This Issue we talk to John Firth from O'Neal about a brand steeped in Motocross culture and history and find out how they stay true to their moto roots while embracing the changing world of mountain biking.

This time round we talk to John Firth from O'Neal about a brand steeped in motocross history from sunny California. With a firm grip on both the motocross and mountain bike markets, this is a brand that lives and breathes off-road speed and getting rowdy in the dirt, whether human or horsepower.

With the most successful male downhill racer of all time on the books, and now with Matt 'Loop the Loop' Macduff on board adding to an already impressive list, O'Neal definitely mean business. Keeping an eye on the past, while constantly innovating their products, O'Neal offer a huge range of clothing and protection, having been keeping riders stylish and safe for decades.

Tell us a bit more about O'Neal, we all know of the Motocross background, but where did it all start?

That’s right; our roots are firmly in the MX scene of Southern California in the ‘60s. From the outset, O’Neal were one of the pioneers and innovators of MX clothing. Jim O’Neal was an MX rider during the birth and initial growth of the sport. Jim was driven by a desire to help his fellow riders (and himself) achieve more on bikes with equipment that was designed specifically for their needs.

He officially started the business in 1970, travelling around the race circuits competing, and selling the early products. Jim is in his 60’s now and still rides today. These same ideals inspired O’Neal to enter the mountain bike market in Europe and the USA in the late ‘80s, including the creation of the Azonic components brand, which we still own and develop in-house today.

Obviously, O'Neal is a lot bigger these days. How big is the company now?

We are now present in over seventy countries around the world with headquarters in the USA, Europe and Australia. We employ dozens of people both in the main offices and also out on the road. If you extend this to our distribution partners, then there are hundreds of people involved in the project, the majority of them riding themselves. The European team work very closely with the guys in California on product development and marketing, making sure we keep those SoCal roots alive and stay true to our heritage. 

How important is the Motocross legacy to the development of MTB products? Is there much crossover in technology between the two sports?

Whether it’s bikes, or clothing and protection, there is definitely a massive link between the two. If we look at mountain bike brake and suspension technology, then you could argue that a lot of the ‘new’ technology we’ve seen in recent years in MTB has been available on MX bikes already for some time. On the clothing side, MX is maybe not leading MTB in the same way with less ‘trickle-down’ or crossover technology, but the connection is clear, and we are developing technologies that are then applied to both.

If you take our new IPX® foam, this is available in our MTB and MX protection lines, very different products but the same technology. There remain some products that are used in both, less so for enduro and Trail riders, but riders in some markets still opt for more extensive upper body armour and will use the same jackets as MX riders.

How would you describe the culture behind the O'Neal brand? Is it all freeride and dirt jumps?

Of course downhill, freeride and dirt is where we started, and this is still super important, in the same way staying true to our MX roots is as well. However, we also recognise the growth beyond these disciplines and rather than just jumping into enduro and Trail kit to simply grow our business; it is more that there is a massive crossover between different riding.  We often joke also that retired DH riders then take up enduro, so maybe those DH and Dirt O’Neal customers of the ‘90s are now our enduro customers! At the other end with younger riders, there is perhaps less emphasis on enduro and more on our core business of Dirt and DH.

Thinking of retiring downhillers, I struggle to imagine Greg Minnaar ever throwing in the towel. How important is it to have such a DH legend as part of the team? I imagine the requirements for Minnaar are very different from the average rider?

Greg has been central to O’Neal for both product development and enabling us to take our brand and products to other markets. He’s a legend and is respected by whomever you talk to. He demands the best from his products of course, but it is also important that this knowledge and input filters through to the products riders are buying in the shops and online.

Whatever the level it’s important people have access to the best possible materials, fit and technology. We see privateer racers and individuals not racing at all often being as demanding as the top pros. There is so much choice out there for kit that as a brand we need to be pushing our development to stay ahead of the competition.

How are your products developed? Does it come from demands of the pro riders? Or from technological advancement in materials etc.?

Right from the start product development was a central part of O’Neal’s philosophy. The types of bikes people were riding and where they were riding heavily influenced what products O’Neal made. From the beginning, O’Neal looked to leading manufacturing processes and material technology to assist and protect riders who were seeking to push the boundaries of what could be done on two wheels.

This philosophy is still very much central to O’Neal’s product development today. We now have a genuinely inclusive approach to product development. Lots of the initial ideas, both for new products and developments or improvements of existing products, come from the top riders. We also actively involve our grassroots riders as well and also internal staff, both riders and people that don’t ride but who know the markets inside out.

Sometimes this process can take longer than just dictating what is coming out in any given season, and it can be frustrating. However, we genuinely believe that this is one of the reasons why we have built a successful brand and product range and the process is pretty unique and makes everyone at O’Neal feel part of the brand and able to have their say.

Where are your products tested? I imagine an enormous dirt jump and a bunch of crash test dummies, but I suppose it's more complicated than that?

We do lab testing of course, such as the certification of all of our protection to meet CE standards and helmets for CE and ASTM (and DOT, ACU, ECE, etc. for MX). On top of this, we conduct our own wear and wash testing. Beyond the stuff, we ‘have’ to do it’s important to get products out on riders, ideally early enough in the product development process so we can include the feedback in subsequent prototypes to make sure fit, durability and performance are all optimised with real-world testing as well as in lab condition.

It’s for this reason that we’ve been putting a lot of emphasis on our Grassroots Program over the last two seasons, partly to give us an extensive test team who between them are out there riding 24/7, literally considering all the riders we now have on-board across all of our markets.

