Tollakson chases his dream two wheels at a time

Niche manufacturer Ruster Sports crafts custom bikes for world-class triathletes

By Joe Gardyasz
Senior Staff Writer | Business Record

What began as an Iowa triathlete’s quest for better equipment has evolved into an Iowa-based niche manufacturer of some of the world’s most advanced triathlon bicycles and accessories. 

Frustrated with paying airlines hundreds of dollars in oversized-baggage fees to transport his bicycle to triathlon and Ironman competitions across the globe, T.J. Tollakson developed a bicycle travel case that met airline requirements for checked baggage. In 2009, Tollakson, who has a degree in industrial engineering, launched Ruster Sports in Des Moines to produce and market his invention, nicknamed the Henhouse. 

After five years of manufacturing the niche bicycle cases for triathletes like himself, Tollakson turned his attention to building a better triathlon bike. The need for another great-performing bike was urgent, as a long-term sponsorship he had with a bicycle manufacturer was ending. 

“That kind of left me in a tough place,” he said. As he was searching for the fastest bike, he realized the frame design he wanted was one that hadn’t been produced for about 15 years — a bike that he had ridden to win his first Ironman competition in Lake Placid, N.Y. 

After failing to persuade that company, Zipp Wheels, to bring back the unique frame design — made without a seat post or seat stays for better aerodynamic performance — he decided to begin making his own frame. 

“They decided they didn’t want to enter the frame manufacturing world, but they would help me if I wanted to do it,” Tollakson said. “And so I entered this kind of crazy unknown world of carbon fiber manufacturing and made a bike frame.” 

In 2014, Ruster Sports began custom designing and manufacturing Dimond Bikes for world-class triathletes. The company now custom produces about 200 bicycles per year. Made with nanotube fiber carbon technology, the ultra-lightweight frames enable the bicycles to weigh in at about 17 pounds. 

“It’s been a wild ride,” quipped Tollakson, whose company is based in a converted warehouse space just south of downtown Des Moines. In the past five years, the company has developed several different versions of the Dimond Bike, and is now working on developing its own line of custom wheels and aerobars. 

After starting with just two employees, the company had as many as 18 workers at its peak of production about three years ago. “We’ve since right-sized the company to about seven employees,” Tollakson said. His personal aspiration is to move to an employee-ownership model to give his team members a vested stake in the business. 

Tollakson has resolved that rather than ramping up production, manufacturing a highly customized product — complete with custom paint schemes tailored to each customer’s specifications — makes the most sense for the business.  

“Oftentimes, the pathway to profitability is at direct odds with your ability to cash-flow your operations,” Tollakson noted. “And a lot of it depends on your relationships with your lenders and your investors. We’ve been really fortunate to have a great partner in Bank Iowa. You can kind of imagine that so much of your ability to be successful is how you can work out your debt obligations. And I’ve got a great group of investors that I’ve worked with who have really helped me make sure we keep the company going.” 

Much of the company’s growth has been overseas, fueled by enthusiasm for triathlon events.  

When Ruster Sports began manufacturing bikes four years ago, 100% of its sales were to athletes in the United States. That has since shifted to about 50% U.S. and 50% international sales, and over the past three years, growth in the Asian market has helped mitigate softness in the elite athlete market domestically, Tollakson said. International sales could eventually represent 60% to 70% of its business, he predicts. 

“Japan has actually been our biggest international distributor; we sell a lot of our products over there,” he said. Earlier this year, Tollakson traveled to both Japan and Indonesia to visit with customers there.  

“It’s very cool to be in a country on the other side of the world where you not only have a distributor, but customers who are very passionate about the products that we are creating,” he said. “I was fully immersed in the [Japanese] culture, and I love that they have a similar love that I do for engineering and gadgets and performance.”  

It’s a thrilling experience to see his custom-made bicycles being ridden at world-class competitions, Tollakson said. 

“Every year, we go to the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii in October, and I’ll be competing again this year,” he said. “And we have a very high number of our bicycles — somewhere around 50 — competing in that race, and it’s customers from all over the world. 

“There’s really no better feeling than being at that event, seeing all these top-level athletes from around the world who choose to use the equipment that we make here. And knowing that we’re playing a part in helping these individuals chase their dreams and their aspirations on our equipment is really a powerful feeling.”