At the core of this business is the small but beautiful idea that riding bikes is one of the most simple and natural ways for a human to interact with the world. The act doesn’t need to be justified by technology or a finish line or speed or watts or even fitness. Really it’s about the feeling of moving through space under your own power, going where you want, exploring and seeing what’s there.
Bikes belong to everybody. That includes the fastest among us, shaving grams to make every second count or the riders who venture out into the wild on equipment that pushes the limits of technology and the edges of a bank account. We’re not here to throw shade. Those pursuits are genuine and valid and real, and it’s a part of what makes this culture rich and diverse. But when it comes down to it, that’s just not our wheelhouse. We’re more about practicality, longevity and maybe a little adventure. It’s the long way home or the unnecessary detour to check out a strange alley or a new trail, with utter disregard for time and speed and performance. It’s the choice to be comfortable, intrepid, and curious.
We’re a little concerned that the industry keeps telling one story, which has always been there, but it just happens to be really loud right now: newer, lighter, faster, better. While there’s nothing wrong with this story, it seems to be drowning out the other stories, our story, and potentially your story. Sometimes it comes across as a rule book, like there’s a correct bike, a correct way to ride and specific uniform you have to wear to be allowed in, which, let’s face it, draws some people in, but unfortunately it can also push others away.
This limits what bikes can be, what bikes are.
We ride in whatever’s comfortable. We have baskets, carry too much weight, have kickstands, or put modern mountain bike parts on an 80’s touring bike. Our rigs are old and heavy, new and strange, light and fast. It doesn’t matter. We can ride for solitude or community. We ride to get to a specific place or simply to wander and explore. Maybe we just want to skip the car or ride to stay healthy. But we think that most of us, from the spandex-clad Strava KOM to the person riding a tank of a single-speed beach cruiser, is experiencing something universal among most people who choose to hop onto that saddle, the joy that comes with riding a bicycle. And maybe a little suffering (you know who you are.)
This is also a major reason why WheelBuildingKit.com exists. Of every part on a bicycle, the wheel is the one where taking your time actually makes a difference. Sure, any old factory built wheel can be pretty good, but a wheel you lace and tension yourself can be so much better, longer lasting and yours. There’s something magical about taking a bare rim, a hub, and a fistful of spokes and turning them into one true, round, dependable thing with nobody’s hands but your own. It imbues a bike with personality and adds to the quality of its soul. Yes, bikes have souls, if you let them.
But the barrier for entry has always been steeper than it should be. Picking spokes and parts and gathering all the accouterments to build a wheel is kind of a hassle. Figuring out which hub plays nicely with which rim assumes you already know the answer. And the parts catalogs are built for shops moving volume, not for one person building one solid wheel for a bike they love, a bike infused with memory, history and spirit.
That’s the gap we fill. Every kit is simply a hub, a rim, and a set of spokes we’ve already cut to length and chosen to work together. But these kits are so much more than that. They’re a gateway into greater connection with this amazing, simple conveyance.
We have curated our wheels to fill a niche that seems to have been ghosted by big-bike. We offer dynamo setups for the people still out there after sunset, or just wanting to keep their phone charged over the days of a long tour., or a trip to the farmers market. We offer rim-brake builds for all the bikes the market decided to forget. We design builds with high spoke counts, for bikes with wide gearing, old-school geometry, and lugged frames. These wheels are the ones nobody mass-produces because there’s no crowd to sell them to. We cut every spoke in-house, so what lands on your doorstep is ready to build, not a scavenger hunt for a donor bike on an online marketplace.
We’re not counting on selling stacks of wheels. We’d rather help you build the one that’s right, and in that process the crafting of the thing part of the ride instead of a chore on the way to it.
Our parent company is called Velolento, which is an Italian / Spanish mash up meaning “slow bike,” but the name is really about spirit, not pace. It’s a philosophy not a dogma. Ride intentionally, pay attention, make room for others. Treat cycling as something you live rather than something you perform.
If you believe a good ride doesn’t need a finish line, and you’d sooner build the wheel than just hand over a card for one, you’ve found your people.
Welcome to WheelBuildingKit.com. Let’s ride.
