I’ll remember Spring 2014 because we received our first all-green and all-black P&K Lie stands. We missed NAHBS this year but the optical feast of these stands is keeping our aesthetic batteries charged!

I grabbed one black model before shipping and took a few glamour shots. As with frames at NAHBS, these stands are built first for function and second, to visually wow users. Fabulous function combined with artistic elegance go a long way to inspire wheel building. Soon, riders  believing  wheels built on P&K stands are better will request we keep a public list of P&K equipped shops. Of course it’s still about the builder, not the stand.

A lovely balance of gold, black, and silver elements. Carbon sheet not included.

Adjustment to 175mm hub width. Phenomenal rigidity.

Axle retaining clamps are instant to open and close, incredibly strong.

On the base, between the solid bar uprights, check “Lie” picked out in red.

Got love iridescent brass over translucent carbon. The “holder” is a silver block at the end of the clock support. Keeps stand stable if not screwed down.

Here, both indicator bearings are retracted. The horizontal, black arm on which the lower clock hangs swings to the left if your wheel wears a tire.

No detail too small for Peter and Kerstin, so here we go close in.

Thanks to a play on words, at least in English, the pursuit of truth in cycling (via truing stands) assumes an almost philosophical importance. Celebration of beauty is, likewise a hallmark of great cultures. The two come together in a black P&K Lie stand. Like an historic timepiece, this level of device is as close to immortality as cycling junk gets.

By the way, Peter and Kerstin’s last name, “Lie,” is Swedish and pronounced “Lee.” Interesting that, in English, it means opposite of truth.

Build great wheels and go have great rides!

The market is so often driven by myth. For example, mass production in automated factories is assumed to be the cheapest way to make things. Often true but so often not, we need to challenge such myths. Let’s consider this and three others that interfere with the independent wheel builder (IWB).

No 1 – Mass production is always better value than hand crafted. Whooee, this myth serves someone’s agenda because our world is drenched in it. Mass production and now automation, can be blessings. But treating them as demigods goes too far. By the 21st century, this premise deserves questioning. People are waking up and you can leverage the trend.

Really fast robot!

IWB’s serve customer needs with personal interaction, fine tuning component selection, quick delivery, and better long term support. These, appropriately delivered, define value. Here are some mass production costs:

a. Factories must be centrally located, serving broad regions, necessarily remote from the customer. Riders and conditions vary widely.

b. To enjoy the efficiency of volume, variations must be limited. As an IWB, you can choose from many rims, colors, spoke gauges, and a zillion other options that would gag a mass producer. Literally millions of combinations are within reach.

c. Centralized production and far-flung distribution is a wasteful model for planetary health. Don’t be preachy, but remember your local labor is related to many strong and growing trends of local sourcing, especially food. You’re not alone, it’s a movement.

PhD pushing the technology and performance envelope.

No 2 – Brainy guys in special coats know more than local builders.
“Only big companies can push technology and performance.” How often that is untrue. The most exciting and vigorous ideas shaping our world continue to come from think-different individuals in small startups. Your customers are aware of this. Keep in mind:

a. You are part of a 150 year tradition of bespoke wheel building. The racing, exploring, and record-setting greats of cycling ALL depend on personal wheel builders and special selections for their exploits. It’s well documented and uninterrupted today.

b. Do not worry if you are early in your IWB career. If you become injured a young doctor gets your complete trust because he/she does not act alone. Professionals use experienced colleagues for input so their solutions are optimal. Work this way, too!  The Guild of Wheel Builders is amorphous but don’t be deterred. Build and work your network.

