“We had a clear idea of what we wanted.”  Purely Custom Design Engineer, Eric Saunders smiles as he describes the making of the Wheel Riser.  Eric was on this project from the ground up and he’s pretty satisfied that the Wheel Riser went from concept to production in about four months.  That’s not always the case in product development as new ideas, different requirements and testing redirects you down new paths and lengthy time frames.  The end result was a product that is durable, functional, and cannot be described without the word versatile coming into the conversation.

How Did It Come About

When you get a bike fitter and a design engineer together, there’s a pretty good chance your ideas are going in the right direction.  There’s speculation about the concept for the Wheel Riser coming from a napkin doodle; however, this product did draw some of its inspiration from another Purely Custom product.  Perhaps you’ve seen the Fit Platform 360 with the front end lift system.

This platform was designed to adjust elevation on the Purely Custom Fit Bikes and could also be used with a customer’s bike and a trainer.  The Fit Platforms are great for bike fitting, creating a stage for the fitting, able to rotate the bike and rider 360 degrees, perfect for utilizing single camera motion capture, and they take up a lot of room in a quite often small fit studio.  Many bike fitters were telling us that they needed something more portable, something that could get the bike level but could also slide around when working with a cyclist or just to slide out of the way when not in use.

 That Makes Sense

“That makes sense” is the most common comment we hear when we show the Wheel Riser around.  We’ve seen some creative ways to level a bike; books, plywood contraptions and blocks of wood and we know how professional those can look in a bike fitting scenario.  The Wheel Riser took leveling and adjusting elevation to a dependable and simplified process.  A level bike is essential to a proper fitting and if you wanted to see how a rider positions on a hill climb, this Wheel Riser will simulate climbing conditions up to a 20% grade.

The Wheel Riser has been hailed as a highly accurate, high quality precision tool for this purpose.  This product is made solid and you can easily make height adjustments by hand or use a powered driver for quicker changes.  The wheels are perfect addition to being able to move the riser around or out of the way while you’re working in your fit studio and yes the wheels will even work on your kid’s skateboard as well, so keep a close eye on them.

Made In America

Purely Custom takes its manufacturing muscle and capabilities from its parent company Seastrom Manufacturing.  A company that started in 1928 and has since developed into a trusted U.S. manufacturer to industries worldwide.  Seastrom has earned its distinction as an approved supplier to aerospace and defense industries and offers manufacturing at precision level.

Our manufacturing facility for Seastrom and Purely Custom is located in a 100,000 square foot, state-of-the-art facility located in Twin Falls, Idaho.  As we look out our windows to the east we can see the high desert of southern Idaho has welcomed some other companies like Chobani and even Clif Bar.  We’re obviously proud to be a U.S. Manufacturer and producing our fitting tools right here in our own facility.

We control the material, the process and can assure an end product that is not ready until scrutinized by our quality department to meet our standards.  We’re pretty sure our customers see value in our production and know we are upholding the quality that Made in America implies.  We sometimes forget how much time and effort goes into the making of a product,

so when you see a block of aircraft aluminum and then look at a finished, completely assembled fit tool, it’s pretty impressive.  When you place a rider on their bike and on the Wheel Riser, it has to be solid and it has to be stable.  Not only is it designed to accommodate a wide range of wheel diameters, from 20” to 29” it can also be used as a stable base for indoor training sessions or pre-race warmups.  The Wheel Riser has been a great addition to the Purely Custom lineup of fitting tools, all thoughtfully designed to help bike fitters reach accurate results.  If you want a closer look at the Wheel Riser, we’re bringing a couple to Interbike this year in Las Vegas and we’ll let you give it a thorough workout.  We’re confident you’ll be impressed with the versatility and the quality of this product.  The Wheel Riser will also be featured in the Interbike Made in America exhibit along with our bicycle saddle hangers or check out all the complete line of bike fitting tools at dev.purelycustom.com.