Renthal

History

Renthal was formed in 1969 by friends and motorcycle enthusiasts Andrew Renshaw and Henry Rosenthal, who are today the company's Technical and Commercial Director respectively. The company name is a portmanteau of the founders' names Renshaw and Rosenthal. The first handlebars were based upon a prototype that Rosenthal made for his trials bike from H14 aircraft aluminium that was World War II surplus material. The two founders made a tube bending machine to handle the aluminium and started small-scale production.

Making motorcycle handlebars was initially a part-time job while Andrew studied for a degree in mechanical engineering and Henry finished his business studies at a local university. Initially Renthal only produced handlebars for the trials market, but the two soon realized there was much more demand for this type of product in the motocross market. Full-time production began in 1975 in Stockport England, the very same place where the company resides today in northern England.

In 1990, Renthal opened its first US office and warehouse for sales/marketing with the help of a young American entrepreneur by the name of Jim Hale.

In October 2000, the Renthal factory in Stockport England was destroyed in a fire caused by a faulty aluminium particle extractor, which removes particles from the air during the machining process. A spark within this machine had caused it to catch fire and act as giant blowtorch straight through the roof of the factory. Before the machine could be shut down, the factory was destroyed. Plans were made to rebuilding the facility in the same location.

Renthal's 41,000 square feet (3,800 m²) factory houses machinery for manufacturing, quality control, R&D, and storage. This includes five Yamazaki two- and three-axis CNC turning centres, seven Kitamura machining centres, and one Kardex Shuttle 500NT automated vertical storage system. Custom specification machines include bar bending machines, a fatigue tester and drop test rig created to fatigue aluminium handlebars.

In 2004, Renthal began supplying the first aluminium 7/8" handlebars to be fitted as OEM equipment on a Japanese manufactured off-road motorcycle. For the 2004 model year, every Honda CR and CRF motocross bike came with the Renthal 971 "RC" bend handlebar. Soon after this, many of the other manufactures followed suit and began fitting Renthal handlebars as stock on their off-road models.

Products

Renthal also produces chains, sprockets and grips. The Intellilever unbreakable clutch and brake levers for motocross bikes along with brake pads were added in 2008. Also new is a hybrid bi-metal rear sprocket called the Twinring Rear Chainwheel which utilizes an aluminium centre section mated with a steel outer ring. By combining these two materials, the chainwheel is lighter than an all-steel construction but is more durable than the traditional all aluminium rear sprocket.

In 2009, Renthal introduced new products for the road racing market such as adjustable clip on handlebars and Kevlar-infused dual compound road race grips. The road race Kevlar grips use a mold from the MX grips in that they have open ends for bar end weights and a smaller inner flange.

OEM involvement

Renthal has always had ties with the manufacturers of motocross motorcycles and ATV's such as Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Suzuki, and KTM. In 2004, Honda became the first manufacturer to fit Renthal 7/8" aluminium handlebars to their motocross bikes. This was also the first time that aluminium 7/8" handlebars had been fitted to a motocross bike which typically came with very cheap to produce steel handlebars.

In 2005, Yamaha followed suit and decided to also fit Renthal 7/8" handlebars to their motocross model range of YZ, YZ-F and WR off-road models for only that year. By 2006, every manufacturer had chosen Renthal handlebars (except Yamaha which switched to Protaper) over the steel handlebar which they replaced. Kawasaki's line up of motocross bikes from 2006 include a Renthal 7/8" handlebar. Since 2006 Suzuki have been fitting their motocross models with a Renthal 1 1/8" Fatbar which is an oversized tapered handlebar. The Austrian manufacturer KTM has been using the oversized Renthal Fatbar on their motocross bikes since 2002. For 2008, Kawasaki has chosen to fit the Renthal Fatbar on every one of its new KFX450R all-terrain vehicles.

In addition to supplying the OEM's with alloy handlebars for many years, Renthal also supplies manufacturers with its grips and chainwheels.

Andrew Renshaw

Andrew Renshaw died October 27, 2013.