Not quite the target customer! © Gary Boulanger

No 3 – Customers are cheap, they won’t pay what you need to charge.
Brand managers know value must be declared before customers embrace. Look at ads by Lauren, Prada, or Gucci. There is no attempt to convey cheapness. Consider:

a. Back in the ’70’s, a big star in the Bay Area mechanics scene was Steve Aldridge. Direct from the British National Team, he worked a few shops, wrenched for the US Olympic Team, and later opened his own stores. He once said, “each time I raise my wheel building rate, the backlog grows.” For one, there has to be skill behind such a claim. Your riders want to trust you. You give them permission with your tools, calmness, understatement, confidence, and pricing.

b. Does anyone order a haircut from a catalog?  We feel  personal about appearance and rely on real people for haircuts. We’ll trust a total stranger “stylist” to perceive our uniqueness. As an IWB, fully half of your fee is design. Figure your hourly rate, multiply by the time to build the wheel, and double it. Don’t behave like you’re just assembling bikes. You are a wheel stylist and designer. That’s worth money.

c. Regularly deconstruct mass-produced wheels. Sort the costs, be informed. Surprises await that can be part of your act. Many wheels are drastically higher price than the components suggest. A hub or rim in a different shape is not necessarily more expensive to make. This is NOT to say branded wheels are bad value. Only that many are pretenders, and their examples strengthen your case.

Irresistible claims attract the confused, busy, and unlucky.

No 4 – Overstatement is the way to sell wheels.
You’d  believe it to read the ads, tests, and web reviews. Don’t waste time fighting back, too many people love it. Steer clear and watch how fast your reputation rises. Be generous with compliments, suppress your brand biases (be kind even to the exaggerators), and riders will begin to treat you like a guru. I guarantee you will have moments of guilt as this cloak of “wisdom” and “impartiality” surrounds you. Try it. You can entertain with opinion or dominate with competence. Your choice.

Beware of negativism. In my day the enemy was the “machine made wheel.” Hand-made vs. Machine-made. Lots of time wasted on over-simplified labels. It’s a question of quality and flexibility, something at which the IWB excels. It is not a question of machines or brands. You’ll go nowhere trash talking major brands. Say “so and so is great and fashionable, but look what I can do for you…” We live in an era of wild overstatement in most areas of society. While we’re largely numb to these claims, those who speak less aggressively stand out. Quiet, responsive confidence is a tonic. An IWB has a huge advantage here. Let others confuse your customer. Watch how your calm suggestions are welcomed.

Apologies for any implied insults to wheel brands. These companies are hard as hell to build and maintain. All are passionate and nearly no one gets rich. What I’m not sorry about is badly wanting IWB’s to have plenty of confidence and ammo to support the craft. IWB’s are winners and so are our customers!

Launching a Series
Here is the second of a  series of posts exploring wheel design. You’ll recognize them by rhyming titles and the word “Right.”

Wheelbuilding’s strong design tradition is riddled with misconception and superstition, so let’s blow away some myths. Independent wheelbuilders (IWB) need to design with confidence.

Il Fausto, a true wheel specialist!

As you may be aware, the role of spoke tension is often misunderstood and misrepresented. Hence, my earlier post “How Tight is Right?” The rest of this series will illuminate the underlying dynamics of various design features so you can choose effectively in a market with zillions of choices, contradictory claims, and a steady stream of unique riders and bikes.

The Intangibles
We’re going to ignore some important wheel characteristics, design choices about which you don’t need my advice and around which there is little confusion. Color and price, in particular. What I want to discuss are elements that are invisible or hard to perceive – intangibles, you might say. Tension, weight, aerodynamics, and feel are my favorite four. Today, we’re onto weight.

A Huge Mix-up
While we all fundamentally know how to navigate features and benefits, the market is so shrill with emphatic claims and overstatement, we regularly fall victim to mass confusions. Few such confusions are so imbedded in cycling than the relationship between price and weight. It is almost unique to cycling because, in design at large and other vehicle industries, the issue is hardly blurred.

Have you noticed, the lighter a bike the more it costs? The lighter a wheel, the more it costs. This is a fraud and we don’t have to go far to see why. Do airplane makers charge less for light planes than for heavy? Are light trucks more expensive than heavy? Is a light hammer more expensive than heavy? No, of course. Since lightness is a virtue, the only reason to add weight is because requirements are greater. A 747 carries more than a 737. It is heavier for a reason and costs more. The same design standards apply to both planes. The heavier one is not less well made.

