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Life’s too short to ride ordinary wheels

When we really think about it, every rider eventually comes to this fundamental truth. It’s only really a question of sooner or later.

For me, it goes even further. My bike is nothing less than my personal Freedom Machine. Protector of sanity in an insane world. Generator of smiles, challenges, lifetime friendships and epic adventures. A long while back I realised that this extraordinary machine deserves nothing less than exceptional wheels to truly fulfil its potential. Making only these very wheels became my singular aim.

I began tinkering with bikes as a young kid 50 or so years ago. I got my start simply watching, then helping out my dad. He rode a heavyweight workhorse daily – not because he wanted to, but simply to get to work.  His bike failed him regularly, but he taught himself to fix every part in order to keep it on the road. Whilst helping him on the weekends, he would tell me stories about racing, about the spring classics and the three week long grand tours, and about legends like van Looy, van Steenbergen, de Vlaeminck, Anquetil, Simpson and my personal favourite, Eddy Merckx.

I quickly caught both the bike and the racing bugs. Building ultimate dream machines soon became my obsession: the bike that goes anywhere I point it, inspires the confidence I need to push harder, and compels me to ride on – no matter what. I learnt that turning ordinary into extraordinary always ended up with just two things: the front wheel. And the rear wheel. It’s obvious when you think about it. The entire – in fact, the only – point of a bicycle is connecting people to planet via the rotation of our wheels.

But all bikes – even those $$$ grand tour race replicas – roll as standard on very ordinary wheels. Made to budget. Not made to perform. Go-Faster decals look great – but that’s instead of greatness. To unlock your bike’s potential – and put that big smile back where it belongs – don’t ride ordinary wheels. Ride extraordinary wheels. The kind we’ve been making since 2007.

So if you’re looking for that one-hit step-change upgrade to your ride, start and end with wheels. Don’t take our word: over the years, our customers – riders like you from across the planet – tell their own special stories much better than we ever could

It’s finally time to make it Your Bike. Your personal Freedom Machine.

SO WHAT MAKES ‘EM SO FLIPPIN’ GOOD?

FULL FAT BOY
FEEL THE WIDTH – EMBRACE THE COMFORT

As one of the original pioneers of fat & wide rim profiles, the 100% structurally engineered carbon fibre Revolution Series Rim sends our Fat Boy wheels next level. Exceptionally strong, stiff & light. Aero-optimised for 25-28 mm tyres that float over rough road surfaces thanks to ultra low pressures. Add fatter rubber still for exceptional off-road adventure. Internal widths are 21mm. Toroidal airfoil profiles hit max external widths of 29.5mm, tapering down to 27.5 mm so they slot safely home inside most modern bikes.

BLADE RUNNER

Our elliptically aero bladed spokes are drawn from strong and durable 18/8 stainless steel – long haul strength meets premium black oxidised finish. Sealant-proof nickel steel nipples may not look so fancy – but they’ll outlast the rest of your bike, and sorry to say, most likely even its rider.

THIN AIR

When you really think about them, bike wheels are mostly made out of thin air. Air is light, but not terribly stiff. So the less air your wheel has sitting in between its rim & its axle – ie the deeper the rim – the more your wheel gains in stiffness, strength, aerodynamic & mechanical performance, and the more effortless speed becomes.  Oh, and the more fun you’ll have.

STOP N GO – FASTER!

Free speed puts a great big smile on our faces. But stopping with power & precision should never be compromised:

  • Reliable all-weather rim braking is always available with our dedicated Dark Matter carbon ceramic brake pads
  • Centre-lock disc rotor mounts deliver the ultimate in stopping power

AXL ROSE

Our multi-axle forged aerospace grade hubs work in all types of bike: from traditional quick release road race bikes, fixed & single speed track bikes, to the latest gen thru-axle equipped road, off-road & adventure bikes.

TUBE / LESS

To tube or not to tube? That’s the question – and its entirely up to you. Either way, you’ll enjoy levels of comfort & grip you need to ride to believe, thanks to ultra low tyre pressure demands.  Hello 60psi.  Goodbye 120.

