They say necessity is the mother of invention. Well, staring down your own mortality may just be the evil stepmother. The idea for the Hustle REM Pedal was born in a life-or-death moment — LITERALLY! — as founder Craig Payne hung onto a rock for dear life one summer day on the infamous Portal Trail in Moab.

When I inquired about a shiny object stuck to a toolbox in my neighbor’s garage he challenged me: “If you can pull it off the toolbox I’ll give you my truck!” I failed miserably. The object felt like it was welded to the toolbox (it wasn’t). It was a neodymium magnet, the kind used on gas hoses and nozzles, to avoid disaster when people drive off with the nozzle still in their gas tank. I had just discovered the missing piece to my pedal puzzle…

The many years of research and development began soon after studying everything I could find on Rare Earth Magnets (REM), focusing mostly on Neodymium; ordering and testing every magnet I could get my hands on; working on a model of the pedal itself, starting with wood carvings and moving onto alloys and other metals.

I knew I was onto something, so I dove in headfirst (kinda like when I almost flew off that cliff!): After selling my share in a restaurant I co-owned it was time to start cooking up something much more fun and interesting.

Three months after the long, arduous, bureaucratic patent process begins, the application is officially filed in February 2017.

In the Spring of 2017, I had built the first prototype. Then through continued R&D, a revised iteration came together by that winter. We were getting close — really close — but the process continued.

On September 25, 2019 we finalized the incorporation process, and Hustle Bike Labs Inc. is officially a thing.

A few months after applying over the winter of 2017, we were honored to be one of only four startups chosen to take part in the IceLab Catapult program, a national incubator program at Western Colorado University in Gunnison, CO. The experience proved highly educational and resulted in invaluable contacts, connecting us to the people in the Outdoor industry and building Hustle Bike Labs. It also yielded a new trajectory for Hustle that has ultimately lead to where we are today.

We landed on our final prototype design in the fall of 2019, which, after a few more minor tweaks, ultimately became the finished product. We had finally landed on the right size, materials, function, aesthetic, and all the other factors that go into creating a product like this

After over four years of thinking, planning, designing, building, riding, redesigning and rebuilding, riding more, etc., the Hustle REM Pedal is now a reality and soon available to the public — and ready to change the game in MTB pedals: No more settling for the inherent flaws of traditional clipless and platform designs. After over four years since hanging from that cliff in Moab, thinking “there’s gotta be a better way,” I had found it. And it was ready for the masses!