Tractive Suspension

Tractive manufactures & distributes from its base in the Netherlands. Founded by ex-WP engineers, they wanted to keep developing cutting edge suspensions after WP closed their Dutch manufacturing. They offer the largest range of adventure shocks & closed cartridges for everyone from the weekend rider to the extreme offroader. Specializing in BMW, especially their Electronic Suspension Adjustment system, there are however shocks for Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Suzuki, KTM, Husqvarna, Ducati, Moto Guzzi & Triumph for road, racing, touring & adventure applications.

The roots of Tractive - WP: With WP Suspension motorsport successes in the eighties they started expanding. The founders of TracTive Suspension started then, working in different technical & racing functions. They worked on the cutting edge; first electronic suspension system in racing (Biaggi's Aprilia) in the mid nineties, aftermarket (EDS) dampers at the start of the new millennium, plus OE ESAI / ESAII development for BMW till 2010. In 2010, after the parent WP company decided to move closer to KTM's Austrian motorcycle plant & Dutch production started winding up, some of the core R&D engineers & managers decided to start Tractive Suspension to keep innovative suspension technologies alive in the Netherlands.

June 1st 2010: TracTive Suspension B.V. was established. Needing to stand out among Europe's busy suspension market, they decided to focus on novel & unconventional systems, including refining & improving those same electronically controlled suspension systems. They quickly became a development partner of BMW Motorrad A.G. with an official supplier number to work on future suspension solutions, a partnership that continues to this day. Additional engineering projects for Tenneco Monroe (under the Marzocchi brand, Tenneco now also owns Ohlins) started.

2011: Obtained ISO9001:2008 certification - a prerequisite for development work on OEM applications like BMW & BRP. From the beginning, automotive quality elements like FMEA & PPAP were integrated in the quality system. Started performing the first adventure endurance & riding tests in Africa with Touratech GmbH, becoming their official supplier & were awarded the "Innovation Award 2011" for their "innovating research at the frontiers of science and technology." In 2012 TracTive was awarded its first patent (for the DDA valve), also receiving German Road approval (generally known as the “TUV”, but officially named the ABE for the Touratech Suspension shocks). Fork cartridges would follow later - including single electronically controlled leg or complete electronic dual cartridge sets.

2014: TracTive supplies 949 Racing's private label Xida Gen2 dampers, also collaborating with DSC Sport (& their free-programmable control units) to manufacture many Plug and Play upgrade solutions for exotic performance cars. TracTive made the first electronic shock absorbers installed inside new production vehicles for Canadian Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP), the existing OE dampers fitted with the advanced DDA Valve, surviving extreme temperatures in their snowmobiles. It was a memorable year, receiving the 2014 Rabobank Entrepreneur award too.

2017: Collaboration with famous chassis expert Dallara took shape in the form of the Dallara Stradale, a formidable road-track car. Dallara became Tractive's first OE customer for cars, utilizing both non-adjustable & three-way-adjustable dampers (including electronic road/track-height adjustment). In January 2018, subsidiary company Tractive DDA B.V. is founded to focus on large scale production of the DDA valve. Production lines with a nominal capacity of 200,000 pcs annually have been sold in OEM BMW & BRP models, plus 1st Tier VRM (known under the brand name Marzocchi) & Fox. The first World Time Attack was won by the RP968 with driver Barton Mawer using TracTive shock absorbers. TTSuspension Australia (in Prospect Sydney) was closely involved in getting the semi-active dampers working at optimal capacity to achieve the fastest possible laptime. In 2019, the RP968 & Barton Mawer won for the second year in a row & set an even faster lap.

Tractive have had products at the forefront of technology for over a decade now. Check out their latest catalogue, or see the video below to better understand how their Semi Active DDA Shock Absorbers work: