Berd spokes have earned a strong reputation among riders for their ability to absorb vibrations and improve ride comfort. In fact, many reviewers describe wheels built with Berd’s string-like polymer spokes as feeling smoother than those with steel spokes.
But how much of that comfort is real, and how much is perception?
To find out whether Berd spokes genuinely make a measurable difference, Nolan from The Bike Sauce conducted a controlled experiment, comparing them directly against identical wheels built with steel spokes. His test combined real-world trail riding with scientific vibration analysis.
With a compact accelerometer mounted to his seat tube, Nolan gathered vibration data across repeatable trail segments to reveal how each wheel filtered bumps and chatter. The results were surprising, and they challenged a core assumption about what actually makes Berd spokes feel comfortable.
For the full breakdown of his methods and results, check out Nolan’s complete video on The Bike Sauce YouTube channel.
What Are Berd Spokes?
A decade ago, Berd Spokes introduced something genuinely novel to the cycling world: string spokes.
Made from Dyneema (UHMWPE), they are dramatically lighter than steel spokes while maintaining good tensile strength. Berd spokes weigh just 2.5 grams each, roughly half the weight of a high-quality steel spoke. That translates to a 100 to 150 gram weight saving per wheelset.
In addition to being lightweight, Berd claims superior resistance to damage from blunt impacts and reduced stress transmission between the rim, spokes, hub, and nipples. Their own test videos are compelling: under a heavy impact, the steel spokes pull through a carbon rim, while Berd’s Dyneema spokes visibly deform with the rim, absorbing much of the energy.
An even bolder claim from Berd is that their string spokes damp vibration up to 200% better than steel spokes. Unfortunately, the company doesn’t specify which frequencies this refers to, whether the test measured the spoke material alone or the vibration response of a complete wheel, or whether it would even make a perceivable difference to a rider, so we have no way to verify this.
Still, many riders, particularly mountain bikers, report that Berd spokes noticeably smooth out trail chatter. Some even describe reduced hand and arm fatigue on long, rough descents.
To move beyond Berd’s marketing claims, Nolan carried out a controlled vibration test to understand what’s actually going on with their spokes. But before diving into that, let’s quickly examine some data on lateral wheel stiffness.
How Berd Spokes Affect Lateral Stiffness
One reason Berd spokes may smooth out trail chatter and reduce hand and arm fatigue is that they typically build into wheels with lower lateral stiffness.
Lateral stiffness refers to how much a wheel flexes under side loads, such as during hard cornering, knocking off rocks, or riding off-camber roots. A stiffer wheel generally feels more direct and confidence-inspiring, while a wheel that’s too flexible can feel vague or mushy.
That said, once a wheel reaches a certain stiffness threshold, most riders won’t notice further increases – largely because the frame typically flexes around 7x more laterally than the wheels themselves. The exception is heavier or more aggressive riders, who place greater loads on their wheels and may still perceive the difference.
Wheelworks constructed a stiffness test jig and compared a Berd-spoked wheel to one built with DT Swiss Aerolite metal spokes and a relatively stiff carbon rim. They recorded about a 24% reduction in front wheel lateral stiffness and roughly 20% in the rear – a difference that’s likely large enough for riders to perceive.
Vibration Test Setup & Methodology
To ensure a controlled and fair comparison, Nolan used two identical wheelsets (same rims and hubs), with the only difference being the spoke material. His Neuhaus Hummingbird hardtail mountain bike, Fox 34 Factory suspension fork, tyres, and air pressures all remained constant.
This controlled approach ensured that any measurable differences in ride quality or vibration could be confidently attributed to the spokes alone.
To capture vibration data, Nolan used a Yost Labs 3-Space Mini Data Logger mounted on the seat tube. The seat tube placement was chosen because he conducted a standing ride test, meaning the seatpost and saddle were not in use. It’s worth noting that this differs from most of the ComfortLab tests here on CYCLINGABOUT, where vibrations are typically measured at the handlebars and/or seatpost.
The logger recorded three-axis accelerometer data (vertical, lateral, and fore–aft) and is sensitive enough to detect spoke-level vibrations. This setup allowed Nolan to analyse how vibration energy was distributed across different frequencies, helping to reveal any differences between the steel and Berd spokes.
