Cycleops

Cycleops

The CycleOps brand is a part of the Saris Cycling Group which has grown from the original company “Saris” to not only include CycleOps, but Saris Parking and PowerTap as well. Originally started by husband and wife team in 1989, Saris bought CycleOps a decade later to enter the trainer category back in 1999.
It made sense. Saris “Bones” racks became instant hits, setting the standard for modern racks, reaching from their Wisconsin city into Asia within the first five years. By 2002 the CycleOps Magneto was unleashed; the “world’s first progressive resistance magnetic trainer.”
Everything the Saris Cycling Group is doing today and has done is to make the world a better place through biking. No seriously. Here’s a snippet from their CycleOps website:
“At CycleOps, we realize at the heart of every cyclist is a better cyclist. Not better as defined by speed necessarily, rather by progress, improvement, the setting of goals and reaching them, and by having fun along the way.”
Think about it. They started with racks, and since the iconic “Bones” model have also set standards with the Thelma hitch and Solo trunk racks. Saris Parking racks, cycle aid stations, and lighting are truly helping to create 21st metro-cycling.
They took the next logical step into trainers and then through PowerTap, inspired by the work of sports physiologist Allen Lim, PhD, Saris has innovated training tools that are used by professional and amateur cyclists around the world. It’s incredible. The interconnected community around Saris, CycleOps, Saris Parking and PowerTap is thriving!
Indoor Virtual Training
In some respects, the most impressive thing about CycleOps today is the combination of their indoor trainers and virtual training software. Check it out:
“No matter the time, weather or traffic, CycleOps’ virtual bike training app lets you get out and ride—even when you can’t get out. So you can reap the benefits of a full workout paired with the excitement of riding a virtual bike trainer along real routes all over the world as the app tracks your training data.”
So what if you’re in a small one bedroom apartment in Chicago or Seattle. You can set up the sleek looking trainer in front of the TV, hook up, and ride anywhere in the world, from Paris to Greece. And that’s where CycleOps is TODAY. Where the cycling industry will be in 2020 thanks is really exciting to think about.
If you have any questions or concerns about the app, the indoor biking models, or their trainers don’t hesitate to reach out and contact one of the Fitness Direct team! We’ll get you up to speed and involved in no time.
One of the brand’s best sayings is, “Free your bike, and your soul will follow.” And the cool thing is that they really believe it. Saris is just one of those American companies you can’t help but fall in love with once you understand what makes it so successful: the community, the company’s authenticity and really good products!
Where did the name come from? It’s actually a combination of two names, the husband and wife team behind the company: Christ and Sara Fortune. Back in 1989 they bought a small family-owned bicycle rack company in Madison, WI and then just recently celebrated Saris’s 25th anniversary in the same town.
You see, Saris is exactly where they envisioned it would be: a family business in America that makes a specialty line of bike racks sold across the globe! As crazy as it might sound (unless you’re a cyclist that uses one of their racks, bikes, of cycling technology), a core philosophy is that bicycles literally make the world a better place.
The racks that Saris engineers are designed to make it easier to bring bikes along so you can get out and go more often, in more places, onward and upward one ride at a time. Their technology is to make cycling more integrated and inspired. See? Told you it’s an amazing success story once you dig in a bit.
The Saris Cycling Group
Under the banner of the Saris Cycling Group are four renowned brands:
1. Saris
2. Saris Parking
3. CycleOps
4. PowerTap
Wow! Now, Saris Parking makes specially bike tracs, docks, cycle aid stations and “Flush mounted, solar powered LED lights that guide cyclists.”
All that, and the global community that’s grown along with them, spawned from a husband and wife team that sought to change the world through biking. Not bad! To see the more in-depth story about how Saris strategically grew and thrived despite two recessions, head over to their History Page.
From the CycleOps Joule, the world’s first cycling computer, to Power Agent Software, virtual training, and their incredible racks and Phantom series indoor bikes, Saris is one of the most dependable choices in the cycling industry by far.
Here at Fitness Direct we carry their indoor bikes as well as a large variety of PowerTap products including the Joule GPS. All your bases are covered around here, but if you have any questions concerning any of their models, wheel sets, cycling accessories, racks and hubs, don’t hesitate to reach out to our team!
Industrialized nations across the world are slowly but surely seeing their major cities transforming into places that cater to pedestrians more so than gas guzzling vehicles. Cycling, both indoor and outdoor is exploding in popularity, and the technology is progressing right along with it.
Social health is now on the radar in every aspect, and the future is unfolding before our very eyes.  At the center we find CycleOps. Why? Because bikes mean a healthier happier population with drastically less pollution, which is all good stuff.
There is no better example of the mainstream fitness world’s desire for cycling innovation than CycleOps. The company has brought cycling into the 21st century, and made it possible for individuals in 50 different countries to take giant strides forward in health, wellness, the usage of power training, and modern physical conditioning.
The CycleOps Evolution
• CycleOps was bought by a premier bicycle rack company in 1999 named Saris. Saris was started a decade earlier by a sweet couple from Madison, WI that had dreams of creating a solid American company capable of selling wholesome bike products across the globe.  • Overtime their passion and drive attracted renowned designers and PhD physiologists.  Saris Bones are now involved in cycling from France to Beijing and Boston. It was when the company purchase CycleOps that Saris Cycling Group really dug in deep into the trainer genre.  • It was in 2002 that the CycleOps Magneto made its glorious appearance as the first ever progressive resistance magnetic trainer. By 2008 CycleOps gathered enough funding and popularity to come out with entire lines of fascinating exercise machines that still raise eyebrows today.
CycleOps Timeline of Innovation
From a small American company owned by a humble married couple, to a brand that can be found in two American presidential gyms, the home-gyms of Hollywood heavy hitters, and sports teams. All thanks to the Saris dedication to technological innovation.
  • 2001 – This is when training with power really went mainstream. CycleOps introduced the PowerTap meter technology to allow people to hyper-boost their training results.  • 2004 – This was the year that the 300PT series was unleashed, and ran rampant thanks to a truly mystifying response from the cycling community at large. No other company had managed to produce something that felt so real and road fit.  • 2005 – PowerAgent software takes cycling to new technological levels through the help of CycleOps products. Cycling has just gone digital!  • 2009 – Joule technology elevates cycling even higher, and becomes known as the world’s first cycling computer. It brings the stationary cycling experience to precedents that no one expected.
The Future of CycleOps
Along with electric cars, solar powered buildings and homes, and a rejuvenated space race, Saris is responsible for tons of fitness-based positive change throughout modernity. They will trek forward on their mission to keep innovation coming, designing fantastic trainers, and powerful performance enhancing fitness equipment to suit our new era.