At the time, this was unexplored territory for us. After reviewing the geometry and thinking through how the hooks roll and articulate, we came to a clear conclusion:
The existing hooks were simply too wide to navigate the curve.
The rollers would bind, and the hook geometry didn’t allow enough clearance to smoothly follow the arc. We shared this assessment with Patrick, and while it wasn’t the answer he was hoping for, it planted an important seed.
A Second Attempt — and a New Variable (2 Months Ago)
Fast‑forward roughly ten months.
Another customer, Joe, reached out with a very similar idea—again involving curved Unistrut. This time, however, Gear‑Blocks had something new in the lineup: the swivel hooks.
With the swivel hooks in mind, the question became:
Does the added articulation change the outcome?
After several rounds of back‑and‑forth with Joe—discussing dimensions, clearances, and likely failure points—we again reached the same fundamental conclusion:
Even with the swivel design, the hooks were still too wide to comfortably make the turn.
At least… as‑designed.
The Late‑Night Idea
After a few nights of thinking (and sleeping) on the problem, Brian had a realization:
What if the issue wasn’t the hook design itself—but the size of the internal components?
evaluating the size of the bearings
The swivel hooks rely on bearings and roll pins. By reducing:
The bearing width
The roll‑pin width
…the overall profile of the hook could be made just slim enough to clear the curve.
This idea was shared with Joe, along with a caveat: this would be experimental.
Joe was immediately on board.
Hands‑On Testing
Joe assembled a small batch of modified swivel hooks, using:
Smaller bearings
Shorter roll pins
These samples were sent to Joe with the understanding that he’d test them in the real world—and document the process along the way.
Joe got to work, carefully installing the hooks on the curved strut, taking photos, and noting how the system behaved at each step.
The Christmas Break Message 🎄
Over Christmas break, Brian received a message from Joe. After some clever alignment of the strut with brackets and shims the straights and curved struts were mounted.
bracket with shims to align straight section with curved strutstraight to curve section zoomed out
The verdict?
“Very happy. The smaller bearings and shorter pins worked like a champ.”
Bikes stored on straight and curved strut with modified GearBlocks Hooks
The hooks rolled smoothly through the curve, maintained stability, and performed exactly as hoped.
Not only did the system work—but Joe was confident enough to order additional hooks for his setup.
Project Complete
About a week ago, Joe followed up once more:
The project was complete
The system was working great
The curved Unistrut setup was fully operational
bikes stored close up
And then came the question that brought everything full circle:
“You should consider supplying hooks with the smaller bearings. They seem fine in the straight track, and work well in the curve.”
