – pick two!" drove his design philosophy and drew the attention of Trek, who purchased Bontrager's company in 1995.
Magura
The oldest brand in this list, Magura, was founded in 1893 by Gustav Magenwirth.
We've bent our rules a little with this one – Magura is a conjoining of ‘Mag’ from the surname of the founder and ‘Ura’ from his hometown; Bad Urach.
In 1987 Magura introduced the first hydraulic rim brake system for mountain biking, the Hydro-Stop. The HS range of hydraulic rim brakes fed technology into Magura’s later disc brakes beginning with the Gustav in 1997.
Magura also made suspension forks and shocks, and still make electronic wireless dropper seatposts.
Commencal
Motorcyclist and Paris-Dakar rally competitor Max Commencal founded Commencal Bikes. A passionate mountain biker since the mid-80s, Commencal worked with Sunn bicycles alongside suspension genius Oliver Bossard. T
Team riders included the now ten-time downhill World Champion Nicolas Vouilloz and now multiple World Champion Anne-Caroline Chausson, who is still a Commencal Bikes brand ambassador to this day.
Commencal started his own eponymous company in 2000 in Andorra, and the first Commencal bike was the aluminium hardtail, the Supernormal.
Peaty’s
British downhill hero, former World Champion and multi-time World Cup series winner Steve Peat founded Peaty’s Products in 2017.
‘Peaty’ mentored some of the UK’s hottest talent during and after his career, including Brendan Fairclough, former World Champ Josh Bryceland, and now reigning World Champ and World Cup series winner Jackson Goldstone.
Peaty’s make a range of products from cleaners and sealant, to valves, grips and clothing.
