Florida-based Atomik Components sells carbon wheels and handlebars. One of their most recent offerings is a 1,360-gram XC wheelset that's laced up using Berd's ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene, or UHMWPE, spokes.
Spokes that look more like string or rope raise a number of questions right off the bat. The UHMWPE spokes, however, are designed to be more durable and lighter weight than traditional steel spokes while also offering improvements in ride quality, but they are a $600 upgrade from standard Sapim spokes.
As tested, this wheelset retails for $2,150 USD, and like all of Atomik's carbon wheels it comes with a lifetime warranty.
Atomik BERD XC33 Details• Intended use: XC
• Rim material: Carbon
• Spoke material: Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene
• Rim width: 26mm (internal), 33mm (outer)
• Diameter: 29"
• Hubs: DT Swiss 240 (tested) other options available
• 28 BERD spokes (f/r)
• 110/148 Spacing
• Weight:1,360g
• Lifetime warranty
• MSRP: $2,150 USD
• More info:
www.atomikcarbon.com Carbon wheels are a dime a dozen these days. The polarizing component of this wheelset is no doubt, the spokes.
The DetailsAtomik's XC33 carbon rims have a 33mm external width, 26mm internal width, and 24mm height. The hubs on my test set were DT Swiss 240s.
According to Atomik and Berd, the UHMWPE spokes used on this wheelset have nine times the strength-to-weight ratio of steel and are stronger than high-end metal spokes with a better fatigue resistance as well. Theoretically, they can be re-used in multiple wheel builds/rim swaps without issue. The spokes aren't cut-resistant, and they wouldn't fare well if an extremely hot metal object (say a brake rotor, heater, or vehicle exhaust pipe) came into contact with them. If disaster does strike and riders find themselves needing a replacement, a standard j-bend spoke can be substituted as most bike shops won't have a spare Berd on hand. The spokes aren't cheap, averaging about $8 USD a pop.
If you drop UHMWPE into your favorite search engine you'll likely generate results mentioning body armor or sheets of the material for sale. It's an ultra-strong material and is said to have the highest impact strength of any thermoplastic currently made. The material is non-toxic, highly abrasion-resistant, and resistant to corrosives, UV, solvents, degreaser, gasoline, etc... That means you should be able to clean your bike and wheels just as you normally would, and if you get bike wash or drips from the gasoline you just soaked your cassette in on them they'll should be fine. Of course, it's recommended you use soap and water to clean things up.
Berd claim their spokes offer superior strength to weight to traditional metal spokes.
The spokes ends that thread into the nipple attach to the UHMWPE spokes in a method similar to a Chinese finger trap, which is the only way to attach them being that the UHMWPE material is inherently slippery. This further differentiates the Berd spokes from spokes that seem similar, such as the ones from Pi Rope.
Building up a set of wheels with Berd spokes is a bit different than using normal spokes, however they can be built/rebuilt by any wheel builder using a few speciality tools. They cannot be machine built. According to Atomik and Berd, most hubs require a chamfering and polishing process and three tensioning sessions, including a “rest” period of 24 hours during which the Berd’s UHMWPE material naturally relaxes by up to 50 percent before being re-tensioned. They then undergo another rest period where the material can relax by up to 25 percent before the spokes reach their maximum length during a third and final tensioning.
Wash after wash along with plenty of concentrated cleaners and degreaser coupled with grime from riding and the spokes look no different than they did on day one.
The Atomik Berd wheels have spent an extended period of time on my most frequently ridden bike, the Supercaliber.
PerformanceI've had the Atomik/Berd wheels on a couple of different XC bikes, and over the last several months they've been through the full range of trail conditions. I've also taken care to spray plenty of cleaners and degreasers on the bikes and drivetrains, along with the wheels, in order to keep things running well. I've been using Bontrager's XR1 and XR3 XC tires for the majority of testing with air pressures in the neighborhood of 19-23psi. For consistency, this is the same pressure range and tire set-up I've been using on other sets of XC wheels we've been testing. I've also had several other test riders on the Berd wheels from time to time to ensure it's not just my 150lb frame running into rocks.
There is a noticeable difference in the way the Berd wheels ride compared to a traditional wheelset with metal spokes. While it would be easy to dismiss Atomik's claims of vibration damping as marketing hoopla, in this case, there's something to it. The Berd wheels are noticeably smoother when it comes to ride quality. I never experienced the sensation of getting kicked around in rough sections of trail as many overly stiff wheelsets do. Compared to the recently reviewed Bontrager Kovee XXX wheels, the Atomiks offer slightly more forgiveness/compliance but also weigh in a little bit heavier, and the acceleration doesn't feel quite as snappy, although it's still very quick.
