Once again we’ve been working with the guys at Cycloc, so I’m presuming if you’ve read our previous review on their Hobo workstand that you’ll know who they are. If not, here’s a brief introduction. Cycloc are a London based cycle storage company who design and manufacture exclusively in the UK and they have a dedicated team around them that have been providing the world with innovative cycle storage solutions since 2006. This time they’ve sent us their Hero and Loop Combo for test and review.
Let’s start with the Hero. The Hero, simply put is basically a three part, hard wearing and great looking storage solution to mount your bike securely to a wall. It consists of a central pedal mounting block and two 90 degree wheel rest platforms. Each of the three pieces are bolted to the wall in the correct position to suit the length of your bike and after an easy 15 minute installation, it takes a matter of seconds to hang your bike safely in place and off the floor.
What we like about the Cycloc’s products are their attention to detail coupled with excellent material choice for durability and maintenance. For example, every screw hole is covered over with a little ‘Cycloc’ marked cap that firmly snaps into place. It’s the little things that count. We also purposely asked for these products in white to test how well they cleaned after having muddy tyres and pedals all over them. Simply wiping them over with a damp cloth and dry towel brought them back to as good as new. The only thing we did notice is that damage can occur where you drop the pedal into the plastic holder if it gets caught on the edge but that’s neither here nor there and this would happen with any metal to plastic interference situation, and any other similar product on the market.
As you can see in the photos on this review and the photos on the Cycloc website, my bike is hanging at a different angle. I’ve mounted it like this one purpose for two reasons. One is because my garage roof isn’t high enough to give me enough handlebar clearance so i don’t hit my head on them everytime I walk past and the other is to test the versatility of the product to see how well it can perform under different scenarios. As you can see, it passes with flying colours.. With ease, I hung the bike from just the central pedal mount, pushed the handlebars as high as they could go, put both wheel rests in between the wheels and the wall and marked them out for placement before removing my bike and attaching them to the wall. What a result, for something I actually thought I may have an issue with. It’s great when a plan comes together!
The Hero is suitable for flat or clipless pedals, it can store your bike horizontally in both right or left orientations, is ideal for men’s, women’s, tandems and kids bikes and is available in 7 colours. It’s also perfect for work or home as the wheel rests stop any dirt from marking the walls, plus it means you can stare at your bike all day… and let’s face it, what mountain biker doesn’t love doing that? Yep, all of us.
It also proves to hold the bike quite stable. I have a two year old son and when he’s pottering about in the garage with me I cringe at the thought of my bike falling out and landing on him. Now, looking at the close up photo above, you can clearly see how much of my Shimano clipless pedal is inside the mount which is less than half the length of the pedal. I’m not a massive bloke but I’ve hung on the centre point of my bike and tried to literally pull it directly straight off the wall (rather than lifting it up) and it doesn’t budge. Even without the wheels resting on their respective platforms it does move a little bit but is still safe and sound up there.
Moving on to the Loop. There isn’t a massive amount to say about this but that’s not a bad thing! The Loop is a brilliantly compact yet spacious helmet and accessory storage system. As with the Hero, it bolts to the wall securely and has a Cycloc marked cover plate to hide the fixings and finish the product off neatly. It has one main central compartment for things like gloves, lights or action cameras, a hole in the top to stand things like pumps in and a very well designed lip on the edge so that when your helmet is hanging off it it won’t slip forwards and fall off. It is made from the same hard wearing plastic as the Hero and has the same easy cleaning properties too. Again, a handy product at a great price when bought separately.
Both the Hero and Loop are great space saving products and just goes to show that anything is possible if you have the right people behind the idea. Cycloc have used their research, product development and innovation experience yet again to add to their ever growing list of cycle storage solutions for work and at home. We are a massive fan of both the Hero and the Loop and at a smidge under 55 quid (when bought as a ‘combo’ set), you can’t go wrong.