 I was always very curious about the stories behind the big dirt bike companies and when I had to look more into the companies and the models to do the steps to podium buyers guide I decided to do this new series of videos. At these behind the scenes I'll tell you more about the story of the main companies in the off-road community and explore where they're heading by interviewing people from inside the company and we'll start with the fastest growing dirt bike company in the world, Sherco. Stensively, are created by frames that the bodywork are well done. Sherco is no stranger to the off-road community, especially if we're talking about trials where the brand started. In 2016, Sherco even won the World Enduro Championship showing us that they are here to stay and leave a mark. Sherco's founder and current CEO, Marc Tessier, was a professional trials rider in his younger years so he always had a deep connection with the sport. He decided to create Sherco in order to extend his passion beyond riding and start building motorcycles able to measure up against the best in the sport. The company started small and is now growing to a semi-industrial size but its philosophy remains the same, as Tomatessier explains. We want to be more of a Ducati off the off-road than Japanese brown that make units and units of different kind of products. Both are doing a good job, it's just a philosophy. We prefer to do less quantity but good product. This is not that we want to be a Ferrari, and to do a super limited quantity, it's just that we want to create nice products, but ourself will purchase. Because we are speaking to humans, not numbers. It's the product and all the things around and you must share an experience with people, not just share a price. This is why if you see the product that we sell right now, a big majority is a factory product that is more expensive in the market. For sure there is good equipment on a product and all, but to people they want to have a nice product and they want to have nice friends and they want to clean the head on the weekend. My word internally is we are selling a psychologist, we are selling a psychologist on wheels. A shrink on wheels. Because when I ride a bike on the weekend it cleans my head, everyone needs to clean the head on the weekend. But let's go back to when it all started. In 1999 Marc Tessier bought the image rights of Bultaco, a famous Spanish two stroke bike manufacturer at the time. They decided to call their first bike, Bultaco Shurko. Why Shurko? Well it was a combination of the word Sherpa, a famous model bike from Bultaco and the last syllable of the name Bultaco, hence Shurko. Later on they decided to change the name of the brand to Shurko to make things a bit more simple. And that's how Shurko was born. Either way, they released the Bultaco Shurko 250 with the 250cc two stroke Bultaco engine, aluminum frame and all the best parts that the trials bike could be fitted with at the time. In the same year, for the first time, Shurko wins the most important trials race in the world, the Scottish 6 days of trials. And with a rider that you might recognize, the one and only Graham Jarvis. Yes, that Graham Jarvis. He ended up winning the race with Shurko three more times. Shurko was actually the winner of this legendary race for four years in a row, also with the victories of Juan Pons and Sam Connor. In 2002, Shurko acquires HRD and joins the Enduro and Supermoto segment with a 50cc two stroke engine and a 125cc four stroke engine. They also expanded the company's production capabilities by building a second factory in Neem, France, where the headquarters is currently located. Two years later, Shurko becomes the first manufacturer to introduce the 450cc and 510cc four stroke fuel injected Enduro bikes. My father, for example, on the product was to do different things. He started, imagine, with a 450 four stroke injected. It was possible to start with a bike, two stroke, with a cabbie. No, no, no, with a 450 four stroke injected, the first injected engine off-road in the market. Oh, really? I didn't know that. Yeah, before anyone. And we are not speaking about six months in advance. We are speaking about months in advance, years in advance. Androcolina, also a trials athlete in his days, was one of Shurko's most influential shareholders. He was very respected for its valuable inputs on the brand's management, and still has a deep connection to the story of the company. However, he ended up leaving Shurko in 2008. It was the same year that Graham Jarvis put on a show again by winning the world's toughest hard enduro rally, Red Bull Romaniacs, on a Shurko 454 stroke. The only reason that Graham stopped with Shurko is because we had no two stroke at that time. That's it. Really? It's the only reason. Only reason. With a hard enduro? With a hard enduro? Yeah, yeah, because he started with a 450 after with two three four stroke. At that time, they were with 450, like in Erzberg with big bike. And finally, they switched to two stroke and in extreme enduro on a long race, you need to have a friendly two stroke and we are not this product on the line. Jarvis moved on, but a company kept developing. A year and a half later, in 2013, Shurko finally launches the SE range with the 250 and 300cc engines. Easy to maintenance. My argument was you can change your piston and clean your carbine alone. That's it. That's a two stroke. In the meantime, Shurko also continued with the acquiring spree. In 2009, the company acquired Skorpa after declaring bankruptcy. Funny story, Skorpa is a trials bike manufacturer that was co-founded by Marc Tessier. However, Marc left Skorpa when his business partner didn't agree in critical business decisions and founded Shurko. However, Marc always had a sweet spot for Skorpa, so he didn't want the brand to die. The first decade of Shurko was filled with important achievements, but it is from 2010 on that Shurko really starts making an impression in the off-road competitions. Stay tuned, there's more to come.