The vibration damping from the Berd spokes is noticeable and, according to them, measurable.
A good (but very general) analogy to use for the ride quality would be the difference in the feel of a high-end steel frame compared to a high-end carbon frame. For some riders, this could be a point against them, but there are ample amounts of liveliness when it comes to pushing through and accelerating out of turns or putting the bike in the air. When I'm talking about reducing vibration in this respect, it shouldn't be seen as a "deadening" of the wheels, rather a quieting of feedback and a somewhat less harsh ride. For riders who are used to associating fast with a violent and jarring feeling, this may take some getting used to, but as far as actual speed goes, the wheels feel every bit as quick as other ultra-high-end XC wheelsets.
As far as durability is concerned, I have no complaints and have had zero issues from the carbon rims or the Berd spokes.
Pros
+ Compliant
+ Vibration damping
+ Lifetime warranty
Cons
- Spoke replacements are pricey
- Proprietary technology
- May be overly compliant for some riders
Pinkbike's Take: | The Atomik/Berd XC Wide wheelset is a lot different than most of its competitors and it offers a unique feel to other wheels on the market. For the rider looking for a durable wheelset at a low weight that provides more forgiveness and a different ride quality than traditional j-bend spokes, these may be the ticket. While the Berd spokes are a polarizing product, throughout testing they performed as advertised without any issues or reason to question their integrity.— Daniel Sapp |
I couldn't think of a worse analogy. There are so many different carbon frames and none of them have a similar ride quality. Same for steel bikes depending on the tubing used.
It's difficult to separate one variable from another, since I changed rims, dropped a lot of unsprung mass, and changed spoke material, but one thing is certain: my wheels feel better than other wheels. I mean, they had damned well better be good, at this price, and they are.
There was a thread over on mtbr that had great detail on how to build your own uhmwpe spokes - with pretty good success. Berd threw a hissy (even though nobody was selling the stuff, just a diy in their garage) and it got shut down.
Cool product bros. Glad it's working for ya.
R2 bike has similarly priced wheels that are same width but much lighter:
r2-bike.com/PI-ROPE-Wheelset-29-RL-Lucky-Jack-6TERS-Carbon-Gen2
Pi Rope+Newmen hubs seem much better designed with straight pull spokes that don't put pressure on the spoke like on J-bend with the knot and all.
Your other option is keeping your methods a trade secret (like the Coca Cola recipe or Google's search algorithm). You can't really do both.
As long as Joe Hobbiest doesn't sell his creations, there is nothing a patent holder can do. A patent protects commercial interests only, it doesn't prevent the DIY market from making things for their own personal use.
"Technically speaking, if an invention is patented, the patent hasn’t expired, and the owner hasn't clearly given you permission to use it, then you are not allowed to use it at all, even if you're just making it for personal reasons and not trying to sell anything. In the US, you cannot even use or recreate a patented invention for educational purposes."
patentpandas.org/resources/patent-infringement
Now stop spreading misinformation.
Totally disagree. Such "differences" come from design, not materials. Especially considering one of those materials has anisotropic mech properties and hence can be used to produce structures with tailored mech response based on the design requirements.
At the end of the day you have to show up with a measurable result showing an improvement, but this pretty much never happens. What is always left of these discussions where somehow aluminium always comes at the bottom, is that: it feels better to me. And that is fine as long as people start and end with this sentence, eventually adding actual theory behind it, rather than stating it as a fact. Nobody has ever got back from a ride less battered because they changed from alu to whatever the hell they find more valuable.
There is no bloody way in the world this particular rim and spoke system offers any real life, evident advantage. Proprietary stuff is always a pain in the ass. That is the real price to pay here.
Back to back with other $2,000+ carbon wheels set up exactly the same, the Berd spokes do provide a different ride quality that is no doubt, noticeable in certain places, especially rough sections of trail. Will any of this make you a better rider? No. They're unique and offer something different. That's all.
It’s like with women, they Pretty much all say they hate guys who flirt with every girl and look like they would screw anything. But ask them who would they shag if they were needy? The bloke who openly carries himself like he would screw anything.
I mean It’s some sort of cognitive dissonance: It’s suspicious, it makes no sense, why would I want that? This is exactly why I want that!
Maybe it's a combination of the possibility that life might be better with that new thing and the ability to afford it. i.e., this might be a stupid purchase, but I can afford it and it makes me feel good in some indefinable way/marks me apart as a connoisseur of shit/raises my social status. There's sometimes no objective measure of the worth of stuff, apart from when the sensations/speed/confort are clearly better.
