STEVE

About  Öhlins

Öhlins was founded in 1976 as a company and it was in Sollentuna outside Stockholm on Hovslagargatan 5. The first name of the company was Öhlins Racing AB when it was founded as a separate company. The location was 50 sqm big and there were only 2 people at the very first start. From the beginning it was a workshop primarily for tuning engines to bikes and modifiy and manufacture exhaust pipes as well as some other tuning. This was in 1975 and they sold in Sweden but also to riders in GP. One of the first big project was the development of OEM shock absorbers to Husqvarna in 1978, that was a big project.

Some words from Sveden. Kenth  Öhlin for Steve.

"One of my biggest strengths as a driver was probably my technical knowledge, I always had my bikes, the parts and everything around in perfect order. That was one of my big strengths." 

“The first riders to use Öhlins products in the World championship were Thorleif Hansen and Håkan Andersson and the first Öhlins suspension was 12 mm piston rod, shock absorber with remote type reservoir tube and gas piston. De Carbone type shock absorber. It had a dual spring concept. It was a pressurized shock absorber for racing use. This was in 1976. We were in Sollentuna where we started and then Upplands Väsby where we still are based, both just north of Stockholm.”

“The big change was in 1987 with Yamaha that it gave us some more muscles and more financial security. Yamaha always gave us a lot of free hands so we still acted very much like an independent company, but we had a security in Yamaha and a very good partnership with them. In 2007 I bought back Öhlins from Yamaha and today we are independent again but we still have a very good relationship with Yamaha.”

“Today we employ over 240 people and we still have our production in Upplands Väsby outside Stockholm but we also have a business in Jönköping in Sweden where we develop our CES valves for the automotive industry. We have subsidiaries or Öhlins companies in Germany and USA and today Öhlins is still very much active in racing but also a big after market company and a big OEM supplier. We are working in many areas both with bikes and automotive, racing, aftermarket and OEM. 
We are about 175 employees in Sweden and overall in the company we are over 240 people employed in the whole company. We have distributors in over 52 countries all over the world and under them they have dealer networks in their countries.”

“It’s really difficult to pick one name of all the good riders that have tested for us. But of course there are some names that I come to think about.
Roger de Coster were involved in all the testing of the single shock absorber and the development of the linkage system. Roger always gave very good feedback as well as being a great rider and he also helped us move forward a lot with the development. I also has to mention Håkan Carlqvist who worked with us so many years, who became world champion, first on Husqvarna in 250CC and later with Yamaha in 500CC, and together with Yamaha all the years he drove for them he was involved in a lot of the development.
I can mention many many  more over these 35 years  if not more than that but those two are two riders I personally worked a lot with. But we have been blessed at Öhlins to work with some of the best riders and drivers you can work with. When we went into road racing Eddie Lawson tested a lot with us and of course in later years Valentino Rossi so we have had a lot of good riders and it would not be fair to just name a few of them.”