SW
STANDINGWAVES
THE TAO OF FRANKEN
Rick “Tao” Franken dedicated his life to creating better gear. Tragically, the Bomber Gear brand he worked so hard to create and preserve will have to continue without him. At this year’s Alabama Mountain Games in March, Franken died of respiratory failure in his sleep. The story of Bomber Gear is as intriguing as Franken was resilient and talented. In 1992, 18-year-old Franken’s roommate, Rob Mauceli, bought a sewing machine from Wal-Mart. The caving-obsessed pair had a plan to supply themselves with higher quality ropewalkers and kneepads than what was already available on the market. By 1995, the little garage of his Durango, Colorado, townhouse was stuffed with sewing machines and Bomber Gear was incorporated.
In a memoir he posted as a text document in an online forum in 2009, Franken wrote, “It was my calling; a designer for extreme sports.” In 1997, after realizing the market for caving gear offered little room
for growth, the small team shifted their attention to another of their pas- sions—paddling. The following 16 years would prove to be a rollercoast- er for both Franken and Bomber Gear. Early expansion saw Franken move into a trailer next to a Navajo reser- vation where he employed 50 sewers. Franken qualified as first alternate on the U.S. kayak team in the squirt boat class, promoting his gear by wearing it in competitions. Bomber Gear’s big break came when Wave Sport decided to outfit their successful slicy 1999 freestyle release, the X, with a Bomber Gear backband. It was time to grow again. Bomber Gear moved into its own cut and sew factory in Durango and took on 60 employees. By that point, how-
22 RAPID EARLY SUMMER 2013
A PATH TO PASSION, PERSEVERANCE AND BOMBER GEAR
ever, the company had outgrown its ability to produce. Saddled with debt and soaring production costs, Franken sold the factory and moved manufacturing overseas. Having been born and raised in Thailand, moving the company
there was an easy choice. Torn between abandoning his brainchild and his budding family, Franken packed up his patterns and spec sheets and brought his pregnant wife Cyd to Asia. His son Kai was born shortly thereafter. While things started off well in Thailand for Bomber Gear, after two
years, the factory Franken partnered with began cutting corners, unbe- knownst to him. Shoddy materials forced a complete recall of drytops, a downfall from which the company couldn’t recover. In 2003, Bomber Gear ceased to exist. “Those around the company were acting with shady business princi- ples,” he wrote in the memoir. “Designs were stolen, product was illegally sold and friendships were forever changed.” Bomber Gear was decimated and Franken walked away. He spent the subsequent three years climbing in South America and Pakistan, sum- miting big-name peaks including Aconcagua and K2. Immersed in an- other gear-intensive sport, he never strayed far from his design and test roots. His years in the mountains only reinforced his passion. When he and his wife had their second child, Trina, responsibility and lingering debt forced him back to the Bomber Gear business. Left with no alternative, Franken moved back to Colorado, registered as eBay user “pure-passion4ever” and sold off his inventory.
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