Exciting growth is happening in the bicycle industry as Sugar Wheel Works joins forces with award winning custom bike builders Breadwinner Cycles for streamlined service and expanded expert quality. Breadwinner is also based here in Portland, with headquarters (and their own cafe) mere blocks from us.
WE ARE STRONGER TOGETHER
“Our partnership over the last 10 years made this a natural progression,” says Sugar Wheel Works founder Jude Gerace. “We have common core values with an emphasis on quality and customer service. We started our businesses around the same time and have been helping each other grow ever since.”
Nearly every Breadwinner Cycles bike that rolls out the door features Sugar Wheel Works wheels. The new partnership means increased cohesion for the customers as both companies already share a common customer base.
Nationwide the bicycle industry has faced significant financial challenges in the last few years, marked by the closing of countless retail bike shops. Both Breadwinner and Sugar have long recognized the need to continually develop creative approaches to business operations in order to remain sustainable without compromising the quality of their products.
EXPERTS AT JOINING FORCES
Breadwinner Cycles owners Tony Pereira and Ira Ryan are no strangers to joining forces for efficiency and strength in a challenging industry. In 2013, the two builders merged their successful independent bike building companies Pereira Cycles and Ira Ryan Cycles to form Breadwinner Cycles.
”We are thrilled to be joining forces our long-time partners Sugar Wheel Works,” says Tony Pereira. “Sugar has been building wheels that match the quality of our bicycles since day one. Bringing them in-house will help us improve on the custom experience our riders expect.”
“I can not think about the bicycle industry in Portland without thinking about Sugar and Jude,” says Ira Ryan. “We have a tight knit community that is like a family – we have grown our businesses side by side over the years. It feels natural to know that we trust each other with our “babies” that we have spent years growing and fostering. I am proud to call Sugar and Jude family.”
10 IMPRESSIVE YEARS: WHAT’S NEXT FOR JUDE
Jude founded Sugar Wheel Works in 2009 when she realized there was a lack of companies that focused on quality, sustainable bicycle wheels. After 10 years of working with engineers, keeping up on industry developments and creating a detailed quality control process for building fine handbuilt wheels, Jude is leaving the company.
As many of you know, Jude has worked hard to build Sugar Wheel Works to the internationally known quality brand it is today. She is proud of founding and growing the company and is confident her role in that process is now complete. As a person of varied skills and interests, Jude is ready for her next adventure.
In her newly developing advisory business, Jude will incubate and foster the growth of other small businesses.
POUR SOME SUGAR ON ME!
Sugar Wheel Works will retain that name and operations will now be housed at the Breadwinner Cycles headquarters. Our current wheel builders you love, Nick and Ryan, will remain on staff. Through a partnership with United Cerebral Palsy job placement and coaching program, years ago we created a specialized position to meet the skill set of Dan Waugh, a young man who was eager to find a job after high school (watch Dan’s video here). We are thrilled to announce that Breadwinner Cycles is dedicated to keeping Dan on staff.
Business operations will not be disrupted during this transition. After all, there are many wheels to be built and many bike adventures to be had!
Thank you for believing in Sugar and helping us grow to this exciting milestone. We look forwarding to continuing to build your wheels for many years to come.
Hosted by Leah Benson, Gladys Bikes + Jude Gerace, Sugar Wheel Works
JOIN US FOR OUR ANNIVERSARY PARTY!
Live the Revolution: Love in Motion is a night of bicycle storytelling told live from the stage at the Alberta Abbey Theater in Portland.
Every year, we pack the theater with bike lovers to celebarte our love of bikes and raise funds for Safe Routes to School through The Street Trust, our regional biking and walking advocacy organization.
Come early for food and drink, to check out the generous raffle prizes and get a good seat.
MEET THE STORYTELLERS
Adnan Kadir – USAC Level 1 Cycling Coach and co-founder of VeloPro, the world’s first dynamic and adaptive cycling training software system. Cycling has been his longest relationship
Eva Frazier – a 13-year veteran of the retail bike industry. Her ideal future has more density, more equality and a lot fewer cars.
Alberto Moreno – Among many other admirable associations, Alberto is the Director of the Office of Equity and Multicultural Services for the Department of Human Services. He is also a culturally reflective poet with a passion for photography and a recovering boxer from Chicago who loves to ride his 60-year-old vintage bike.
Racing is Oregon is strong. Our home state is fortunate to have a vibrant and constantly growing race community that extends from older adults all the way down to the next generation of cyclists thanks to the fine production of the Oregon Bicycle Racing Association. One of the teams hard at work bringing up the next generation is PDX Devo, a youth race team dedicated to teaching life skills through the sport of cycling.
