ABOUT

We’re dedicated to bringing our customers the best products in the industry and that means we’re constantly pioneering, testing, and refining new technologies. Whether it’s tweaking the build on an alloy wheel to increase durability or developing entirely new designs using advanced composites we’re committed to pushing, developing and adopting the best technologies for each of our products. And we don’t mean the flashiest technologies, or the trendiest technologies; we mean the best technologies. We believe that bike component design must be performance driven; form must follow function. So, while we fancy that we have a good eye for aesthetics, our products are designed to ride well first, and look good second. It also means we don’t adopt proprietary technology just to be different. We strive to design products with maximum compatibility and serviceability so more people can ride and easily maintain them.

We mean it when we say that our goal is to provide the very best cycling components that money can buy. It’s no small task we’ve set for ourselves, but we believe that by using our unique R&D process and constantly pushing for new and better designs we can offer the best products in the world.

R & D

Williams is unique in the bicycle industry because we have access to all the resources of the giant companies (including the world’s best production and testing facilities, and top quality engineers) while maintaining the advantages of a more nimble organization. This allows us both a top down and bottom up approach to R&D, plus the flexibility to quickly implement new designs.

The top down advances in R&D occur when specialists in the industry develop new materials or techniques that enable them to push the limits of design. This model has produced big technological advances in the bicycle industry, but it works best when paired with the bottom up approach. Bottom up advances happen when riders -- the people with intimate knowledge of the product from daily use -- have road-tested ideas of how to improve it. We think that feedback from riders is invaluable in the further development of our products. When riders, be they professional racers on our sponsored teams or weekend warriors, contact us with ideas that information goes directly to the people at Williams who make the decisions.

By combining the wealth of knowledge gleaned from the countless riders using our products with the expertise of the industry’s leading engineers we develop and produce truly innovative components.

TESTING

Great ideas and bold innovations are only as good as they are practical. For that reason every product that Williams brings to market has been exhaustively tested to ensure that it meets our high standards for performance, durability and safety. This begins with lab tests performed by our engineers. Our handlebars undergo hundreds of thousands of stress test repetitions, while new wheel models must be able to handle thousands of kilometers in an advanced machine that tests durability under wet and dry braking, and both normal use and repeated impacts.

Even when a prototype passes these tests there is still one more important step before it reaches the market. Before we move to production on any prototype we have product testers log thousands of miles on the road. We get the product into the hands of as many trusted riders as possible, from professional sprinters, climbers and triathletes, to commuters and recreational riders so that we can make sure our products perform under all conditions.

This multistage, rigorous testing helps ensure that we offer the best possible products.

PRODUCT TECH

100% hand built wheels
Every single Williams wheel is 100% hand built to the highest standards. Yes, it’s faster and cheaper to use machine builds, but if you want a perfectly true and balanced wheel it must be hand built. That’s why from the first nipple to the last twist of the spoke wrench Williams wheels are built entirely by hand. And once they’re finished, each and every wheel is tested to ensure that it is dished, true, and balanced to within fractions of a millimeter.

Hybrid Ceramic Bearings
Williams road wheels utilize high quality hybrid ceramic bearings for better increased rolling performance. The Grade 5 silicon nitride balls have special characteristics that allow them to outperform standard steel balls in the areas of temperature range, density, thermal expansion, and hardness. All of these combine to make hybrid ceramic bearings roll truer and faster for longer. For a detailed writeup of our hybrid ceramic bearings click here.

Special Resin in Carbon Clinchers
Full carbon clincher wheels are some of the hottest products in cycling today. There has been a flood of new carbon clinchers into the market, with vastly differing levels of quality. Our carbon clinchers utilize a proprietary resin in the composite that allows them to withstand the extreme heat and force created by braking.

Serviceability/Compatibility
While taking advantage of the latest component technology to make our wheels systems lighter and stronger, Williams Cycling provides for easy maintenance through or standards-based technology.

We believe that a standards-based wheel design is key to providing our customers with easy serviceability and maintenance. Standard wheel design gives customers the benefit of years of research and development from the entire industry, not from just one company. Unlike proprietary wheel technology...standards give customers choice.

What is standards-based technology? It is where the spoke joins the hub and rim in a traditional fashion. Standard hub and rim fastening makes it easy for customers and local mechanics to true a wheel.

This results in:
• Easy maintenance
• No need to take the tube and tire off to true the wheel
• No need to send the wheel back to the proprietarywheel
• factory for retruing or repairs
• No need to spend time and money on wheel shipments
• back and forth to the factory

With standards-based technology, the customer is in control of service and
maintainence without giving up performance.

• Our wheels come with a Shimano 9/10 speed compatible freehub
• Campagnolo 9/10 speed can still ride our wheels
• Our hubs are interchangeable

Ceramic Coated Freehub Bodies
Standard alloy freehub bodies have a short lifecycle due to the normal wear and tear created by the cassette. We dip our freehub bodies in ceramic, giving them a strong outer coating that can better withstand the punishment of daily riding.