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Rolf Prima launches Astral Cycling to sell US-made custom rims

Written by Christophe Noel Nov 02, 2017 3:18 p.m. ET

Rolf Prima just announced the launch of Astral Cycling and traditional rim production.

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For more than 20 years Rolf Prima has been synonymous with paired spoke wheeled systems. From the stages of the Tour de France to World Cup mountain and cyclocross courses, the iconic wheels from Oregon have conquered all. This month marks another landmark in the Rolf Prima timeline with the launch of a sister company, Astral Cycling.

After bringing aluminum rim production into their Eugene facility in 2014, and carbon manufacturing in 2016, owner Brian Roddy saw an opportunity to expand their reach beyond the production of complete wheels. Leveraging their in-house resources and experience building high quality rims, Astral Cycling was formed to provide individual and professional builders options for traditionally laced wheels.

The new lineup of aluminum and carbon fiber rims will be offered in multiple formats to service road, gravel, mountain, touring, and tandem applications. Offered in a number of spoke count choices, and using Rolf’s current tubeless-ready technology, additional customization will be available with a choice of rim and decal colors. For riders inclined to fine-tune their wheels to suit their unique needs, the Astral lineup will provide endless options. The official debut happens this weekend at the Philly Bike Expo, and we’ll be visiting their factory soon for a closer look!

AstralCycling.com

Christophe Noel

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Muchachos

6 years ago

HED laughs – been there, done that

dudebruh

6 years ago

Reply to Muchachos

These alloy options look to be pretty comparable to HED’s Belgium rim (a bit lighter even!), but Rolf does all their development, testing, and most of their manufacturing under one roof – that alone seems to speak volumes over HED in my opinion.

thesteve4761

6 years ago

Reply to dudebruh

Dudebruh, you might want to check your facts about HED. Much of what you wrote can be applied to them as well.

https://www.hedcycling.com/about/

dudebruh

6 years ago

Reply to thesteve4761

They definitely have a one-up in terms of doing more carbon composite in the US (as it seems, since they list a composite engineer on their About page). However, theres very little information to be found about their on-site testing or development. I just think Rolf has them beat when it comes to that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

comrad

6 years ago

Reply to dudebruh

Of course HED develops and tests their products in house. They do almost everything in house these days.

Penn Teller

6 years ago

Reply to dudebruh

Wait; you don’t know whether HED develops their own products (they do) but you “just think” Rolf beats them?

Seriously: why do you “just think” A beats B if you don’t know anything about B?

I’ve never met you, but I just think you’ve never ridden a bicycle. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Dude

6 years ago

Makes perfect business sense.

Bill

6 years ago

Prices look a bit high to me, especially if looking for custom builders to adopt them. HED Belgiums are cheaper and proven winners already.

Kernel Flickitov

6 years ago

Reply to Bill

Decent custom builders worth anything offer options, not just HED. By the way, Belgium Plus are $150… so um… Justification of your own brand loyalty by downplaying others is poor form, but typical BR comment section. Congrats for keeping that tradition alive.

Ripnshread

6 years ago

Why on this Earth did they use almost the exact same font as Alexrims?

BCS

6 years ago

Reply to Ripnshread

hmmm…. I can see where you may think the “A” looks similar, but if you compare the “L” and even the “R” it’s a completely different font.

Steve

6 years ago

The Wanderlust specs look good, but $135? Holy hell.

Frank

6 years ago

Reply to Steve

Only slightly more than similar Al rims from Velocity. Made in the USA so worth it.

$650 for a carbon rim that is MADE IN THE USA. I think carbon rim costs are outrageous, you can buy rims made in China that cost this much or more, up to, what, $900 for some of them? I might be willing to part with $650 for this due to country of origin…. That’s still a stupid amount of money for a rim, but good on them.

Bikemark

6 years ago

Reply to Frank

Not so fast. Their alloy rims are made in the USA. Their 900$ Prevail says made in the USA. Their various 650$ rims do not make that claim. So, are all their carbon rims made in the USA, or only their top of the line?

TheKaiser

6 years ago

Reply to Frank

And in addition to what Bikemark said, aren’t Velocities made in the USA as well? Florida, if I remember correctly. So the slight price premium for these is not gaining you USA manufacture. Having said that, I’d give these a try.

sal

6 years ago

Reply to TheKaiser

Made in Michigan now.

Bikemark

6 years ago

Reply to Steve

Price out the competition and you’ll see this is the going rate for a mid 400 gram tubeless ready semi aero rim.

Mr Pink

6 years ago

Internal widths on the mountain stuff is a bit outdated. 🙁

Ryan S.

6 years ago

Reply to Mr Pink

21mm internal—agreed.

Ben

6 years ago

Rolling 2 rims at once? That does not say “quality rim” to me.

Cheese

6 years ago

Reply to Ben

Umm, what?

Penn Teller

6 years ago

Reply to Ben

Weighing in on aluminum fabrication without knowing the first thing about it? That does not say “quality comment” to me.

Yes, long extrusions are rolled into helices on their way to becoming rims. Then they’re cut to exactly the right length and the ends are either pinned or welded together.

Rims must be heat-treated after extrusion (and welding, if applicable) and heat treatment tends to act as stress relief, so there’s no problem in cutting a rim from a helical roll as shown in the photo above.

Ben

6 years ago

Reply to Ben

I work first handed with some of the best aluminum rim suppliers in Taiwan. The best welded rims are always rolled one rim at a time to better control the outer diameter and roundness. Rolling 2 rims as once is always a compromise, you would only roll 2 rims at once to speed up the production to save cost. This is commonly known in the industry.

Penn Teller

6 years ago

Reply to Ben

It’s nice that you’ve “worked with” Taiwanese rim manufacturers, but you’re off base here. Mavic showed multi-rim rolled extrusions in their 1996 catalog, and Fulcrum rim fabrication was featured on “How It’s Made.” (Season 17, Episode 4). I’ll try to post a Youtube link, but those typically get eaten by Bike Rumor’s CMS.

Penn Teller

6 years ago

Reply to Penn Teller

Here’s the Fulcrum fabrication link I mentioned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxTWSTo2_4Q

I’m curious: how do the Taiwanese get a constant radius if the extrusion is already cut to length? Most rolling techniques would leave a short straight section on either end.

Penn Teller

6 years ago

Reply to Penn Teller

Oops. That link was to an unrelated Easton video. Here’s the right link to the Fulcrum video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYUOLGEPw9Q
The multi-rim rolling is at 0:54.

And here’s a similar video showing Velocity rims being multi-rolled:

And here’s a page from Kinlin’s site showing that they roll 2-3 rims together and then cut each rim from the roll:
http://kinlin.com.tw/how-we-make-rims/

So we’ve got European (Mavic, Fulcrum), US (Velocity) and Taiwanese (Kinlin) manufacturing doing exactly what you claim contravenes “what is commonly known in the industry.” Hmmm…

Penn Teller

6 years ago

Reply to Penn Teller

And finally, here’s a second Asian manufacturer, H Plus Son, that rolls multi-rim coils. It’s at 1:30 in this video:
https://player

Curiouser and curiouser…

Cheese

6 years ago

Reply to Penn Teller

And yet another European manufacturer rolling several meter long extrusions into multiple rims. I’m thinking Ben is a first handed troll.

https://bikerumor.com/2017/05/30/factory-tour-dt-swiss-shows-us-make-rims-spokes-premium-wheelsets/

tyler

6 years ago

what’s “custom” about the rims?

Author

Christophe Noel

6 years ago

Reply to tyler

I agree that word might imply more personalization than is available, but buyers can choose their desired hole-count and rim and decal choices on select models.