Bilstein to begin making motorcycle suspension

BILSTEIN may be a well-known name in the world of car suspension but their exploits in the world of two-wheels are less well known.

Having made shocks and forks for bikes back in the 70s and 80s, since then the firm has focussed on four wheels, until now.

The company has just announced it is to begin producing suspension systems for high-performance motorcycles, starting with the 2019 BMW S1000 RR sports bike.

With three big players in the motorcycle industry currently, Öhlins, Showa and WP, the thought of a new, highly experienced manufacturer joining the fray is an exciting prospect. Even if to begin with they simply dabble in the aftermarket realm and not full OEM parts. While there is no official word on which brand will take on their kit as OEM, it seems likely, given they have built it already, that BMW may be eyeing up the brand to supply their own bikes.

The forks and rear shock are reported to have been in development for around five years, time enough you’d expect to put in some serious development miles on road and track. The new products are said to be landing later this year although there is no official release date on the firm’s site. Pricing for the new parts is also TBC although we’d imagine they’d have to be pretty competitively appraised in order to drag punters away from the tried and tested brands mentioned above.

Bilstein first began making suspension systems back in the 1920s, going on to forge a path in the burgeoning post-war automotive parts sector. Since then, Bilstein kit has been OEM on Porsche, Lamborghini, BMW, Ford, Jaguar, Lotus, and Mercedes.