Gil Vaillancourt: 2016 Posthumous Inductee to Trailblazers Hall of Fame

The late-Gilles Vaillancourt, founder of Works Performance, will be one of two posthumous Trailblazers Hall of Fame inductees to be honored at the sold out 72nd annual banquet on April 23rd.

Vaillancourt was born in 1940 in Montreal, Canada. Always interested in machines, Gil got hooked on motorcycling as a teen and started working in a local shop. When he was 20 years old his family moved to Santa Monica, California, and he chose to ride his Royal Enfield twin the entire way from Canada. He worked for Triangle Motorcycles while studying welding, tool and die, and pattern making at Santa Monica City College. Among his other skills, he was a concert violinist and played in the Santa Monica City College Orchestra.

Gil loved off-road and motocross riding in the 1960’s, but was disappointed with the performance of stock suspension systems. His welding, tool and die background combined with motorcycle mechanics skills came together as he began experimenting with his own shock pistons and relief valves. He soon incorporated multi-stage damping on his suspension, a big improvement over the single-stage dampers of the time. Vaillancourt soon had one of the best-suspended motorcycles in California and often allowed friends to ride the bikes outfitted with his modified shocks. It wasn’t long before those friends asked him to modify the shocks on their bikes. This was the beginning of Works Performance.

Gil opened Works Performance Products in Chatsworth, California in 1973 and the company quickly became the go-to place for superior suspension systems for racers all over the world. Champions across almost all race disciplines soon became his customers: Kenny Roberts, Bubba Shobert, Eddie Lawson, Wayne Rainey, Chris Carr, Scott Parker, Dick Mann, Brad Lackey, Jim Pomeroy, Eddie Mulder and Gary Nixon all used Works Performance suspension components during their careers.

Works Performance became a success thanks to Gil’s personal genius with suspension, quality materials, workmanship and innovation. And as the industry progressed, so did his designs. The latter half of the 1970’s brought the advent of long-travel, lay-down shocks. Works Performance shocks debuted bolt-on, piggyback, bladder-style gas shocks in 1976, which used an innovative check ball and orifice valve systems that provided superior control. Works Performance shocks also featured sand-cast fins, which provided better cooling in high-leverage applications. These shocks evolved into the Magna Crosser off-road and Racer road-race models, which remained as standards of form and function for the next two decades.

Always a genius with suspension Vaillancourt was also a sought-after as a consultant for the design of dampers, shocks and suspension systems for amusement park rides, military and commercial aircraft landing gear, mobile camera platforms, bicycles and race cars. But his first love remained motorcycles and he was happy to be inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2009.

Vaillancourt left us on June 2nd, 2015. He was a genuine pioneer in the development of modern-day motorcycle suspension systems, his revolutionary work led to leaps in performance, quality, customization and style. His company, Works Performance Products, continues to serve motorcycle riders around the world and Gil will be remembered for his many contributions to the sport. The Trailblazers proudly welcome Gilles Vaillancourt to the 2016 Hall of Fame.

More info about the banquet can be found at: www.trailblazersmc.com or email: mctrailblazers01@gmail.com