LEARNING LIFE SKILLS THROUGH RACING
PDX Devo Team Leader and OBRA Junior Development Coordinator Joel Fletcher says the coaches emphasize communication and leadership skills, providing the youth racers with invaluable skills that give them a leg up on the race course, and in their daily lives.
“The skills kids learn through bike racing,” Joel says, “easily bleed into other aspects of their lives. How to handle losing, and winning – those are important skills to learn from a young age. The rest of their lives are going to be about winning and losing.”
A lot of kids who are attracted to bike racing aren’t drawn to traditional sports. There’s something about the individuality that comes from using one’s own strength to propel the bike that calls to certain kids, and magnetism of team kinship unifies them and helps them succeed.
PDX Devo provides classes, clinics and camps open to any junior racer, even those not on the team. These are opportunities for the kids to hone their skills under the guidance of seasoned racers, but more importantly to be in the presence of other youth racers.
Both in the clinics and at the races, Joel says the opportunity for non-parental hangout time is invaluable. “This is when the kids begin to truly understand themselves. It teaches them a great level of responsibility.”
A SUPPORTIVE RACE COMMUNITY
There is a strong community around Oregon’s cyclocross races, in particular and those are powerful moments for young racers. Thousands of people turn out on race day to participate, spectate and support. The energy is high. Kids get to experience a network of people volunteering their time to support each other and create a fun day outside, a positive scene to witness that they may not necessarily experience elsewhere in their lives.
PDX Devo prides itself on their consistency and style. They conduct weekly training and regular events that kids rely on. They also put a lot of effort into designing unique and colorful apparel the kids can be proud to wear, knowing a lot of work went into designing those kits just for them. The cool designs just might even make them push a little harder, go a little faster.
It would be for kids to get lost in the shuffle of a large race organization like OBRA, but PDX Devo works closely with their racers to ensure they feel supported and included in the race community. The team fosters the kids who are just getting into the sport, and also looks after the elite racers who crave additional resources and are on track to succeed on a grander stage.
PDX Devo has been around long enough that they have seen their young racers go on to coach others, become leaders and even sign pro contracts with teams like Wildlife Generation Pro Cycling Team p/b Maxxis (the new incarnation of Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis).
SUGAR IS SUPPORTING PDX DEVO – AND YOU CAN, TOO!
PDX Devo has big goals for 2019, and Joel’s confident they’re going to crush them. Their biggest goal is to make it to Cyclocross Nationals, which is being held in Tacoma, Washington. “We want to see a strong force of the PDX Devo team at this event taking place just to the north of us. It’s a cool opportunity to actually make it to such a big race”
There are a lot of barriers to getting into cycling as a sport, and many revolve around the cost of gear. Another one of the team’s 2019 goals is to reduce those barriers and help kids thrive.
That’s why Sugar Wheel Works is proud to be partnering with PDX Devo on a Wheel System Trade In Program. For a limited time, customers can trade in certain wheel systems and earn buy-back value when ordering a new set of Sugar Wheel Works wheels. The old wheels will be donated to the kids of PDX Devo.
Joel says he’s excited for this special project with Sugar Wheel Works “It’s important for our racers to see a female in a leadership role. It’s also important to work with locally owned businesses, to give back to our own community.”
We’re on a mission to get more people on hand built wheels and put quality wheels on the road!
Did you know that some wheel systems aren’t serviceable? For example, if you pop a spoke on an older Mavic Ksyrium wheel, it can’t be replaced; they require a specific spoke that is no longer manufactured.
That’s why for a limited time we’re offering a trade in on certain wheel systems, making it easier than ever to make the smart switch to hand build wheels.
This one goes out to all of our road gravel riding friends!
WHEEL SYSTEMS ELIGIBLE FOR TRADE-IN
Most of these wheel systems have little to no resale value due to their obsolescence. Scroll down for trade-in options.
Mavic Ksyrium wheels in any condition (one wheel set per customer)
Bontrager Race X, Race X-Lite, or other paired spoke Bontrager wheels
Specialized Roval SCS wheel sets
Specialized Roval wheels sets
Shimano wheel systems
THE WISE INVESTMENT
Hand built wheels are the sustainable choice and a wise investment in your ride life.
Easy to repair
Precision tuned
Customizable to performance desires
Color, style – choose your look!
BONUS! Nearly all the hubs we offer are re-buildable, meaning when your wheel eventually wears out, we can build a new one around that same hub.