What is awkward is that an individual who is into something for a longer period of time, has seen and tried a thing or two is still unable to tell the sht from bullsht. I do think it has to do with simply being clinically clueless. And please, I am not saying it's about Joeys only, in most cases yes, but it also involves top riders. Remember that video of Sam Blenkinsop explaining cornering? Or another story, my friends met Godziek riding around my hometown, it was like a year or two before his first Rampage - they asked him about pressures, he didn't really know, then about tubeless and he didn't know what the tire sealant is. I know a several stories like this.
I agree that production steel frames riding smoother than aluminum frames is a load of bollocks. Maybe a custom-designed steel frame with personalized tubing choices, where they're really running close to the edge of safe design for your weight might have some noticeable flex, but a production steel frame that's has to be designed to not feel like a noodle for a 250lb rider will feel just as stiff as any aluminum frame for a 170lb or 190lb rider.
This stuff is strong, basically synthetic spider webs.
My only concern is how to adjust spoke tension accurately on your own... or if you had to install it yourself.
You can build the wheels, Berd can build from in-stock parts, you can ship parts to Berd for building, or a (very patient) local shop can build it. Some special finishing work may be required to smooth the hubs to reduce abrasion.
Tensioning once build it easy. Berd provides a tool to hold the spoke and you turn the nipple as with any wheel, except you'll need a low-profile spoke wrench - like a general-purpose, open-end wrench; I picked up one from AliExpress for a dollar or two.
Other common uses for it include replacing steel wire in Winches/cranes/other lifting cordage applications. As the article mentioned, it is stronger than the same size steel cable, lighter (easier to pull around/connect to things as it is much more flexible), floats. Plus its easy to splice. Not all knots work in it though, as it really is quite slippery.
I personally use it as my main suspension for my hammock while backpacking/camping. I use a 7/64" thickness cordage, which has a weight rating of 1600lbs. From the looks of it, the spokes are close-ish to the same diameter, so they should be plenty strong.
If you've got the cash, and like the vibration deadening they provide, it seems they really do drop the weight of the wheelset a noticeable amount. I'm not willing to pay that price, but I won't admit its a pretty cool option (imo anyway).
using it this way on wheels seems quite interesting... id definitely wait for a few more iterations on the wheels thought.
I then purchased some Project 321 hubs with ceramic bearings and sent the rims and hubs off to Berd . The approximate up charge over bladed spokes was about $350 compared to if I just laced them up locally. My total investment in the new wheels was about 1500 bucks all in.
The wheels came in weighing about 1450 g as I recall. They reduce trail chatter enough where you feel like you're going slower but times prove you're going faster.
They have taken a heck of a lot of abuse, plenty of jumps including one with a flat, and endless rocks.
As far as I'm concerned I built a superior set of wheels and would do the exact same thing again.
Last I heard through PM 2 of those members that had received CaD letters were going to be producing product in China for mass production using UEMPH (or whatever it's called).
Not sure why anyone would be mad at Berd for that. I might also add that the thread is alive and well on MTBR right now it's just there info that intruded on Berd's patent has been deleted.
As far as the above reviewed product, they should have utilized DT180 hubs for this application imo.
Spinergy used a fiber called PBO, which is very high strength and stiffness, but degrades in strength over time from exposure to moisture at elevated temperatures and UV light. A great deal of protection is required to use this.
inchemistry.acs.org/content/inchemistry/en/atomic-news/spider-webs.html
And, add an unfinished whip landing in there too while you're hucking it up.
My SPINERGY Fall Line back in 2006 looked cool but were far from reliable.
I remember one day all noodle spokes got so loose that my hub became VPP Since I didn't have dedicated spoke tool I used a pen (sic!) to tension them just enough to get home...
You had to remove tires, tubes and wheel tape to properly true them with 2 dedicated tools and a tension meter was a must.
Good times
m.pinkbike.com/photo/510942
m.pinkbike.com/photo/509577
m.pinkbike.com/photo/509579
m.pinkbike.com/photo/8585500
m.pinkbike.com/photo/542699
I don't believe any product in the bike industry is so perfectly tuned that we can't experiment with it. If the 3Zero Moto rims can be used with 1.5 mm, 1.6 mm, 1.8 mm - maybe even 2.0 mm - steel spokes, then why not Berd's spokes? The material is different, but the properties are similar.
www.amazon.com/emma-kites-200-5500lb-Braided-Polyethylene/dp/B07BKQLFRB?th=1&psc=1
Huh, well the hubs look like the tines off a hay baler, not exactly a looker.
one time. That was when my bike fell out of my friend's truck on the freeway.
Otherwise, they are all still running true. Hopefully these newcomers to the noodle-spoke world will be as good.