Fast Fat Boys! These Fat Boys are faster then my Enve 3.4 with DT Swiss 180 hubs. Over my 19 miles it beat my best time by 4 seconds.

- John J on his Black Lightning 58s -

Hi Drew, Wheels are still awesome. They have 10s of thousands of miles on them now and still true.

- Ali M via email in July 2020, about his DM8 Original Fat Boys, purchased 2016 -

I’m blown away by these wheels. Can only compare them to my Roval CLX 40s but they're so much nicer & much stiffer. But it’s the ride quality that really stands out. just lovely. Transformed the bike.

- Simon G on his Black Lightning 58s -

What more do you want from a wheelset? They look great, ride amazing, fast, light and great value for money.

- Dean K on his Black Lightning 58s -

Great service as usual. Freehub turned up in a timely manner and after double checking install with Drew I had it fitted and bike rolling again in no time. Done 1,000km+ since on the road and all is well 🙂

- Phillip A -

Why Spin On These Wheels?

There’s a lot of wheels out there. Few are worthy of your investment. 

Most wheels we hear constantly about in the media are, in reality, almost entirely dreamt up by the marketing departments of Big Brand bike companies.

Visit most bike company HQs these days and instead of workshops filled with engineers and artisan builders, what you’ll more likely find are sales & marketing gurus in power meetings, crafting whizzbang slogans like “proudly designed in the UK”. Meanwhile the procurement team is next door, busily trading one Asian OE manufacturer off against the next.  All magnificently set in high tech, gleaming architectural statement offices. Naturally.

Personally, I ride engineering over marketing. Being on first name terms with my bike’s maker is more important to me than seeing it on a magazine cover. In our humble little bike shed, we don’t really do meetings. Or very much marketing. Instead, we have this one simple, single focus: engineering the very best performance and value we can cram into every pair of Spin On These wheels.

Life’s too short for rubbish wheels. They’re stealing the fun out of every pedal stroke. Ride your life for everything its worth. On extraordinary wheels.

quality

NO COMPROMISE ON QUALITY

We use only top end materials in the construction of our wheels. And an old bloke who cares a lot about the stuff he makes.

speed

EFFORTLESS SPEED

Our wheels give you a swiftness to exceed your expectations.

grip

ALL WEATHER GRIP

Stick to the road like a super glued limpet.

pricing

DIRECT PRICING

No middlemen, distributors, sales people or big bucks marketing machine. Just maker to rider direct pricing.

HAND MADE IN ENGLAND SINCE 2007

Hey there! Welcome to my Speed Shed. My name is Drew and this old shed is where I make the Spin On These wheels. You can visit me inside by clicking the play button above.

It may not look much. And it really is just my garden shed. But inside, its my precision engineering workshop. The place where I dream up, engineer and build every single Spin On These wheel from start to finish.

The thing is this. I don’t make slow, boring wheels. This shed isn’t glamorous or hi-tech, yet I don’t make any kind of second-best, discount, budget or whatever you want to call them wheels. I just don’t see the point in making anything deliberately less good than I can be making it.

And thats why I call it The Speed Shed. Thank you for stopping by!

Which Wheels Are Best For Me?

I'm a roadie, regularly sub 20 in my club 10 TT, hard as nails and I'll never, ever buy into this whole disc brake malarky

Go for any of our dedicated superlight road builds.  You’ll find them listed in the “Rim Braking QR Axle” bit of our store.

You can’t ride ’em with disc brakes – but you won’t ever need to, ’cause rim brakes is all a hardened road racer needs, right?

But, just in case the world ever runs out of old school rim brakes, choosing any of our Disc & Rim Braking Multi-Axle wheels means no loss of speed without the need for a second pair

I'm a climber and mine's a skinny latte. Going up hills fast is what I live for. But the slightest cross winds give me the bleedin' heebee jeebies

Choose any of our 45s, you bleedin’ lightweight.

But actually, if you want to ride up even faster, keep up with the fatties on the way back down, then sail effortlessly through all the bits in between, profit from physics and ride the 58s.

I don't have a bike right now but I've got 3 followers on instaface. Interested in sponsoring me?
Err, no.