Winter Shut Down
We’ll be CLOSED from mid December to late January, as last year. Will again be in Barcelona. Next year we’ll find a way to stay open regardless of location. This year, however, there is no choice. I’ll be online throughout—writing, doing tech support, and learning more about EU wheel building. Consider stocking up if you can anticipate your needs.
If your workshop is nearby, please let us know as we hope to get around the EU a bit.
50th Anniversary!
It’s the 50th anniversary of the founding of Wheelsmith—time for a reunion! Several dozen ex-staffers gathered this October in Palo Alto to share great meals (thanks to Franco at Terun Pizza), rides, and lots of catching up. Cool times worth celebrating. Wheelsmith was our first business, lasting from 1975 to 2000—two retail bike shops (Palo Alto and Los Gatos). The spoke and wheel building business moved to MT in 1995.
Over the next year I'll be sharing images of that era. Wheelsmith had its moments!
Products to Check
Presenting our new Digital Ruler, Spoke Pin broche, and THREAD (a lighter viscosity threading oil). We’ve sold through several shipments of RIDE! the lavish pictorial story of Jobst Brandt. Consider your gifts before it’s too late.
Tensiometer Calibration
Thanks to recent work on Berd's new Trudi building system, we’ve improved our calibration methods. This makes better charts with new columns for Garbaruk aluminum and Nextie carbon spokes. See them here.
For nerds, this represents a better accommodation of hundreds of empirical measurements. We previously picked a best-fit polynomial curve for the data of each diameter. Now it's using linear regression via least squares. The changes are subtle but the charts are smoother and better.
2026 Blogging
What about the Wheel Fanatyk blog? I sat out 2025, so there’s a backlog of topics. The bicycle wheel world is screaming along, and there's more interesting design and building activity than ever.
MADE Show
We exhibited at Portland's iconic MADE framebuilding show in August. 100F + all that Portland energy = epic event. Thanks to many who came by. I need regular exposure to Portland's cycling scene, it energizes and invigorates like no where else!
THANKS
Your patience and support are much appreciated. This is a company of one and it takes the generosity and support of many to make it fly.
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