After selling Auburn Cycles to GT Bicycles in 1988 and the sport of freestyle BMX in steep decline, I put on the last AFA Freestyle Masters event that year. “Street” riding and events were taking over and the bike companies were coming out with new bikes that had “bash guards” (front sprocket protectors) built into the frames. I thought that adding a bash guard to the BMX bike you already had made a lot more sense than buying a whole new bicycle just to protect your sprocket, so I designed a “bolt-on” bash guard I named the “Thrashguard” and started a new brand called “KORE Products” to sell this new product under. My friend Chris Moeller got his S&M bikes team rider Dave Clymer to use one on his bike and I lined up GT Bicycles distribution Co. Riteway to distribute them. The product was featured in BMX plus! As well as tons of pictures of Clymer in the magazines with a Thrashguard on his bike. I filed and was awarded a US Utility Patent for this idea And sold thousands of them over the next three years until GT Bicycles decided to make a copy of it and sell it on their bikes and also through Riteway distributing.
TRASHGUARD.
Bob Morales, founder of Dyno Products and AuburnCycles, creates the Thrashguard (sprocket protector) under the Kore Products name. Thus, the KORE brand was created and the current logo was designed.
Bob Morales: While working with some of the BMX riders I knew through my AFA Contests, I recognized there was a need for a product that did not yet exist.
Keith Mulligan, bmx.transworld.net, 2008: These were all the rage in the early 90s. My friend Timmy Strelecki and I ordered these from S&M and I remember being so excited when they finally arrived at his house. As you can imagine it weighs a ton and while it protected my sprocket I still broke chains left and right with it on my bike. Needless to say, it didn’t stay on my bike for long. I think it’s funny I put the “Built Street Tough” and “If It’s Hard Grind It” Vision stickers on it.
Bob Morales, facebook.com, 01/2022: 1995. KORE is gaining momentum and GT Bicycles and Riteway Distributing were the dominant players in bicycle industry. GT had the #1 MTB race team, was the top selling mountain bike and Riteway was the largest bicycle parts distributor in the US. I really wanted KORE to work with GT & Riteway despite the fact that they nearly put Kore out of business a few years earlier when they copied my Thrashguard. I was awarded a utility patent for the Thrashguard. Utility patents are different from design patents. You can’t just change something 10% to get around a utility patent. I knew I had a solid case against GT with my patent. By this time I had a long history with GT Bicycles and I knew Richard Long the President and Co-Founder very well. I decided not to hire an attorney and called Richard and asked him to meet with me. I showed him my patent and he told me he would have GT’s attorneys look at it and get back to me. A week later we met and Richard told me that my patent was solid and to let him know what I wanted for the damages. I knew Richard well enough that he would be a tough negotiator. Instead of a large cash settlement, I asked for something much more valuable to both of us.
Here was my offer:
1) $30K cash settlement.
2) Riteway becomes an exclusive distributor for KORE and place a $100K order. (Earning their $30K back in profits from sales)
3) GT spec’s Kore Products on all their MTB bikes
4) Kore becomes a sponsor and supplier to the GT MTB race team at no charge.
5) KORE co-ops with GT to get huge discounts on all KORE magazine ad buys.
This was a win/win as the cash settlement was earned back to GT after they sold through the first $100K in KORE parts. Riteway gets to sell KORE parts and make a profit doing so, adding KORE as a sponsor to Team GT costs them nothing and adding us to their media purchasing gave them more buying power and KORE huge discounts. Richard accepted my proposal and agreed this was a great deal for both KORE and GT. And it was! KORE became the top selling line of MTB components within two years by joining forces with the largest player in the bike industry at that time.
Removable 2" ring allows pegs to fit all frames and forks.
FLATLAND FORKS.
Phil Dolan 1996
Chase Gouin 1996