17 June 2014
Whether you enjoy road biking or the ups and downs of mountain biking, whatever your preference, the end result will always be the same - a dirty bike in need of maintenance. Cleaning and maintaining your bike on a regular basis can increase its longevity as grease, dirt and grit wear and damage bike parts, proving costly in the long term.
To help solve this problem Harry Butterworth turned to the GX Group to turn his ‘idea’ into a commercial reality. He had devised a revolutionary but simple product to aid cleaning and maintaining your bike that simply hooked over the rear handles of a standard wheelie bin raising the bike off the floor allowing easy access for cleaning and routine maintenance.
As a result of product development by the team at GX Design Engineers his invention - the Hooky has a patent pending and can now be purchased online through www.ebay.co.uk, under ‘the hooky cycle maintenance aid’.
The Hooky is a wooden self-assembly frame designed to fit the most common wheelie bins with a maximum front to rear dimension of 74cm-29 inches. It arrives flat packed and users simply connect four simple components made from British sustainably sourced Birch faced exterior grade plywood. The wooden frame is supplied untreated and can be left so if stored indoors or treated accordingly.
Commenting on the product design development, managing director Mark Helmich said; “Several members of the product design team are keen mountain bikers so could appreciate the need to design a simple bike maintenance stand. Before agreeing upon the final product design our team showed Mr Butterworth several prototypes before settling on this final design.”