BMXmuseum.com Bikes / Pichforks by S&M

The first S&M forks were made by Cook Brothers racing in 1988 right here in Santa Ana. Early S&M forks featured a BMX first, double thick drop-outs (two thin drops welded together on each leg). In the style of the time they also had legs that extended well below the axles. In the next few years we switched fork manufactures from Cook Bros to CW and then to GT and after 3 years of bending 1 1/8" legged forks with welded on rings to hold the crown race we decided to look elsewhere for forks. During this time we even got a call from the owner of GT Bicycles irate we were talking trash about the forks GT was manufacturing. Even after explaining the problem with all the current designs, and descibing the increased demands street and trails would be putting on forks, GT did nothing for years. Needles to say we left GT behind and the Pitchfork was soon born to keep pace with the rapidly changing face of 20" riding.

The original 1" threaded Pitchfork came out in 1991 and was manufactured by SE Racing in Long Beach, CA. At that time the Pitchfork was the only fork available with 1 1/4" legs, a sleeved steerer tube (instead if the welded ring) and 1/4" thick drops. Pitchforks only came in chrome until 1993. The first Pitchfork graphic with the red and black hand drawn pitch fork was done by Jeff Tremaine, who went on to edit Big Brother skate magazine and help develop and produce JackAss. Thru the years, Pitchforks have constantly evolved and been improved (flame cut drops, threadless steerers, wrap under drops, welded in headset sleeves, one-piece steerer tubes, laser cut drops, butted LT legs, etc) but one thing has remained the same: top riders trust Pitchforks enough to run them in spite of their sponsors wishes. Flip open any BMX magazine printed after 1991 and you'll see pro riders from numerous other bike co. teams proudly displaying Pitchfork stickers. We stopped using Jeff's graphic sometime around 2000 and haven't heard from him since. He's probably got better stuff to do now like be rich and hang out with famous people...whatever. At least we have good forks now, and GT went into bankruptcy.