Reinventing the Wheel with Berd Spokes

Bicycle wheel manufacturer Berd LLC (Hopkins, MN USA) was founded with a clear vision: to use advanced materials and cutting-edge science and engineering to enhance the performance of bicycles and riders alike. The founders’ mission to create the world’s strongest, lightest, most durable spokes led them to Dyneema®, renowned for its exceptional strength-to-weight ratio.

Lighter. Stronger. Faster. All for longer

Berd soon began to realize the significant advantages of engineering spokes using Dyneema® fiber instead of metal. For one thing, the new spokes – featuring a 1.8 mm diameter in the midsection and weighing just 2.5 grams per spoke – were less than half the weight of high-end conventional stainless steel spokes. What’s more, despite their lightweight construction, these spokes outperformed traditional metal when it came to fatigue life and resilience.

But there was more. By harnessing Dyneema®’s many other remarkable properties in its game-changing products, Berd has spent nearly a decade developing spokes that not only boast unparalleled strength, durability, and resistance to the elements, but also offer further important benefits such as stiffness, low creep, UV resistance, and solvent compatibility. Better yet, they’re easy to install with both J-bend and straight-pull hubs in addition to all standard bicycle rims, giving them outstanding versatility.

We originally developed Berd spokes thinking the primary value would be reduction in wheel weight. However, the biggest benefit of Berd is the vibration damping. In contrast to metal spokes which transmit vibrations from the road into the seat and handlebars, Berd spokes damp vibrations due to the intrinsic properties of Dyneema®. This damping leads to an incredibly smooth and fast ride.

Charlie Spanjers, Co-founder and CEO, Berd Spokes

Damping vibrations, not thrills

For cyclists on- and offroad, another major advantage of spokes made with Dyneema® is that they excel in vibration damping. In fact, they provide a remarkable 200% improvement compared to wheels with metal spokes. The result? A smoother, more comfortable ride that helps cyclists push harder for longer.

Thanks to their innovative design, Berd spokes made with Dyneema® disperse impact energy across multiple spokes, which in turn reduces stress on the wheel rim, spokes, hub, and nipples. Furthermore, in comparative tests, wheels equipped with these spokes show superior resistance to impact and torque fatigue compared to their metal-spoked counterparts. In other words, Berd’s Dyneema®-based spokes efficiently absorb blunt-force impacts, allowing riders to stay on the trail without sacrificing performance.

Dyneema® and Berd: A gold-standard combination

These revolutionary spokes have been put to the test in some of the world’s toughest mountain-biking terrain – and they’ve come out on top. Not only have several US Cross-Country Mountain Bike National Championships been won by riders using Berd spokes made with Dyneema® fiber, but two 2023 UCI Cross-Country Mountain Bike World Championship events (men’s XCM and women’s U23 XCO) in Glasgow, Scotland were won by riders propelled by our partnership.

The new Cross-Country Marathon World Champion posted a winning time of 4:14:42 on a challenging 96-km loop with 3,200 meters of elevation gain. The bike’s wheels exemplified the synergy between technology and performance, conquering the challenging course with their unbeatable combination of unmatched strength, low weight, and vibration damping.

Successes like these on the world stage are a testament to Berd and Dyneema®’s shared commitment to excellence and innovation in materials science. Our ongoing collaboration will make sure Berd’s products continue to accelerate ahead of the pack – so riders worldwide can keep redefining what’s possible on and off the trail.