Nolan recorded data across four distinct trail types:
A mellow trail section
A fast, smooth fire road
A steep and rough “chunky” descent
A flowing singletrack section
He began with the steel-spoked wheels, completing all four runs before swapping to the Berd-spoked wheels and repeating the same tests. The data collected gave Nolan a solid foundation for comparing how each spoke material filtered out vibrations under real-world conditions.
Rider Perception: Steel vs String Spokes
After completing all four test runs with the Berd-spoked wheels, Nolan reported a subtle but noticeable difference. The ride felt slightly “deader” when using the Berd spokes, as if the bike was thudding over bumps instead of pinging off them.
Still, subjective impressions can only go so far; the real insights would come from the data.
Time vs Frequency Domain
Before diving into results, it’s worth understanding a key concept: frequency-domain analysis.
Raw accelerometer data, when viewed in the time domain, appears chaotic. But applying a Fourier transform reveals where vibrational energy is concentrated. This is visualised in a Power Spectral Density (PSD) plot, which displays the intensity of vibration across frequencies.
Trail vibrations typically occur in the 10 to 30 Hz range, which was the primary area of interest in this study.
Vibration Test Results: Steel vs Berd Spokes
Vertical Compliance (Up and Down)
When looking at vertical acceleration at the seat tube, on smoother trails, there was almost no difference between the steel and Berd spokes.
However, on the steep, rocky section of trail, the Berd spokes reduced vertical vibration by an average of 6.7%. In contrast, on the fast fire road, the Berd spokes actually produced about 7.5% higher acceleration on average.
So, when it comes to the vertical compliance of Berd spokes, the results were mixed. There was some improvement in certain cases, slight increases in others.
Lateral Compliance (Side To Side)
The lateral vibrations told a different story.
On the rough, steep trail – the section where Nolan reported feeling the greatest difference on the bike – the Berd-spoked wheels showed a 16% reduction in horizontal vibration energy compared to steel, on average.
Even more telling was the frequency analysis: across the 10–20 Hz range, the string spokes were consistently 3 to 5 dB lower, which corresponds to roughly half the vibrational intensity (a 50% reduction).
This might be what Nolan (and others) perceived as the bike feeling calmer and more composed over rough terrain. These results suggest that Berd spokes might allow just enough horizontal compliance to soften side-to-side impacts and make the ride smoother.
Fore-Aft Compliance (Forward and Backward)
The last axis of vibration measurement was fore-aft compliance. This describes the rim’s capacity to rotate independently of the hub along the direction of travel (in very small amounts).
On the rough descent, the Berd-spoked wheels demonstrated an average 17% reduction in fore-aft vibration energy compared to steel. At certain frequencies, this difference reached 3 to 5 dB lower, representing roughly half the vibrational intensity (a 50% reduction).
This suggests that the rim can rotate a small amount independent of the hub under braking and impacts, creating a subtle micro-flex that smooths out trail feedback and enhances comfort without sacrificing control.
Caveats & Considerations
This experiment was not conducted under laboratory conditions; it consisted of a single run on four distinct trail types for each wheelset.
Future studies incorporating a broader range of rider weights, multiple repeat runs, and a wider variety of surface types would help validate and expand upon these findings.
Even with these limitations, the data points to a compelling insight: lateral and fore-aft compliance, rather than vertical compliance, appear to contribute most to the perceived comfort and smoothness of wheel using Berd spokes.
Summary
Nolan’s experiment provides one of the clearest, data-backed explanations yet for why Berd spokes feel the way they do.
On fire roads, mellow trails, and flowing singletrack, there was no measurable difference in vibration between Berd and steel spokes. So, if you’re just cruising along on non-technical terrain, you might not experience any perceivable comfort benefits from Berd spokes.
However, the data tells a different story on rough, off-road descents:
- Lateral (side-to-side) compliance improved by roughly 16%
- Fore-aft (front-to-back) compliance improved by around 17%
This suggests that the sense of “comfort” associated with Berd spokes likely doesn’t stem from vertical compliance, but rather from subtle side-to-side and fore-aft flex that helps the wheel absorb trail chatter more effectively.
There is a small trade-off in steering precision and cornering stiffness with the Berd spokes, as they have been measured to reduce the lateral stiffness of a wheel by around 20 to 25%. But independent reviews indicate that Berd-spoked wheels still feel impressively composed under heavy cornering loads, and notably smoother across rough terrain.
Ultimately, the evidence backs up what many riders have long reported – Berd spokes truly do change the character of a wheel. You can expect a smoother, quieter feel when the trail gets rough.
