Berd spokes are having a moment, and I’m admittedly late to the party. When they were introduced, I took a hard look at them, and other than their being light (yawn), I couldn’t think of a reason to use them. A few years went by while I remained blissfully ignorant of their other qualities. With the introduction of hooked flange hubs specifically designed for Berd spokes, especially by one of my favorite hub brands, Erase Components, I could no longer resist jumping in the pool. Many builds later, along with some testing and strong customer feedback, and my thoughts on Berd spokes are taking shape.
-Light weight. Yawn!
-Damping, anyone?
-Durable, but…
Those of you who know Verum Velo, and my feelings about emphasis on weight savings know that I’m not going to use a product just to save a few grams. This is just as true of Berd spokes, and so I’m simply not impressed by the weight savings. This is, in part, due to the fact that I’m comparing them to premium stainless steel spokes like Sapim CX-Ray rather than heavier straight gauge or round butted spokes. I just don’t think this is the reason to spend an extra $500 on a pair of Berd wheels.
I don’t trust marketing hype, and I hope you don’t either. I wanted some insight into the attributes of Berd spokes, so reached out to the Bike Sauce, a favorite YouTube channel and proposed an experiment of sorts. I provided like wheels, same Verum T34 MTB rims and Erase hubs, with the only difference being the spokes; one pair built with Berd and the other with Sapim CX-Ray (light weight, bladed) spokes. While there were measurable differences, they were minimal (I suspect they would have been greater had we used something like a round butted, 14/15/14 gauge spoke that is much stiffer than the CX-Ray, the mid-section of which is half as thick, but I wanted to compare two light weight, premium builds. Check out the video, String Theory, here. The long and short of it is that there is a bit of vibration damping that probably accounts for the buttery smooth feel of a Berd spoked wheel.
The Berd spoke above broke at the last thread; avoidable w/ proper spoke length
I’m excited about the prospect of durability with Berd spokes. If built properly there are few opportunities for the spokes to fatigue and break. They aren’t as abrasion resistant as stainless steel (wire) spokes, so may be more susceptible to damage in that way, but still seem pretty robust. The most common failure mode seems to be the spoke breaking at the nipple (we mitigate that risk with diligent attention to proper spoke length)
Berd spoked wheels do require some additional care, because the dyneema fibers continue to bed into one another for months after initial tensioning. The resulting thinning and elongating of the spokes causes the tension to drop, and the wheels will get a little soft and go out of dish. A second round of tensioning after about six months will whip them back into shape, but it’s not something most cyclist are equipped to do themselves. If you’ve purchased your Berd wheels from Verum Velo, we won’t charge for this service, but there are the logistics to be considered.
This brings me to perhaps the stickiest wicket when dealing with Berd spokes… replacing a broken spoke is kind of a Berd. Suppose you have a Berd equipped wheel that a year or two old. All the spokes have “stretched” and stabilized, but then you break one. They are easy enough to replace, especially with a hooked flange hub, but that new spoke is going to take months to become as stable as all the others. Until it does, the wheel is constantly going to migrate out of true. If you’ve broken a few spokes, the problem can be a bit maddening… unless you’re a guy like me who actually dig truing wheels. Anyhow, it’s by no means a deal breaker, but it’s something you ought to be aware of when choosing Berd spokes.
“So, CW… Are you recommending Berd spokes with your Verum wheels?” Hmmm. My thinking is that the best use cases are for endurance/adventure/bikepacking rigs and hardtail MTBs. I can see Berd spoked wheels being a real benefit for long days in the saddle. I can’t imagine that there’s enough performance benefit in the weight savings alone, so I don’t feel like that’s a good reason to buy them. I’ll be excited to revisit the question in a couple of years, because my enthusiasm will definitely grow if Berd spokes prove to be more durable than stainless steel spokes (that would warm my heart).