Twelve spokes lighter! How simple.

In cycling, cheap bikes are heavy. There’s no doubt but never confuse weight and price the way our industry has. In a simplified world, heavier bikes are meant to have features lighter bikes cannot: strength, comfort, longevity, accessories, versatility, portability, etc. To compare a cheap, heavy bike to a light bike that happens to be expensive is a big mistake, apples and oranges they say. The comparison is not valid. Designers need to be smarter than generalizations that come from flawed comparison.

So STOP giving companies credit for charging lots for light wheels that lack features. In fact, they’ll use expensive materials to increase the price because they are afraid you will reject them if they are not expensive. There are loads of inexpensive wheel designs just as light as the brands. Brands know the weight/price relationship is so totally misunderstood they must charge more. It’s as bad as believing that gray haired war veterans are wise and trustworthy. Sure, often. But look at the Senate. Doesn’t always apply, right?

The independent wheel builder is, first, a designer and second, a constructor. In your design role, know your way around the myth of weight and price.

Leontien van Moorsel, very very quick Dutch & World Champion.

Sprinting Simplified
In certain very limited situations, wheel weight has huge effect. Aggressive acceleration, as in road or CX racing, involves increasing wheel rotation. Lighter wheels take less energy to accelerate. This produces a dazzling impression on riders, especially initiates. Like autos where power = thrill = luxury => victory => fulfillment. Lighter wheels sprint great but do not produce victory. Most models suggest weight in wheels is about twice as important as other vehicle weight during sprinting.

More important, sprinting is a tiny, tiny portion of your ride. Despite their vivid impression, super light wheels do not get you from A to B appreciably faster. Don’t get me wrong, they’re fun, like horsepower. But fun does not equate to achievement.

The Dynamics of Climbing
Light wheels also climb great. Why? If you do the math, the lower mass of the wheel = less weight to carry up the grade. But the difference in weight between the heaviest and lightest wheel sets in the market is about 1kg. Vehicle weight (bike + rider) could be 89kg. Here wheels could bring a maximum 1.1% decrease in total mass. A 1% difference is negligible compared to accessories, morning meal, shifting decisions, and a normal wattage variation from day to day. So why such a vivid impression when climbing?

Greg killing Indurain, climbing in the 1990 TdF.

The key to efficient climbing is tempo. Maintaining ultra smooth pedal stroke and even crank rpm translates to constant road speed. Why is that good? At the lower speed of climbing a reduction in effort or pedal speed means an immediate, unrecoverable loss of momentum (road speed). No coasting effect that we enjoy at 30kph. Jerky climbing costs watts.

If you are an inefficient climber, then you are suffering these power losses due to uneven tempo. Every time you slow down and notice, you speed back up to pace. The lighter wheels feel good during these recovery moments. But they shouldn’t be happening in the first place! The more uneven one’s climbing technique, the greater benefit from light wheels.

Even for a crummy climber there’s a liability to low wheel weight. The low flywheel effect of light wheels makes a speed loss swifter. One might have fun constantly varying speed, feeling quick on recovery with light wheels. But the clock will show mediocre results. Just like gunning a powerful engine when driving. Feels impressive but not nearly as quick as driving with finesse.

So, What to Do?
(1) Never forget cost and weight are not directly linked in wheel design. That impression is a media event you must deflect as an IWB.

(2) Light wheels feel great but rarely make significant contributions to speed. Moments when they are important (sprinting) are short. Times when they feel great (climbing) are mostly illusory and often the result of poor technique.

(3) This doesn’t mean heavy = better! Lightness is always a virtue, especially in a fuel challenged world. But it is just one design element, not the holy grail.

(4) Be glad you aren’t stuck in a major wheel company, knowing all this but pandering to the warped expectations of the market, expectations largely driven by greedy, group-think advertising.

(5) Keep an eye on breaking news. Occasionally new technologies appear that may be overlooked by the industry or years from commercialization. The inventive spirit of the cycling world is unstoppable

Next, I’ll address pricing and aerodynamics. Navigating those quagmires takes some data and tact!