SUPPORTING YOUTH RACING
We are donating traded wheels to PDX Devo, an impressive youth racing program in Oregon. Many kids in the program struggle to obtain performance-ready bikes they can use for competition. Your traded wheels will give them the upper edge they need to challenge themselves and pursue their racing goals!
We are thrilled to see bike racing growing as a youth sport. It simultaneously teaches independence (they are solo on the bike) and teamwork. Often kids who aren’t drawn to group sports find their stride in bike racing – a fun sport that keeps kids active and healthy.
When you trade in your wheels, you’re fostering the next generation of cyclists.
IMPORTANT DETAILS
Wheels do not have to be in perfect shape
One set per customer
Valid only during the promotion
Valid only for the wheel sets promoted below
Wheels can be mailed in but will require an RA#
GET STARTED TODAY!
Email us to get the process started, or stop by the shop.
WHEEL OPTIONS (no substitutions)
ALLOY – Boyd Altamont Lite//White Industries//D-Light//Brass nipples (Save $100) (Alloy nipples +$22, CX-Ray upgrade: $75, Ceramic braking surface +$120) Rim brake retail: $895 With Trade-in: $795 +20% off new tires Disc brake retail: $910 With Trade-in: $810 +20% off new tires
Note: Pricing is for black/silver hub color. Other colors available for +$15
ALLOY – HED Belgium Plus (700c/650b)//White Industries//CX Ray//Brass nipples (Save $175) (Alloy nipples +$22) Rim brake retail: $1030 With Trade-in: $855 +20% off new tires Disc brake retail: $1120 With Trade-in: $945 +20% off new tires
Note: Pricing is for black/silver hub color. Other colors available for +$15
ALLOY – Boyd Altamont Lite//Chris King R45//D-Light//Brass nipples (Save $100) (Alloy nipples +$22 Campagnolo +$80 Ceramic +$140 CX-Ray upgrade: $75, Ceramic braking surface +$120) Rim brake retail: $1075 With Trade-in: $975 +20% off new tires Disc brake retail: $1150 With Trade-in: $1050 +20% off new tires
ALLOY – HED Belgium Plus (700c/650b)//Chris King//CX Ray//Brass nipples (Save $200) (Alloy nipples +$22 Campagnolo +$80 Ceramic +$140) Rim brake retail: $1275 With Trade-in: $1075 +20% off new tires Disc brake retail: $1330 With Trade-in: $1130 +20% off new tires
ALLOY – Astral Solstice//Shimano Ultegra//Sapim Race//Brass nipples (save $75) (Alloy nipples +$22) Rim brake retail: $645 With Trade-in: $570 +20% off new tires Disc not available
CARBON – Built with Chris King, White Industries, or Project 321 hubs $500 off any ENVE carbon wheel set $400 off Knight, Astral, or Nox Carbon wheel sets
QUESTSIONS?
If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to email us or stop by our shop in Portland during business hours.
From our shop here in Portland, Oregon, we wish you a happy holiday season and we look forward to a bright 2019.
As we close out the year, we wanted to take some time to reflect upon 2018.
Let’s kick it off with a note from Sugar Wheel Works founder and owner, Jude Gerace.
“From teaching classes to helping customers find just the right set of wheels favoring durability, aesthetics, and/or performance we have enjoyed helping you throughout 2018! Bike standards in the industry are changing quickly and are sometimes uncertain so we’ve been careful to navigate the wheel conversation keeping your current bike in mind and planning as best we can for any future bikes.
This last year brought on new conversations about tire and rim combinations that were both intriguing and exciting as it allowed many of our riders to find just the perfect ride.
But do you know what my favorite part about being a wheel builder is? Hearing about you accomplished your goals, your dream rides/tours, how you set a new PR on a favorite ride or how you beat your riding buddy to the top of the hill! What bicycles bring into our lives means just as much to us here at the shop as building your wheels.
I’m also grateful for an incredible set of co-workers. The synergy and dedication to perfection with this crew is inspiring to me. I work with the best.
This winter I’m hoping to log more gravel miles in preparation for an incredible spring an summer in the PNW.
Wishing you and yours a happy, healthy, and adventure filled new year!” ~ Jude
We provided wheel support at Mt. Bike Oregon, a mt. bike festival in the woods of Oregon. We loved meeting dirt lovers from all over the world at this cool event.
We brought an array of amazing storytellers to the stage for our annual Live the Revolution event,. The packed theater raised thousands of dollars for Safe Routes to Schools.
