Iceland review - 2015, Page 11

ICELAND REVIEW 9
SMOOTH CYCLING
Inventor Benedikt Skúlason tells Elliott Brandsma about his bold new approach
to bicycle front suspension,
the Lauf Fork. PHOTO BY PÁLL STEFÁNSSON.
H o m e
to vast, rugged
landscapes and miles
of breathtaking scenery,
Iceland is a mountain-biker’s
paradise, drawing in thousands
of nature buffs and, increasingly,
cycling enthusiasts from around the
world every year. One Icelandic inven-
tor’s lifelong passion for biking through
the Icelandic wilderness prompted him to
design the Lauf Fork—a more responsive
front suspension fork that increases agility and
better cushions cyclists fro
m rough terrain.
“The Lauf Fork is far lighter than any other
suspension solution out there, weighing one
kilogram (2.2 lbs) instead of the average 1.5,”
explains Benedikt Skúlason, who worked for a
long time as a prosthetics engineer at Össur.
“It also offers unmatched responsiveness and
energy efficiency, since it generates almost
no friction.”
Inspired by his years of research and
development work in prosthetics, where
he was constantly surrounded by cut-
ting-edge composite materials and
prosthetics technology, Benedikt
combined this experience and
materials to rethink and
reinvent traditional
modes of
bicy-
cle front sus-
pension. The Lauf
Fork is the product of
these endeavors, and it now
comes in several different mod-
els, including the Trail Racer for
smoother terrain and the Carbonara
for more extreme cycling conditions.
At first a
n obscure product with a lim-
ited market, the Lauf Fork’s popularity has
exploded rapidly. It is n
ow being sold in over
30 countries. “It’s distributed in pretty much
every major market now, and it’s catching on
fast!” Benedikt says. The distribution company
Lauf Forks Ltd. recently announced a capital
increase of ISK 100 million (USD 775,000) as
well.
The Lauf Fork, an example of successful
Icelandic innovation, has also garnered a large
Instagram fan club and has produced remark-
able results for its users in every corner of
the world. Benedikt reports with pride:
“We’re winning races across the globe
pretty much every day by now… In an
amazingly short time the Lauf Fork
has become a product that high-
end bike manufacturers sell
on their bikes as standard
equipment.” *