HEADSETS
I spent much of my early career in the bicycle industry completely redeveloping Cane Creek's core product: headsets. In the early 1990's, Cane Creek became the patent holder for the Threadless Headset. A novel idea at the time, by the early 2000's the threadless headset was the standard in the industry for all types of bicycles. When I arrived at Cane Creek in 2007, the headset patent was a huge part of the business, but the patent was nearing its expiration and the product line, while a bike-shop staple, did not convey "market leader".
After redesigning some existing headsets and building my experience, I set about redesigning everything from the ground up. It seems crazy now, but at the time, each headset fitment was a different model, with different features and often vastly different pricing. It would be the equivalent of different jeans sizes coming different styles. Need a medium? Acid-wash boot-cut. Large? Overalls. Small? Jorts only. Not only was this confusing for the consumer, but it make it difficult to keep replacement parts in-stock. Moreover, it made sales difficult and frustrating.
In 2009, I designed a modular headset system that I then broke into three distinct product-lines. The 40-Series was the middle-level and had everything you needed without frills. The 10-Series was the budget-option, similar to the 40-Series but with less expensive materials and lacking seals. The 110-Series was the luxury option with no-expense spared in terms of materials, sealing, or finish quality. Each product line had models to fit every combination of frame and fork. It seems simple now, but at the time it was a revolution. The headset purchase decision now became as simple as good, better, best.
Along with the new headset product line came an even more impactful headset naming system. Known as the Standardized Headset Identification System, or SHIS, this naming convention has been widely adopted around the world by manufacturers of headsets, frames, and forks to make fitment and purchasing decisions simple and based on real measurements rather than marketing trademarks. To date, the SHIS is probably one of my more far-reaching ideas.