We launched the First Annual Internatiomal Wear Your Sugar Day. We loved seeing Sugar Wheel Works fans from all over the world flaunting their super comfy Sugar t-shirts for a day and declaring their love of hand built wheels.
TECH HIGHLIGHTS
The biggest news is Shimano’s new 12 speed micro spline which means you have a wider gear range for all the shredding.
Continental just announced that the GP4000s (A roadie favorite) is going tubeless!! We’re excited to see how that will play in the new year!
RIDE HIGHLIGHTS
Jude has been mountain biking a lot more this last year and has fallen in love with classic PNW trails like Ape Canyon and Fifteen Mile. She says they are “both outstanding rides that showcase the vast beauty of the PNW.” Jude says she has also been playing in Moab and wherever she can get some dirt.
Nick has been doing a similar thing this year too!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
We are excited and grateful for you, our customers, and your love of riding. As a small business we appreciate all the support from our community. We look forward to doing some more great work in 2019.
Set the date, find your crew and get out there to ride. When you’ve got the best gear, no route is too long and monstrous hills are simply tales to later tell.
In the piece Jude covers a wide variety of topics about hand built wheels and running a specialized business, including engagement, turning out the lights and locking the door on time and what it is like to work in the bike industry.
Jude also talks about how a hill is never simply the same hill, especially the more you ride.
Back in 2010, a few women cooked up the idea of a team of ladies who would get muddy, work hard and race fast, but all under the umbrella of having serious fun.
The result is Ladies Auxiliary, a team supported by Sugar Wheel Works that rides and races, primarily cyclocross with a little bit of short track in the summer. The club is comprised of 50 people but only about 10 of them race seriously and some don’t even race at all.
“What I love about the team is we’re not focused on having the strongest athletes,” says Leslie Carlson, one of the longest standing team members. “We all want to do well, but there is no pressure to be a certain kind of cyclist. We want our teammates to learn how to enjoy racing. Camaraderie, working hard and trying to do your best while hanging out with the others is our focus. We like to laugh while we race.”
“I get just as excited when a beginner joins the team as aI do when a pro joins. I like to watch how team members progress to the best of their abilities, especially when they start out with us as complete beginners.”
Leslie says this process is particularly fascinating for women. “It is so empowering for women to really own their physical bodies in the way you need to for a sport like this.”
Ladies Auxiliary is a supportive team where everyone works together to make it possible for the teammates to pursue their cycling goals.
“It’s not easy to get into the bike industry and racing. There are many hurdles for women. It’s exciting to see that there are more women’s race teams these days. Ladies Auxiliary is doing out part to put a female mark on cyclocross. We might even go so far as to race in lipstick.”
As a dedicated team member, Leslie says her main responsibilities include the nitty-gritty like hauling around the team tent. She is committed to helping the team succeed in whatever ways they want to, because she reaps such great reward from the rowdy band of ladies. “Personally, cyclocross has brought so much joy into my life. It has helped me re-discover play in my life.”
Beyond racing, Leslie says the team has plenty of responsibilities on race day that keep them rather busy. “We are dedicated to crazy music and heckling. And we’re really into the costumery of it all. I guess you could call it the lighter side of working hard.”
This is the kind of cycling spirit Sugar Wheel Works supports 100%, which is why Ladies Auxiliary is one of our sponsored teams. Leslie says that support is important to the team. As they roll around on their Sweetpea bikes, arms linked and heads raised high (perhaps with wigs on), they know they are part of a strong network.
“It’s meaningful to race on wheels that someone I know – and a woman – built. Our wheels, literally rolling underneath us as our foundation, are a symbol of the support our team has.”
Photo Gallery
Plenty of laughs, high-fives, podiums… and of course costumes.
Over the course of the last five years we’ve seen rim profiles change dramatically with the most notable change being in width. Some models of rims even come in several widths. Yet these changes are coming with very vague information from manufacturers about how that rim interfaces with the tire and impacts your ride. Sometimes manufacturers even provide different information for similar profile rims.
Geek Out on Rim Size
The truth is that we, as an industry, are still trying to figure things out. This leaves a lot of gray area and also plenty of opportunity for you, as the consumer, connoisseur and rider, to weigh in. There are no hard and fast rules, which means you can experiment and lean on experts to help you make informed selections. We’re here to guide you through that process.
The upside is that this also means there is plenty of room to geek out! And boy do we like to geek out!
