Brembo and Öhlins are, by far and away, the it-girls of special parts you want to see on your bike. Unfortunately, they don't always come in pairs—just check out the KYB front forks on Yamaha's MT-09 SP and the Showa suspension on my Street Triple. But that might be about to change.
Brembo just signed an agreement with Tenneco, a portfolio company of funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, Inc., for the acquisition of a 100% stake in Öhlins Racing, making it the largest acquisition in the brand's history.
Cool story, but it doesn't make a difference to riders in the real world, does it?
Wrong, it does.
How your brakes and suspension components work together is extremely important when it comes to how composed your bike will stay under any level of braking force. So, if we have the R&D teams of these two titans working hand in hand and in the same factory, just imagine the progress they could make versus working separately.
We at RideApart sent some questions to a spokesperson for Brembo.
When asked about how the collaborative development between the two brands would be moving forward, the spokesperson said, "At the moment, we cannot provide specific details, but we expect synergies in terms of R&D."
The spokesperson continued, "We see interesting opportunities that fit into the current context of high technological innovation in the automotive sector, particularly in the integration of the main vehicle corner technologies such as the braking system and suspensions... We want to promote integration between key technologies for the vehicle’s corner, such as the braking system and suspensions, to develop increasingly connected solutions."
In theory, there should also be some savings passed on to the consumer if Brembo and Öhlins can find a way to streamline the assembly of braking and suspension systems.
We questioned Brembo regarding whether there would be benefits passed on to OEMs to use Brembo and Öhlins as a package versus Brembo and KYB, for example. Brembo's spokesperson responded, "Brembo and Ohlins share a solution-oriented strategy and will evaluate how our products can best serve our customers’ needs as the partnership develops."
So, in the same way that MotoGP riders who wear Dainese suits also wear AGV helmets because AGV is owned by Dainese, we might start to see more bikes that use Brembo brakes also use Öhlins suspension. How this would affect other brake and suspension manufacturers remains to be seen.
Do you think Brembo acquiring Öhlins will end up being beneficial to consumers? Let us know in the comments.
