In 1990 a 20-something mountain bike racer called John Radar was hawking his new headset design he called "light set" around the pits of bike races and showing it to anyone who would listen, until he bumped into Peter Gilbert, a Dia-Compe rep, at the suggestion of Ross Schafer of Salsa.
The final piece of the puzzle was the star nut that they came up with together when an office chair broke and they saw one in the chair mechanism.
Dia Compe had a big stake in Rock Shox at the time so could promote and sell these two cool products together circa 1992. I thing they also owned Tioga which was the aftermarket brand for aheadsets.
The patent expired in 2010, any made beofre that paid a fee to dia compe (now cane creek).
