Öhlins marks 50 years since its founding in 2026. Its story began in 1976, when Kenth Öhlin set out to improve motocross suspension in his father’s garage. The idea addressed a practical riding problem: engines had become more powerful, while suspension needed to keep the wheels working over uneven ground. At the EICMA exhibition in Milan, the company is placing that starting point beside later developments, giving visitors a way to follow changes in racing hardware.
The display includes the original shock absorber and newer versions of the TTX twin-tube system. In that design, compression and rebound damping use separate oil-flow paths and can be adjusted independently. This is more than adding another adjuster: the two directions of suspension movement need different control. The exhibition also features a carbon-fibre front fork fitted to a road-legal motorcycle, along with historic bikes associated with enduro and road-racing success.
The company’s work eventually extended beyond motorcycle racing into automotive suspension and high-performance mountain biking. Yet the anniversary display returns to a question any rider can understand: suspension is about more than comfort, because it helps a wheel follow the surface and shapes the feel of the motorcycle. Materials and hydraulic designs have changed over five decades, but the original challenge of controlling a machine over uneven ground remains recognisable.