Road Cycling
For the most part, road cycling has settled on 25mm and 28mm tires as the ideal sizes to mate with rims that have a 20-21mm internal width. Larger cycling companies are offering wind tunnel data paired with these tire sizes. The benefits include more stability while descending, further dampening of road vibrations and for you aero-worshippers, better aero performance (less wind turbulence where the tire mates with the rim, and often a toroidal, or tear drop, shape).
The same rules apply to selecting a tire as before: tire casing, thread count and weight still matter. In fact, they’re more important, I think, because you’re riding on a larger surface area (but that’s a whole other topic for another article).
Tubeless compatibility is also a game changer.
Gravel Riding Gets Foggy
As we get into gravel riding, things get a little foggy. I think the foremost reason is that there aren’t many true gravel (or all-road) rims available capable of handling tires 28-45mm, especially in rim brake models. Finding these rims with tubeless compatibility is even more challenging.
To create a gravel-ready set up, we borrow wide rims from road cycling with features that aren’t needed, such as aero performance. Or we use lightweight 29″ rims that are only available in disc brake models, which may have tire pressure limitations, which may or may not matter for your set-up.
Guidelines for Selecting A Bike Wheel Rim Size
Below are the soft guidelines we think about when designing wheels. Your preference, personal experience and bike tolerances are part of the final consideration. We will talk you through your options to help you make the perfect selection.
The first step is to figure out what size tire your bike can handle. The pinch points are usually the fork crown, rear brake bridge, and rear triangle by the dropouts. The widest tire you can reliably run leaves about 2mm of clearance on either side of the tire.
Examples
Image 1: The fork crown. The current tire size on this wheel is a 32mm. This rider likely has clearance for a 40mm or 45mm tire. Image 2: The chainstays at the bottom bracket. The rider has significant clearance here also.
Image 3: Brake bridge (even though the brakes aren’t mounted here on this bike). For a rim brake bike, the rider would also have to consider the clearance through the brakes. There is less (but still quite ample) space for a wider tire.
Thanks to our friends at Breadwinner for letting us showcase their B-Road in these examples.
Alloy Road Rims
The outer width of the rim and the tire size should be closely aligned with variation depending on subjective preference such as comfort. So, 25mm wide rim with a 25mm wide tire. This would be about 20.5mm internal rim width.
Carbon Road Rims
The wall of a carbon rim is thicker than an alloy rim and many carbon manufacturers do extensive wind tunnel testing with different sized tires. For a starting point, I recommend starting with the manufacturer’s tire size recommendation, which is usually 25mm-28mm.
Gravel Road
If your wheel set is going to be used for both road and gravel, select a road rim and tire sizes 25mm-50mm. This means an internal rim width of at least 20mm. Ideally, for a 40mm tire intended for gravel roads select a 21-24mm internal rim width. Wider internal widths limit the smallest tire size you can use.
Bikepacking/MTB/
The guidelines are even broader for MTB/Plus riding. Ideally you want a few millimeters of tire on either side of the rim to provide cushion and to protect the rim from hard rock thumps. The tread of the tire also dictates what the ideal internal width is, or vice versa where you have the wheel set and you’re looking for the perfect tire.
This is where the experimentation becomes both exhilarating and frustrating. You might stumble upon what seems like the perfect set up only to find that tire width is too narrow for a given rim and the tread of the tire is stretched so that the lugs (side knobs) of the tire aren’t useful. The latter typically happens when the tire size and the internal width are too closely matched. If the rim is too narrow, however, the tire can feel floppy, especially through corners.
Use
Internal Width
IDEAL TIRE RANGE*
Road-alloy
19-21
23-28mm
Road-carbon
17-23
25-28mm (or per manufacturers recommendation)
Gravel
21-26
28-50mm
Cross Country MTB + Bikepacking
26-32
1.9”-2.5” 48mm-63mm
Plus
35-45
2.5”-3.0”
*There are no hard and fast rules. For example, many wheels serve multiple purposes and rider preference certainly comes into play. Everything is subject to change. And again, we are here to talk you through your options.
How to Hone in on Your Decision
In an ideal world rim manufacturers would offer more precise information. At Sugar Wheel Works, we listen closely to the stories and experiences of riders – our customers and everyone we encounter. We log this data to help inform our recomnendations.
If you like geeking out on these details, a platform like Ride with GPS Ride Reports is a handy way for you to add your input and learn about the experiences of other riders.
Sugar Wheel Works is Here for You
If you don’t like geeking out on the details or if all of that sounds too overwhel,ing, we’ve got you covered. Send us a note and we’ll start a conversation to talk you through the perfect combination for your dream wheels. And we promise to use normal language with easy-to-grasp details.
