CycleOps Riser Block

About the CycleOps brand

Cycleops are world famous for producing high quality cycle trainers. However, the company origins weren’t in cycling, believe it or not they started with producing curtain rods! The story goes that the Graber brothers sold their window products company and needed something to do. They experimented in their garage and came up with a best-selling bike rack. In 1989, Chris and Sara Fortune purchased the company when it was selling 80,000 bike racks a year. In 1990, a high-end brand of bike rack was launched, branded as “Saris.” Today Saris is a leading supplier to the bicycle industry in over 30 countries. The company expanded in 1999 by acquiring the Cycleops brand of bike trainer. As usual they set out to improve on the design and by 2001 they created a new trainer frame and in 2002 they launched the world’s first progressive resistance Cycleops magnetic trainer. It was in 2001 that they heard about a hub that could measure power output and they jumped at the chance to bring this product to cyclists. They bought the company that invented Powertap and started a new round of Cycleops cycling innovations.