Thesis-Logos

I think he cranked hard for a couple weeks prior to the show to make this and another frame, so yes it was rushed for the show for sure. His repair work is very good in his composite repair business, so I would expect the final product to look good.

That's not quite right. The XD15 bearing upgrade is $550. It's a lot of cash, and to be honest is not something we recommend for most riders. What you get with that is the most durable bearings available, which come with a lifetime warranty, and believe it or not, actually get faster as they wear in. Enduro uses a proprietary steel alloy for the bearing races that is hard enough to stand up to ceramic balls, but unlike the chromium steel races used in other ceramic bearings, is stainless. This allows them to be effectively maintenance free.

We hear ya! Our ceramic upgrade uses Enduro XD15 bearings, which to be frank are the only ceramic bearings we would ever consider riding ourselves. They come with a lifetime warranty, although based on our experiences and their test data, it's unlikely they will ever wear out. We didn't take the decision to offer ceramic bearings lightly, as there are a lot of snake oil options out there focusing on low friction claims. We are offering XD15, because they compliment our goals as a brand of building the most reliable wheels we can without sacrificing performance and elegance.

Grateful to be included here Dario, and very glad that you're enjoying the wheels! It's been cool to watch you spread your wings here this year. Looking forward to seeing what you get up to in 2024. -SJ

Not quite, though there’s nothing proprietary about our hubs (a core value of the brand). Our manufacturing partner for Logos is the same one we collaborated with on Thesis’ rims starting in 2017. Thesis wheels incorporated DT350 hubs due to their bombproof design, and when that Hugi-designed architecture came off patent, we worked with that same partner on the acquisition of a hub-maker to bring rim and hub manufacturing, along with wheel system co-development, assembly, and packaging, under a single roof with a hub based on the lighter dual-spring DT240 (with bearings from Enduro).

Randall here. Please feel welcome to reach out to us directly if there’s something Thesis or I can help resolve for you. With Thesis, we’ve been transparent about starting with an open mold frame, which we modified to address areas where we saw opportunity to improve utility and durability. We also bring frames into our facility raw so we can do our own QC, finish work, and paint to ensure they’re up to our standards before having a single professional mechanic assemble each into a custom-spec bike for a superior build relative to cheaper assembly-line production. This model, together with our 1-on-1 consults, has enabled us to offer high-quality builds, dialed to each rider’s unique fit via custom-sized cockpits and proportional crank lengths, fitness via custom gearing, and terrain via wheel//tire packages and optional dropper posts, at a competitive price point. We’ve built a community along with a company on our commitment to supporting riders, regardless of whether they ride our products. Anyone interested in learning more about our approach might enjoy this interview with Russ Roca over at PathLessPedaled (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FI6bRB9jaXY), or my work with The Gravel Ride Podcast (https://thegravelride.bike/size/5/?search=randall). And if anyone has questions, ideas, or feedback about what we do or how we do it, please feel encouraged to send them our way.

Totally understand why it would seem unusual to you to spec a bladed spoke on an enduro wheel. We did it for a few reasons (none of them being aero in this case). The primary one is that these spokes have an improved fatigue life due to both their structure and production process. The bladed section allow increased elasticity under high load, and in the process of forming the wing shaped bladed profile the grain structure of the sandvik steel is improved considerably, both of which result in a spoke that tends to last through many more fatigue cycles. Bladed spokes also help ensure a reliable wheel build free from windup (twisting of the spokes during the build), and make truing wheels easier for the same reason.