Coleman Buckley’s Reflection of Innovation
This morning during my usual coffee/news/facebook routine “facebook memories” showed me a post from 7 years ago showing the first ride engine harness I ever made for someone other than myself. That day feels like a lifetime ago, but I also remember it clearly. The harness was for my favorite strapless rider and I was nervous about how it would be received by him. Via text we agreed to carpool to the beach and I remember sitting on my front steps anxiously checking the quality of each uneven hand-sewn seam. I heard the bass of a large subwoofer before I saw the car and tried to act casual.
Tossing my gear into the back of the truck I hopped into the back seat, the air of the cab hazy with marijuana smoke. We drove north and I tried to start a conversation about the nuances of the hard shell design which elicited a polite mumble of a reply and a clockwise turn of the volume knob so I shut up.
Eventually we got on the water and I witnessed the best strapless kiting performance I had ever seen in person. He was the kind of athlete that probably could have ridden like that with a trash bag tied to a piece of twine instead of a kite, but all the same it did seem like he was moving with more ease and freedom than I had ever seen before. When we were done riding I tried as off-handedly as I could to ask what he thought about the harness to which he replied “f***, that thing is sick bro”. Those monosyllabic words of praise helped give me courage to keep avoiding a steady job that would keep me away from my garage laboratory.
Today, just 7 years later, every major brand in the industry has adopted the design. I’m stoked how far Ride Engine has come (and totally tripped out by it too). Looking at what’s in our R&D pipeline now, I think I’ll be able to say something similar to this in another 7 years.
–-Coleman Buckley, Founder of Ride Engine
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