Knight Composites is one of four awesome Oregon brands we’re highlighting for our Ride Oregon Made Celebration. Save 15% on your dream wheels June 18-30, 2019. See details here.
At Sugar Wheel Works, we build custom dream wheels because we believe in tailoring the wheel to your ride. We’re fortunate to have partners like Knight Composites in Bend, Oregon who understand this obsessive attention to specificity.
Knight Composites was founded by three industry experts and risk takers who weren’t afraid to dream big, even when people told them the market was already saturated, or that there was no room for improvement.
“We are a company that is built on innovation,” says Scott Wolfe. “We are constantly looking at who the end user is and how our products are going to improve the experience for that customer, whether it’s how a builder like Sugar is able to build our wheels or helping a professional triathlete.”
Complimenting Your Ride with Technology
Knight builds rims that compliment your ride style, instead of potentially working against it.
“Our manufacturing process allows us to custom tune the layup on our carbon for the intended type of riding, and do so without compromising durability or performance,” Scott explains. “We can balance compliance and stiffness while considering the bike setup that each wheel will be used on. For example, the layup we use on an enduro wheel for a bike with 5 inches of suspension travel will be different than the layup schedule for an aero road wheel used on a triathlete’s TT bike.
Tubeless Innovation
James Huang from Cycling Tips declared that “road tubeless is heading in a good direction” after reviewing Knight’s new TLA (Tubeless Aero), tubeless-compatible carbon fiber road wheels and rims. The set up (and removal) is easy using a standard floor pump. Read all about it here.
A Global Brand with Oregon Roots
Scott says the wide demographic of cycling in Oregon and a culture/lifestyle centered around being outdoors is inspiring.
“I love being at Cross Crusade races connecting with local teams as much as I love going to shows all over the world and seeing Oregon based cycling brands like Chris King, Rolf, Co-Motion among others with a global reach. Plus, I love the balance of the creativity that comes from Oregon’s strong custom bike brand presence like Breadwinner, Stoemper, Argonaut, etc. We are a global brand, but our Oregon roots have a strong presence on our culture.”
Testing and Riding in Oregon
The Knight headquarters is nestled between the Deschutes River Trail and Phil’s Trail Network for dream-come-true riding access just out their back door.
“Central Oregon offers a wide range of great road riding,” Scott says. It’s hard not to love riding in this region, and those very same roads also become important testing grounds for Knight. “A lot of the testing we do on new products begins on these roads,” Scott says. “The McKenzie Pass YoYo between Sisters and Belknap, Painted Hills Loop and Cascade Lakes Hwy from our shop up to Mt. Bachelor are some of the highlights. Come visit and explore and discover some of the great loops we have!”
Photo Gallery
Knight’s new system designed with tubless road in mind. Photos by James Huang for Cycling Tips.
