Selecting Select

Have you ever read The Paradox of Choice? The central tenet is that there's an optimal amount of choice - too little and you don't get what you want, too much and you lose your mind. The premise has a lot of resonance in bike wheels.

On the one hand, you have an abundance of one-size-fits-all wheels, designed to reduce SKUs and to make the distribution channel's life easier, but which may or may not fit what you want. On the other hand, you have the wide wide world of custom, where you can agonize over every single element from an infinite array of choices, each to be studied and debated and inevitably leading to paralysis. 

This is where the Select program comes in (see Select Alloy and Select Disc in the menu at the top), and we call it a program and not a product very purposefully. "Select" is both a verb and an adjective in the Select program; we've pre-selected select components that allow you to select the best build for your purpose. There's not one product that's covered by Select, but a range of products that offers enough choice to fit anyone's bill, without asking you to become a PhD-level wheel expert. We've realized that what customers want is a great set of wheels that delivers the maximum in their all-too-limited time on the bike. Maximum what? That's the magic of Select.

Because we personally (corporately?) select certain component ingredients that we've tested and know, and include only those parts that best deliver whatever trait they are shaded toward, we're able to offer a broad menu that never serves up a lemon. And because we've got so much experience with each combo, we know how each ingredient will influence the best outcome. For example, we know that Kinlin rims just plain don't need as many spokes as other rims do - they're deeper and stiffer, and a Kinlin rear with 24 spokes is going to rival a 28h Pacenti or HED rim for stability and stiffness. The Pacenti tubeless interface is the best we've seen for cross use. HEDs are the most durable and have the best braking of any alloy wheel anywhere. White Industries hubs do everything well, at a point on the cost:benefit curve that few others achieve, but for some people a less expensive option will work out just grand, and yet others have the serious hankering for Chris King hubs.

Having a manageable choice array also helps us keep the logistics efficient, keeping lead time within reason and allowing us to offer price levels that you're hard pressed to find with our levels of component and build quality. 

Once your specific use case is known, Select gives you the freedom to ensure that your wheels are going to make you happy. Personally, I look down at my pink hub sitting in my blue fork, and my heart rate eases - I love it. Whatever color floats your boat, if bladed spokes let you know you've got the best without doubt, or whether you just love the Johnny Cash black on black look - your Select wheels are yours. 

We've become cool enough that now we get asked to help some manufacturers pre-test their products, and we get sneak peaks at a lot of stuff. All of that means that by the time other wheel builders even know what's new on the horizon, we've built it, ridden it, poked and prodded it, and don't have to cross our fingers when we send it out. If we sell it, it's because we know you'll love it - especially given our expertise in component selection and assembly.