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GEAR HEADS Vortex Founders Spin Interest Into Success

Chris Urso/Tampa Tribune

Matthew Griffin, left, and Daniel Geberth President and Vice President of Vortex talk with the Tampa Tribune about their business Friday, Jan. 4, 2008 at there headquarters in Odessa. Vortex manufactures, drive sprockets, handlebars and other parts for motorcycles.

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 10, 2008

ODESSA - Matt Griffin and Dan Geberth are self-described "gear heads" from New Jersey who turned their love for motorcycles into a multimillion-dollar business making parts for racing bikes.

"I realized I couldn't make any money racing motorcycles," said Geberth, Vortex's vice president.

"But we wanted to do something to stay connected to the industry," said Griffin, the company's president. The two friends share an office in Vortex's new home at the Suncoast Industrial Park on Gunn Highway.

The booming company moved there last year to escape its increasingly cramped quarters a few miles away in the West Pasco Industrial Park. The new space is more than double the size of the old site, but the company is filling it quickly.

A decade ago, Vortex was little more than an answering machine in Griffin's New Port Richey apartment. Geberth used his experience in metal working to turn out the budding company's first products - sprockets, the toothy gears that transfer power from the motorcycle's engine to its wheels via a chain. "I'd make the part and put it on the floor," said Geberth, 37, whose knuckles are scabbed and scarred from working on his pet race cars.

Back then, Geberth delivered the parts himself. Now, UPS and FedEx ship parts to customers around the world.

After a long history of broken bones, concussions and damaged spinal discs, Geberth has traded in two-wheeled racers for ones with four wheels. Griffin, 38, still rides motorcycles, but just for fun now.

Vortex's growth as a company has mirrored Florida's growth as a favorite home base for professional motorcycle riders. Australian-born racer Chad Reed, for example, lives in New Tampa and recently opened a practice facility south of Dade City.

Racers see Florida's unforgiving weather as a way to build endurance, Griffin said.

"If you can race fast in hot, humid conditions, then when you race up north where there's no humidity, there's no comparison," he said.

As Vortex has made a name for itself through its products, the company is taking the next steps to expand its reach.

The company machines parts specifically for a bike owned by basketball star Shaquille O'Neal - a job that drew more requests for specialized work.

Vortex has begun sponsoring Team Yamaha, whose racers include Reed. The company also sponsors female racers and stunt riders, who make up a growing component of the male-dominated sport.

Griffin and Geberth hold patents on their sprocket designs and also on a wheel-mounted plastic cylinder, known as the Universal Motorcycle Frame Slide Protector in their patent filing, designed to protect a bike by absorbing the impact of a wreck where the bike skids across the asphalt.

Next month, Vortex will release its own line of branded clothing, aiming to spread its name beyond the realm of motorcycle racers.

The two entrepreneurs already have seen strangers sporting their products, from a windshield applique on a 1970s vintage Volkswagen to motorcyclists on the highway with Vortex parts on their bikes.

"When we started out, our goal was to make it big," Griffin said.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.

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