DURANGO, Colo. (BRAIN) — Greg Herbold is retiring from work with SRAM and RockShox after 25 years with the brands as a racer, product developer and ambassador.
Herbold first became affiliated with SRAM when he was signed to race and endorse the company's first and only product — Grip Shift. His connection to RockShox goes back to 1988 and the RS-1.
"HB has been a part of the SRAM family since 1990, and it has been absolute joy working with him from day one," said SRAM executive VP Mike Mercuri. "Greg's contribution to SRAM's success goes way beyond using and endorsing our products as a professional athlete. He's made vital contributions to our product development over the last 25 years. His technical intuition and ability to communicate, educate and make it fun is his greatest legacy."
Herbold, 53, told BRAIN on Tuesday that his enthusiasm has lagged a bit recently.
“The spark just wasn’t there, to be honest. And I decided if I couldn’t be into it 100 percent it would be better to step back.”
He said product testing these days requires a commitment to fairly dangerous riding and that a few nagging health issues made that more difficult.
“I’ve been burning it at both ends for a long time and it starts to wear you down. It’s tough riding in pain, and the speed of modern riding on modern bikes is fairly dangerous.”
Herbold said he had no plans to re-enter the bike industry, although he continues to have relationships with several brands, including Oakley, Troy Lee designs, Continental and CamelBak.
“I’m still a fan of the sport and most of my friends come from the sport, and I plan to keep my friends. So I’ll still be around. And SRAM wants me to keep using their stuff, so I’ll still be getting some free bike parts to test and tinker around with, which is what I really like to do.”
Herbold said his first plan is to spend some time cleaning up at the ranch he owns near Durango.
“When you have some acreage and some outbuildings you tend to collect a lot of stuff. I have 40 Miyatas I need to donate or give away. It’s going to take some time just to clean up my messes.”
SRAM noted that Herbold contributed to a wide array of products during his time with the company, providing direction on all RockShox spring and damping curves as well as chassis stiffness.
“He helped engineers understand the boundaries of geometry, in terms of handling, when the travel-adjustable products—U-turn, Air U-turn, Dual Position Air and Coil—were being developed. He prototyped the first remote for the SID fork using mostly RC car parts, and led the development of the Power Bulge when he experimented with hose clamps on fork legs to improve ride consistency. He also was involved with brakes and drivetrain development,” the company said.
"I was super fortunate to have parallel relationships during my racing career with both SRAM and RockShox," said Herbold. "When they combined forces, I was truly at home. The innovative process is pretty entertaining and, hopefully, my enthusiasm and forward thinking helped to create shred-able product that riders enjoyed. We had our perfect dives, and some belly flops, but the drive to innovate always kept everything super exciting. It still is.
"Being a part of the SRAM family for the last 25-plus has been a wild ride to say the least. To think they approached me with one product — Grip Shift — to where the company is now, is a bit mind blowing. I feel super lucky that they took a chance on sponsoring me. The chance I took on them being successful is probably the highlight of my career in this industry."
