Jose Gonzalez has been involved with mountain bikes and mountain bike suspension almost as long as the products have existed. Coming from an extensive motocross background with Kawasaki, Jose found a love for mountain biking and suspension development in the early years of Manitou. He and his team developed some of the most important suspension products of the era, which helped turned mountain biking and world-class MTB competition into a true performance sport. Since 2006, Jose has worked with Trek Bicycles as Director of Suspension Development at his small-but-efficient laboratory in Valencia, California. There and his team work with the Trek bike designers in Waterloo, Wisconsin, to engineer high-performing full-suspension mountain bikes like the Remedy and the Slash.

Jose has a knowledge of suspension and passion for mountain biking that runs deep. We discuss past product development, working with riders like John Tomac, and the future of mountain biking with topics like 29-inch wheels in downhill applications. Get ready to geek out with one of the innovators of our sport.