Syncros rides again?
Marshall Cant leaves Rocky

Marshall Cant worked for Rocky Mountain Bicycles for 10 years. His saga in the bike world began when he gave up his job as a surveying engineer to go back to school. While commuting to university Marshall rediscovered a love of bikes that had begun when he was a wee lad, tearing apart bikes with pliers, a crescent wrench and a hammer to figure out how they worked. He bought a Rocky Mountain Edge to get him to classes, a very early suspension bike, and managed to destroy it in a week. Marshall got in touch with Grayson Bain (who founded RMB in 1981) and told him what was wrong with the bike.


Marshall Cant at his desk at Rocky Mountain Bicycles
After he had figured out what needed to be done Cant made some changes to the bike in his garage. Bain was so impressed he offered Marshall a job. Determined to pursue his PhD, he accepted a part-time position for the summer only but the summer stretched to 10 years.

While designing the entire full suspension Rocky line-up, Marshall came to wear the hat of both product manager and research and development boss. By the time he left Rocky there were two engineers under him and rumour had it the search was on for a third, while many local manufacturers don't employ a single engineering grad.

Unlike Kona, brodie, Banshee, .243 and Norco, Rocky Mountain still makes their frames right here in Canada. "I feel very fortunate to have been involved with Rocky Mountain" said Cant, "but this is an exciting opportunity."

This is where Syncros enters the picture. The company originally founded by Peter Hamilton and Banshee's big Cheese, Pippin Osborne, began in Vancouver and became known for making burly, light, user friendly components. If you were riding the Shore in the 80s chances are your cockpit was mainly Syncros. The company eventually began making hubs, straight blade rigid forks (these had some issues) as well as rims and cranks.

When things began to unravel at Syncros the Vancouver factory closed its doors and the name was sold to GT. Peter Hamilton was hired to get things going under the new ownership and Pippin went to Maui with his windsurfer. GT put out the occasional ad to keep the brand alive but nothing seemed to hit the market.

When Pacific Cycle bought GT, Syncros was part of the deal but, aside from paying for the server costs for the Web site, (check it out fast - it may be gone any day) nothing was happening with the brand.

Syncros - a name that still has some balls
Enter Tom Ritchey. The fillet brazing artist turned tire and component tycoon knew a good thing when he saw it and he entered negotiations with Pacific for the rights to the Syncros name. Clearly Ritchey has the manufacturing experience to make a top-notch line of freeride and downhill components - his company currently makes huge line of products including a 20mm hub and riser bars. What is also clear is that the Ritchey name conjures visions of XC and road gear light enough to decorate your tree at Christmas.

This incarnation of Syncros will be a truly international venture; product development will be based in Vancouver under Señor Cant, the marketing chief is based in Switzerland, production will happen in Asia (likely all in Taiwan) and John Solinsky, who will act as general manager, will reside in California.

The Syncros name still echoes some Canadian badass attitude and, along with his design experience, Marshall Cant brings his knowledge of what freeriders do to components and a vision for where the niche is going. Time will tell if this is a winning match but my guess is that we will see some tasty dishes coming out of Marshall's R & D kitchen.

Cam McRae