Creating a unique and innovative product means abandoning tradition and redesigning every element of the process. Our SPENGLE manufacturing facility sits at the foot of the Tatra Mountains in Slovakia. There, a team of highly skilled engineers create our wheels from scratch. We designed the machinery and developed the extensive tests that every wheel undertakes before it reaches you. In short, we’ve pioneered something that’s never been done before in cycling.
There are no proven methods, no guidelines, and no predecessors, which is why it’s taken three years of development and testing to get to this point. We literally wrote the manual.
So, what does it take to get a SPENGLE Carbon wheel in your hands?
1. VISION
Over 75 years’ of combined experience and expertise have been poured into the SPENGLE name and products, we invested in brand new facilities, processes, and people to bring our idea to life.
2. CARBON
We source sheets of the highest quality carbon fibre, which are then tailored to our specifications (cut by own CAD controlled device in our state-of-the-art technology) and hand-laid within custom-built moulds. Precision is key at this stage of the process. These foundation steps are vital in ensuring the wheel has its FailSafe qualities and offers an engaging ride.
Precision is paramount to every step of the process. We utilise modern technology to ensure that we live by the standards that we set. Within the early stages we embed an RFID chip into the blades which then allows us to automate the manufacturing and testing process at 4.0 level, nothing is left to chance.
3. COOK & COOL
Carbon has to be cured at a very defined temperature which must be controlled permanently in order to give its strength. Our oven was specifically designed for our moulds and ensures the exact and defined temperature profile throughout. Once they’ve been heated, they’re cooled and after demolding, the moulds are stripped and sent back to the start of the production line to begin their life again.
4. PREP & PAINT
This is the stage at which the wheels really come to life. They’ve taken their unique tri-blade shape, and are now readied for a visit to our bespoke in-house paint shop for a coat of our custom paint. (Paint covers and protects the carbon monocoque).
5. HUBS
The wheels would be no good without their moving parts, so it’s at this point our wheels meet their integrated hubs. They’re carefully inserted, weighed for perfect balance, and then secured with our innovative plasma bonding process. They go through a very similar process that’s often used in the aircraft and automotive industries, before moving on to the final stages of manufacture. Towards the end of process, the SPENGLE Carbon Monocoque gets a very specific and precisely controlled post-curing treatment. This guarantees an improved overall strength of the wheel as one unit.
6. QUALITY CONTROL
Every single wheel undergoes quality control throughout the process, automated by the RFID chip and our own private computing cloud. All wheels must have the final nod of approval, and the all-important SPENGLE quality signature before leaving the building.
7. DELIVERY
Picture your very own set of wheels sitting tightly on a rack in our factory with a tag around them with your name on it. This is the reality for every set that comes through our premises. We pick out your wheels, assemble them in either Naked or custom Plug & Play configurations, place them in our bespoke shipping boxes and then await the courier before they travel to you!
