What makes BOS Suspension so good?

With all the news lately: Suspension Werx picking up BOS Suspension, the Hutchison UR team switching to BOS, bikes like the YT Capra and Orbea Rallon getting a lot of positive press, much of it centered around suspension performance, I've been getting more and more curious about BOS. The internet consensus seems to be that it is the ultimate in suspension products for MTB.

I'm genuinely curious though, can anyone give an honest explanation as to why BOS is regarded so highly? What makes a Deville better than forks with comparably adjustable dampers, say a Fox 36 RC2, Lyrik RC2DH or a 55 RC3 EVO Ti? Or even a Fox 34 CTD or Pike RCT3, even though they have more limited damping adjustments…?

At the end of the day it's oil moving through damping circuits to control how a spring compresses or rebounds, right? So what is is about BOS that makes them so special?

I'm genuinely curious though, can anyone give an honest explanation as to why BOS is regarded so highly?

i'm going to go out on a limb and suggest its because its new, and shiny, and I HAVE TO HAVE IT NOW FIRST OMG!!!!111!

ahem,

At the end of the day it's oil moving through damping circuits to control how a spring compresses or rebounds, right?

this

I think there's something to what boom said. Often when something new that is not readily available at many stores and has decent reviews becomes the chachkee that we wanna have.

Hard to get, expensive, euro boutique brand. It ticks off all the boxes for gear nerd fapping.

maybe the question is, coilair: what makes you THINK bos suspension is so good

(hint: it's marketing)

i'm going to go out on a limb and suggest its because its new, and shiny, and I HAVE TO HAVE IT NOW FIRST OMG!!!!111!

ahem,

this

if winning world championships since 1994 is new, then I guess you have a point. bos is great because it wins and is not full of gimmicky marketing crap.

http://m.pinkbike.com/news/Bos-Suspension-A-History-of-Victory.html

Don't know what makes BOS suspension technically better, I just know it works damn good. Only other suspension product I have used that is in the same ballpark is Cane Creek (Air).

if winning world championships since 1994 is new, then I guess you have a point. bos is great because it wins and is not full of gimmicky marketing crap.

http://m.pinkbike.com/news/Bos-Suspension-A-History-of-Victory.html

If anyone wants to save some money on buying BOS technology, I've got a Sunn / Obsyss 55 fork with leaky seals that I would let go for $500 :D

Joking aside, it looks way better than anything else that was around at the time. I'm not surprised that BOS make competitive products when the competition's offerings these days are generally pretty uninspiring, expensive and badly assembled. Ooooh gold stanchions…..Aaaahh Black Box etc…..

(hint: it's marketing)

do people honestly think it's the bike that wins a race?

maybe the question is, coilair: what makes you THINK bos suspension is so good

(hint: it's marketing)

Maybe the thread title should be why do other people think BOS is so good? It's one thing to have a slick advertising campaign (marketing), but it's another thing entirely to have reputable industry journalists claiming it's the best suspension available (a different type of marketing).

I haven't seen a single print or web ad for BOS. Just a lot of column inches from journalists, and threads from gear nerds, exclaiming how good they are. That's what makes me so curious. What exactly makes them so good? French magic? The rare and stupid expensive element?

I know articles in magazines or online are just a different form of marketing, but it's not the same as slick print or web adverts like Fox or Rock Shox has. Seriously, this print ad from Fox makes me want to go buy some Fox stuff, even though I've had some less than positive experiences with them. Now that's effective marketing!

I'm genuinely curious though, can anyone give an honest explanation as to why BOS is regarded so highly? What makes a Deville better than forks with comparably adjustable dampers, say a Fox 36 RC2, Lyrik RC2DH or a 55 RC3 EVO Ti? Or even a Fox 34 CTD or Pike RCT3, even though they have more limited damping adjustments…?

At the end of the day it's oil moving through damping circuits to control how a spring compresses or rebounds, right? So what is is about BOS that makes them so special?

In my experience, nothing makes them better, I don't genuinely believe they are.

I've used 2 different sets of Deville's in the past and whilst they feel different to other forks, that's never actually translated to 'better' or 'faster' against the clock.

What you seem to get (in the UK) is fat, middle aged IT managers who want to do a lot of purchase justification, who tend to wobble round trail centre's once a week on a very expensive carbon bike telling everyone in a very loud voice how much their bike cost [HTML_REMOVED] how much better the BOS suspension is from the 'Fox crap' they ran before.

In reality, various fast guys have run all the other main brands, and switched to BOS, or from BOS to other brands - have you seen anyone speed up or slow down? In reality, bar maybe one to two freak results (Remi Thirion) we haven't.

There is also the frankly amazing lack of customer service they offer. In the UK they have been through 4 distributors in the last 5 years, all of whom have told BOS take a long walk off a short cliff, due t a complete lack of support, no parts availability, massive lead times etc.

There are people who have waited MONTHS to get even basic parts, like seal kits etc. As as result, people are trying Fox seals in them, resizing RS bushes to bodge to fit, etc etc.

They are a real life customer service car crash. As you can probably gather, i've been on the receiving end of their legendary customer service, on more than one occasion. Now I run parts on my bike I can actually get fixed, easily.

Maybe the thread title should be why do other people think BOS is so good? It's one thing to have a slick advertising campaign (marketing), but it's another thing entirely to have reputable industry journalists claiming it's the best suspension available (a different type of marketing).

I haven't seen a single print or web ad for BOS. Just a lot of column inches from journalists, and threads from gear nerds, exclaiming how good they are. That's what makes me so curious. What exactly makes them so good? French magic? The rare and stupid expensive element?

it's called earned advertising

A Nielsen study in 2013 found that earned media (also described in the report as word-of-mouth) is the most trusted source of information in all countries it surveyed worldwide. It also found that earned media is the channel most likely to stimulate the consumer to action.

What you seem to get (in the UK) is fat, middle aged IT managers who want to do a lot of purchase justification, who tend to wobble round trail centre's once a week on a very expensive carbon bike telling everyone in a very loud voice how much their bike cost [HTML_REMOVED] how much better the BOS suspension is from the 'Fox crap' they ran before.

[HTML_REMOVED]- This!

That being said a riding mate of mine has run BOS, new Pikes, and the top of the range Fox stuff. The impression I get from him is that the Pikes are the best he's run, followed by the Bos then the Fox.

But I also get the impression there is f*** all in it.

The one that probably should be stated that getting spares for BOS can be a nightmare and their quality is "patchy". BOS have had 3 distros in UK in as many years.

Not sure I'd buy a set if I had that much cash kicking about.

What you seem to get (in the UK) is fat, middle aged IT managers who want to do a lot of purchase justification, who tend to wobble round trail centre's once a week on a very expensive carbon bike telling everyone in a very loud voice how much their bike cost [HTML_REMOVED] how much better the BOS suspension is from the 'Fox crap' they ran before.

I've ridden loads of DH venues, trail centres, valleys, glens, and moors and I've never - not even a single time - met anyone who fits your description in the UK or anywhere else.