A message of thanks to Strada Wheels for supporting the blog. The British wheel builder is advertising during May.
If you wonder what they’re up to, they build bespoke wheels with alloy and carbon rims, what ever you want from clinchers and tubs to spoke count or hub choice. They’ve just started working with US manufacturer ENVE Composites to offer some pretty special wheels in time for the European summer, available with, amongst other options, Chris King hubs.
To see all the options and more, please check out stradawheels.co.uk.
German jig
I’m also interested in their wheel jig, a story in itself that’s a perfect encapsulation of German engineering and tool-making. Talking of tech, you can follow business owner Jonathan Day on twitter for updates and other info too.
International readers
About half the readers of The Inner Ring are now from the USA with many from Australia too, as well as Britain and continental Europe and beyond. If it’s a British company, Strada ships their wheels around the world.
I’m trying to be discreet with the advertising for now but wanted to make a point of thanking Jonathan and the crew from Britain’s south coast for their support and to explain what they’re up to.
So once again thanks to Strada and you’ll see their advert on here for the month of May.
Very tastefully done inring.
This is one of the few times in my life where I can say I actually read that advertisement top to bottom.
Well done,
A loyal reader from the U.S.
I read it all too and then spent about 15 minutes on the Strada website. Tasteful advertising works.
No complaints here! ANYBODY still building wheels from hubs, spokes and rims (even carbon!) is a hero in my book. Back-in-the-day EVERY pro-quality shop had someone who was a master wheel-builder (in Italy they usually had master framebuilders too, but that’s another story) on staff but the factory-built “wheels in a box” schemes pretty much killed it off. But at least there are guys like your friends at STRADA (among others) still happy to build a truly custom, hand-built wheel. For cycling enthusiasts too young to ever have experienced just how nice a good set of wheels can be, I say before you buy that new bike, put a good set of hand-built wheels on your current one, you’ll find it hard to believe the difference in ride quality!
This is what I was afraid of. A full post of sales (b/c that’s what it is let’s not kid around here), though we were told we’d spared actual infomercials…. Not a good start. And since this is not for eating money, why again with the adverts and now the infomercial post?
It reminds me of Raymond Chandler’s great p-e Philip Marlowe and his reaction to the constant and unavoidable presence of adverts in his life: every time he’d see a product being hawked he reacted thusly: “I make a note never to buy any. Hell, I wouldn’t buy the product even if I liked it.”
The name of the novel, btw is “The long goodbye” and it’s a darned god read — with no adverts. 😉
Not cool Oliver. Not cool.
Inrng- Very tastefull indeed.
Thanks guys, including Oliver. All feedback’s useful, comments from readers and emails make it much more involving.
In response to Oliver, I’m a fan of Chandler and Marlowe but more relevantly if you read previous mentions of advertising, note I’m cautious on this. I’m not filling the page with flashing adds. I can’t please everyone but wanted to explain more about them and above all, say thanks “in public” with this post.
Yes, it’s commercial but the economics don’t require me to quote them or provide X links… it’s just gratitude on my part. I also wanted to explain what they’re about and provide a reference post. But if you’re worried for the future, rest assured it won’t happen every couple of days and there are no reviews or product endorsements coming up.
Back to cycling tomorrow… lots to think about from UCI lawsuits to needle bans, as well as racing in Dunkerque and the upcoming Giro, as well as a few other ideas.
IMHO, you shouldn’t have to ask your readership for permission to advertise. You should be free to make decisions as you see fit, particularly in relation to making your site viable …..and especially given the awesome work you do which clearly would involve a massive amount of work behind the scenes.
If you have advertisers prepared to make a contribution then you’d be crazy to knock them back. If that helps ensure your long-term viability then that’s great for everyone, including the readers.
Inner Ring is my favourite cycling-related site and I wish you every success.
Suggest this could have gone second on the post list for your learned audience. Message would still get through to Strada that you valued what they did without trivialising or advertorialising (!?) the sacred editorial space.
Col: yes, this is a personal fiefdom. I’m not accountable to shareholders not even an editor. But I value reader comment, it’s good to call things out and makes things more fun.
One US business blogger has an idea, the platypus principle: “This may be a free country, but The Big Picture is my personal fiefdom. I rule over all as benevolent dictator. I will ban anyone whom I choose from posting comments — usually, for a damned good reason, but on rare occasions, for the exact same reason God created the platypus: because I feel like it”. It’s an interesting thought.
Jimmyp: I usually do 1-2 posts a day at the moment. I did 2 yesterday, the Strada one was a third on top, was that what you meant?
When I came to the site the first story up was the Strada story. However, this may have just been an accident of the time I came to the site…do you whack a couple up at once, give one story priority, or just publish as you finish a piece?
No priority or plan, at the moment it’s one piece in the morning and one in the evening, Euro time. Sometimes one at lunchtime too, as yesterday with the “sprint race” concept.