At this point bicycle suspension wouldn't be at the top of my "industries to explore" list. After watching dominate forces like Marzocchi and Manitou get blown up amid mounting debts you have to wonder why anyone would want to throw their hat into the ring.

I suppose success stories like Fox Racing Shox, a profitable company that reported revenue over $100 million last year are enough to get people off the couch and starting their own suspension brands.

OEM manufacturer RST attempted re-entry into the US market a few years ago before those efforts fizzled out. The problem with suspension is that you're building a complex product that's warranty and service-intensive. Lets not even get into the complexity of distributing, marketing and ultimately selling something as complex as a hydraulic pump (which is basically all a fork or rear shock is).

This brings us to X Fusion. Don't let the cheesy name fool you. The company was founded a few years ago by a group of industry veterans. Unlike a bunch of other fork companies X Fusion is keeping their service and marketing staff here in the states, California to be exact. This means better customer service and a much better connection with riders.

Word has been going around for a while that their Vengeance fork was really something special. Until recently it's been just that, rumor. But today NSMB just posted up a big first look at the fork and from what we can tell it's everything it's cracked up to be.

Only time will tell if X Fusion can keep this momentum going. I hope they do, nothing benefits riders more than a little competition between manufacturers. Check out the whole review on NSMB by clicking here.