Cane Creek Wants Your Wildest Ideas, and You Should Absolutely Send Them

I'll admit I've had numerous wild product ideas rattling around my brain over the years. Most of which never make it outside of my skull. But imagine if one of the most respected cycling component brands suddenly opened its doors and asked, 'Tell us what you want us to build.'

That's exactly what Cane Creek has done. Tucked into their Connect menu, between the suspension fitment form and their community content page is a Product Ideas & Requests submission form that is as simple as it sounds. The description says it plainly: your feedback shapes the future of Cane Creek. New products, fitments, sizes, features - they want it all. And their team reviews every single submission as they plan upcoming designs.

Now, before you shrug and say "yeah, every brand does this," I want to pump the brakes, because not every brand does this. Not like this. Cane Creek has been making headsets, shocks, cranks, bottom brackets, and some of the most niche yet brilliant components on the market since 1994. Hey, Thudbuster. They're the ones who built the eeWings cranks, a titanium masterpiece that costs more than some people's bikes and is worth every single penny (to those that own them).

Think about it this way: if you've ever been mid-ride, bouncing over chunk, and thought "why doesn't anybody make a headset that does X" - that thought deserves to be somewhere other than your own head, probably. If you've got a gravel bike that takes an oddball bottom bracket standard that no quality aftermarket option supports, tell them. If you've been building up a weird project bike and can't find a shock that fits your frame's obscure eye-to-eye measurement, submit it. If you want a version of the eeSilk+ seatpost that also functions as a dropper, this is your moment.

And if you just want to suggest something absolutely unhinged, go for it. The worst they can say is no. The best they can say is "actually, we've been thinking about that for a few years."

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As someone who has been in the industry long enough to know how product development usually works, which is to say, slowly, conservatively, and almost entirely driven by OEM contracts and market data spreadsheets, seeing a brand actively solicit ideas from the community is pretty unique. It's the kind of thing that can only come from a company that genuinely believes the people riding their products have something worth saying. And boy oh boy, mountain bikers usually have A LOT to say.

Cane Creek has been doing business out of Fletcher, North Carolina, for three decades. They make things in the US. They answer the phone. They run a literal Experience Center where you can come tour the factory and see how the sausage gets made. The culture there is different, and this form is evidence of that.

Submit Your Wacky Ideas

So here's what they want from you: go to canecreek.com/pages/product-ideas, fill it out, and be specific. Don't just say "better shocks." Tell them what bike you ride, what you're trying to solve, what size you need, what material you'd prefer, and how much you'd genuinely pay for it. That last part matters more than most people realize. A well-reasoned, specific idea from a rider who clearly knows what they're talking about will go a lot further than a one-liner from someone who wants a wireless electronic brakeset that pairs with their power meter and HRM.

That's what this is for. Don’t let your dreams stay dreams. Submit it anyway.