Up north in the UK, O'Neal sponsor my local enduro series. How important is it to be involved in grassroots racing?

It’s imperative. For us, it’s probably the most significant investment we’ve made in the last couple of years. It’s important to have top riders like Greg, but investing in the other end is key. Whether we find a future World Champ or not, these riders are the heart of our sport, and if we can support them on their way to podiums or just building the next line in their local woods, then this makes us feel like we’re giving something back to the sport.

We are also running campaigns in several countries to find O’Neal riders and ambassadors for the future. The emphasis here is not just on racing, in fact, riders we chose may never race at all, but are in some way deeply involved in the scene and helping to progress our sport. We also launched our ‘One of Us’ project where we regard our grassroots riders as being as important as the likes of Greg.

For the second year, we ran a Grassroots Day in the UK. Over 50 O’Neal riders turned up to ride with Greg who took the time out two days after winning at Fort William and two days before practice started in Leogang to come and hang out with everyone. It was pretty cool for the guys to have a beer with Greg and have him cooking their burgers having been watching him winning a World Cup race 48 hours before.

O'Neal offer some fantastic value for money kit, is this a conscious effort to keep equipment affordable and accessible?

This is paramount for us. We are constantly trying to make the equipment affordable so that the riders who are introduced to the brand perhaps by one of our Grassroots guys or by watching World Cup riders on Red Bull TV can then feasibly go out and buy the kit themselves.

What are some of the key innovations you have developed in recent years?

O’Neal was the first brand to introduce Fidlock®, the innovative one-click magnetic chin strap fastener, to the MTB market, making it possible to fasten and release the buckle with one hand, even when wearing gloves. On the MX side we just launched Fidlock® on an MX lid for 2017, again a world first in MX.

More recently the O’Neal Zipper Knee Pad was acknowledged as one of the most innovative MTB protectors available on the market with a full-length zip allowing it to be put on and taken off quickly and without removing shoes. It is a very simple concept but one that no one else was doing when we launched.

Our new impact foam, IPX®, launched last year and used in all of our protection, is perhaps the latest innovation in the range. Two years in development, it works as any competitor foam, hardening on impact while staying super supple when riding. We had the products tested independently in Italy at a lab who conduct lots of CE tests for leading brands, and the results showed that IPX® outperformed all the other foams it was pitched against in impact test. Also when out riding, it is noticeable lighter and suppler when in use.

We've seen some glimpses of the new 2017 kit. What's new for the coming year?

Our collaboration with MIPS continues and we will launch the Fury RL MIPS full-face helmet at Eurobike, giving MIPS as an option in a mid-range helmet, retailing for £134.95/ €159.95, again staying true to our philosophy in providing well-priced products with innovative technology.

We will also introduce an enduro helmet with removable chin bar, the Thunderball Pro, retailing at under €100.Helmets continue to be our most important products in both MX and MTB, and we put a lot of investment into their development.

How has the brand adapted to the enduro revolution? We know O'Neal as a DH and freeride company, but it's hard to ignore the growth of the trail and enduro market.

As I’ve mentioned, there is massive crossover with riders doing more than one discipline. Our range now caters for enduro as much as DH, freeride and dirt; with as many open-face helmets as full-face. We are also seeing a trend amongst top racers and in the most progressive markets where DH riders are demanding lighter and closer fitting clothing and protection, almost more ‘enduro’ spec, if you like.  Some riders will of course still opt for the tougher MX-style fabrics for example and hard plastic knee/shin pads, however, the cross-over is increasing, resulting in some products being no longer ‘DH specific’ or ‘enduro specific’.

As well as Minnaar, who else is on the sponsored rider line up for 2017?

Perhaps the most exciting addition to the line-up is Matt Macduff. We watched him ride in the final segment of Scott Secco’s Builder movie two years ago at Sea Otter and fell in love! Matt has a pretty unique style, and it’s hard to pigeonhole him into any one discipline, part Dirt, part Slopestyle, part Street and part, well, Matt! Matt has some crazy projects coming up for 2017 and is currently recovering from a massive crash when attempting a crowd-funded 40ft loop-the-loop world record…if you didn’t see it already check it out! It’s not often you come across a rider who really blows you away these days and does something truly different to other riders.

Beyond that Doerfling has been riding for us for a couple of years now and will be at Rampage again this year so expect some big lines from him again. We also support his Knolly teammates and their Global Grassroots Program in over ten countries with over 100 riders.

Also worth a mention of Benoit Coullanges who we support through the French Dorval AM Nikolai World Cup DH team. Benoit has had some good results so far this season and is possibly the most stylish rider we’ve seen in a long time!

What does the future hold for O'Neal?

We’ll be extending our Grassroots Program and through that trying to give more back to the sport and get everyone involved in developing our product range and therefore ultimately our brand and business.

Thanks John for taking the time to talk to us!

Videos

O'Neal | James Doerfling’s eternal search for the perfect line
O'Neal welcomes Matt MacDuff
Greg Minnaar and the O'Neal Grassroots program
Knolly Bikes & Oneal James Doerfling Edit
By Ewen Turner
Ewen Turner is a self-confessed bike geek from Kendal in the Lake District of England. He runs a coaching and guiding business up there and has a plethora of knowledge about bikes with an analytical approach to testing. His passion for bicycles is infectious, and he’s a ripper on the trails who prefers to fit his working life around his time on the bike.

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