Swiss mountain bike brand, Spengle, has possibly made the most expensive wheelset in history.
The company started as a garage-based passion project in 1988. Since then it has grown and been perfecting and marketing its tri-spoke composite wheelsets.
Using carbon fibre for both shape and load distribution, Spengle claims to deliver a wheelset which is superior to traditional spoked builds.
Whereas steel spokes are required to provide tension and terrain force absorption on a traditional mountain bike wheelset, the Spengle tri-spoke wheels are monocoque. This allows strength and compliance to be engineered with the simplicity of a single material structure (carbon fibre), as opposed to combining steel spokes with a carbon rim.
Another benefit is aerodynamics, with Spengle’s monocoque wheels enabling less drag compared to a traditional spoked wheel, which generates wake-turbulence between the spokes.
The absence of spokes also creates a larger overall wheel surface area, for Spengle to indulge in some very bold colours and design details. It has offered chromed, metallic and splash-colour finishes for its tri-spoke wheels. And now, something radically exclusive.
Spengle has announced that it will produce a single 650b tri-spoke wheelset which is literally golden.
Built by hand, like all Spengle’s products, this one-off tri-spoke wheelset is finished in 24ct European-grade gold. It also features ornate graphics, which were etched by hand. Spengle initiated the gold wheel project in June of 2019, but the labour-intensive gold dusting and graphic work, has been responsible for this outrageous wheelset to only be ready now.
Total weight for the set is an impressive 1950g, but the price-to-gram coefficient is terrifying. Any consumer product which has gold content is going to be very ambitiously priced, and these Spengle wheels are no exception.
The Swiss company is asking an astonishing £10,000 for its gold wheelset. That is £9,150 dearer than a standard Spengle tri-spoke carbon wheelset.
