Hey — Lou here.
I'll admit it — the first time a rep showed me a Berd wheel, I thought it was a joke. The "spokes" look like shoelaces. You could tie one in a knot. But they're woven from Dyneema, the same fiber used in body armor and climbing gear, and it has roughly 15 times the strength-to-weight ratio of steel. Each one weighs about 2.5 grams, versus 7-8 grams for a good steel spoke, which works out to 100-200 grams saved per wheel — all of it rotating weight, which is the weight you actually feel.
At the Paris Olympics, Tom Pidcock and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot both took gold in cross-country mountain biking on wheels laced with Berd spokes. Alan Hatherly took bronze on the same tech. Half the podium, on string.
Past all the weight-weenie talk, the thing people actually notice on the trail is comfort. The fiber flexes just enough to soak up chatter that a steel spoke transmits straight to your hands.
