Some products name themselves.
Jon Taylor was in his studio, doing final tweaks on a prototype that had taken years longer than planned to reach this point. On the desk in front of him were cardboard patterns — the offcuts and templates of a designer's working process. He glanced down at them with fresh eyes and stopped.
The shape reminded him of something. The big cacti from old western movies — wide-armed, distinctive, impossible to miss.
That's how the Cactus Tongue got its name. And it might be one of the better product origin stories in cycling.
It started somewhere else entirely
The Cactus Tongue wasn't conceived as a bike hanger. Jon had been approached by a mountain board manufacturer looking for a wall display device for their products. His approach to any design brief is consistent: it has to be functional, it has to be beautiful in equal measure, and the person using it should have an uplifting experience. Not just a practical one. An uplifting one.
He worked up a concept and took it to a trade show. A retail designer spotted it and asked a question that changed the direction of everything: had he considered adapting it to hold a bike?
That was the pivotal moment.
The years in between
What followed wasn't straightforward. Jon got seriously ill. The prototype sat on a shelf for years, gathering dust while he recovered. It was a frustrating period — having the idea fully formed but being unable to move it forward.
When he was well enough to return to it, he pushed it through to production. And then he discovered what most product creators discover: making the thing is the easy part. Raising the money is harder. Getting people to notice it in a busy marketplace is harder still.
What it actually is
The Cactus Tongue is a wall-mounted bike hanger. But that description does it a disservice, in the same way that calling a Strida "a folding bike" undersells everything that makes a Strida a Strida.
The point of the Cactus Tongue is that it makes you want to put your bike on your wall. It turns a bicycle — already a beautiful object — into something closer to a piece of art in your home. For anyone who has ever lived in a flat with a bike propped against the sofa, that is a meaningful shift.
What Jon discovered during testing added a practical dimension he hadn't fully anticipated: you can hang a bike three different ways — from the top tube, the seat tube, or the handlebars. The flexibility matters in real homes with real space constraints.
The Velorution connection
The Cactus Tongue was stocked at Velorution. It was the kind of product that suited Velorution perfectly — unusual, beautifully designed, practical in a way that wasn't immediately obvious, and impossible to find in a mainstream sports chain.
Six questions with Jon Taylor
What was the genesis of the idea?
I was asked by a mountain board manufacturer to look at a wall display device for them. My approach to anything in design is it has to be functional with an equal amount of beautiful form and the end-user should have an uplifting experience using it. After sharing the concept at a trade show, a retail designer asked had I considered adapting it to hold a bike. That was a pivotal moment.
Before Cactus Tongue, what was your relationship with cycling?
From a very early age cycling was a sense of freedom. I was predominantly into off-road — customising bikes at a young age, the weird off-roader with ape hangers. I'm still an off-road cyclist, but what I'd call a casual one.
How long did it take from idea to reality?
It took some time as I got really ill and the prototype sat on a shelf gathering dust for a few years. It was frustrating not being able to implement it.
What was the hardest thing about creating it?
Creating it was the easy part. Raising the money was hard. Getting the awareness was really tough in a busy marketplace.
What was the most surprising thing?
I didn't have a name for it when I created it — and as its visual presence was very distinctive, the name was really important. While doing some final tweaks in my studio, I had cardboard patterns on my desk. Looking at the shape with fresh eyes it reminded me of the big cacti in old western movies. That's how the product named itself. We also realised during testing that you could hang your bike three different ways — from the top tube, seat tube or handlebars.
What advice would you give to anyone looking to create a product?
Have a USP. Do your research on the market and work out your price point to make your product financially viable.
The Cactus Tongue is available at cactus-tongue.co.uk.
