If you’re a British or world superbike racing fan, you’ve probably spotted the ROKiT logo on the side of a BMW Motorrad M1000 RR superbike. The black and white branding is the title sponsor on Toprak Razgatlioğlu and Michael van der Mark’s WSB bikes, and is also the main sponsor for Leon Haslam’s BMW team in BSB.
But what is ROKiT? You might have assumed it was some obscure foreign company, maybe an Asian food brand or a European financial services firm. In fact, it’s a 25-year-old global organisation, originally set up as an IT company specialising in video compression software for early smartphones. But it’s now evolved into a multi-channel brand selling worldwide in areas as diverse as energy drinks, e-scooters, smartphones, modular housing, beers and spirits (it’s also behind the ABK beer sponsorship of the BMW F900 Cup.
Now, it’s set to launch as a motorcycle product supplier, starting out with a range of cleaning products, casual ROKiT BMW race team wear, and other useful accessories. A much wider range of products is apparently on the way.
BDN spoke to the people at the heart of ROKiT in the UK, to find out what it’s planning. Stuart Furnival is sales director at the ROKiT group, while ex-BSB racer Gary Mason is CEO of the new motorcycle division. Steve Keys of Ulti-Moto is also involved, as part of a partnership between ROKiT and Ulti-Moto for supply of its bike cleaning and ceramic paint protection products. “ROKiT came to Ulti-Moto because they wanted to make sure they were going to market with the best product,” said Keys. “So we’ve put together three packages; everything to clean paintwork, clean and look after helmets, and then a ceramic paint application that can be applied at home and lasts up to six months.”
Mason told us how the motorcycle link came about, after he met up with one of the ROKiT founders. “I met Jonathan [Kendrick] in Los Angeles about something totally different, and I explained my background. He’s heavily involved in many motorsports, so he came to a WSB round at Donington, loved it, and it kind of evolved from there. He appointed me as CEO of motorbikes to look after sponsorship, and now we’re building the product around the racing.
“We’re helping a lot of youngsters in racing. We’re actually business partners with the Haslam family – it’s a great name for us, Leon being the Pocket Rocket, and Rocket Ron. Then we’ve got Superteens, eight in there, in Supersport we have the McManus brothers [Eugene and James] on a Ducati, and also the ABK Cup. We’ve definitely invested in the sport, and you’re going to see a lot of exciting things happening.”
ROKiT is launching a range of retail products this month: the bike care product range in association with Ulti-Moto, BMW WorldSBK and BSB team wear, tyre inflators and smart sunglasses. But other forthcoming product are staying under wraps at the moment. We asked Mason what the plans are – is the firm thinking about clothing, helmets, hard parts? “I can’t go into that but watch this space,” said Mason. “There are a lot of exciting things coming, this is just the beginning.”
Race retailer and kit maker Dredd is selling the new ROKiT range at BSB rounds, and the range is also available online from Infinity and Sportsbikeshop.co.uk. Furnival is looking for other partners though: get in touch with him at [email protected] or 07774 006006.