Welcome back to the site. If Google Analytics is telling the truth, most of you haven't been here in a bit. That's on us - we haven't been doing much here on the blog to bring you back. But we haven't been entirely idle. We've got some changes and updates that I'll take you through.
The biggest update is on availability. We're now down to 4-6 weeks on wheelset builds and expect to get to our regular 2-3 week turnaround in Q1 2023. The other big availability update is that White Industry hubs are readily available again. So we're now building with WI and Bitex. We hope to add Industry Nine back into the mix very soon as well.
Next, our wheelset lineup. It looks like we went from about 400 wheelsets to 6, but the reality is that we made some changes to our product pages that mean we do not have to list separate products for "GOAT with White Industry Hubs and Shimano/SRAM driver" and "GOAT with Bitex and XD driver." Products are now organized around the rim, with hub, driver and other options all on the product page. Have a look.
The other change that eliminated a lot of what looked like options was the removal of alloy rim builds. Alloy rims have been harder to obtain consistently, and were only a small fraction of our sales. So we got them out of the way. We are looking at some new ways to offer alloys in the near future though.
The other product change to note is the naming convention. You'll see that each wheelset name contains two numbers. The first is the rim depth and the second (with the i) is the rim inside width. So the GOAT 28-23i means that this wheelset is based on a rim that's 28mm deep and 23mm wide on the inside. This change should make it a lot easier to compare wheelsets, and focus in on the one or two that best meet your (and your tires' needs). Product pages themselves have a lot more detail now as well, like hub specs, build weights, tire width recommendations and more.
Finally, an update on customization. One of the changes we've had to make is to emphasize the standard builds you see in our product pages now. But we can still offer customization of hub, spoke and nipple color without slowing the process too much. Non-standard spoke counts are also available but will take a little longer. You can inquire about customization of any of our wheelsets on our custom page.
We're hoping all these changes (and a new site to boot) make it easier for you all to find, configure, maybe customize, and buy the wheelset you want. It's been a long ass road but we're excited (relieved?) things are getting back to normal.
2 comments
Right Christopher. The one place there is still demand for alloys relative to carbons is the rim brake segment. But our ratio of rim brake to disc brake wheelset sales over the past 5 years has steadily declined, until the last two where it sank like a stone. And to sell alloys competitively with many of the brands that are now selling direct to customer, we need to come in at a price point that frankly isn’t as profitable as it needs to be. But when you’re ready to upgrade your HEDs to some Rails we are here for you!
That leaves us with Rail 55-18i for rim brakes then. Pity. I’m glad I got my set of rim brake Hed Belgium+/White Ind. when I did (February 25, 2020, great wheels by the way), not suspecting they would be among the last of their species. I should have ordered two sets.
Thanks for reworking the website and I really appreciate the new nomenclature, makes sense to me.
And blog more often to sell more wheels!