BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Dianomi UK has linked with Wickens and Soderstrom, a fairly fresh to market label specialising in tyre sealants, lubricant and greases.
Wickens and Soderstrom, which launched almost by accident in September, came to market as a result of founder Lee Wickens giving his local shop some tyre sealant to play with. Astounded by the results, the shop asked to buy in quantity and the business was born.
Alongside a handful of industrial chemist partners, Wickens claims to have created a tyre sealant for mountain bike applications that is capable of sealing 6.5mm holes without any latex composition.
Wickens told BikeBiz: "It’s a complex mix that we’ve developed alongside some experts in the field, including the RAC’s specialist in tyre sealant. Our unique blend never dries out like most others and can be installed with a track pump, which most mechanics will be thrilled to hear. Our testing has shown it to be as good as 98 per cent air tight, with the solution fixing holes by weaving tiny fibres into a patch when exposed to pressure and air. We went through 100 versions and two years of testing to come up with this blend."
On top of being mechanic friendly, the solution is, again totally by accident, actually edible and as such contains no harmful ingredients.
A 300ml bottle will retail at £18 and Wickens has said will only be available to bricks and mortars shops who can install the product themselves. A strong margin and an instalation pump is promised as part of dealer sign up.
Dianomi UK also has stock of the firm’s lubricant, retailing at £14 for 125ml.
Again, this is far from a bog standard product, using nano technology to actively smooth your moving parts and fill in any imperfections in the metal.
Wickens said: "We’ve spent a lot of research and development time on this one, developing it to last upto 300 miles per application, but also actively smooth the surfaces so as to lower the friction at the source."
The firm is soon to have three greases available too; an everyday use, a Heavy Load grease and High Speed grease. The heavy load grease is perfect for parts such as cranks, while the high speed (£60/150ml) is better suited to hub internals. Again, these are far from your bog standard greases, with Wickens telling BikeBiz "They’re designed to be as technically brillaint as any other grease anywhere on the market, the make up is far from typical for this kind of product. Once grease emulsifies it’s essentially useless, so it’s important to have a quality long lasting solution that doesn’t degrade."
Stock of the three greases is expected by mid-summer.
Samples of a fork lubricant are also currently being independently tested with one of the country’s top suspension service centres.
Dainomi’s James Heath told BikeBiz: "We took on Wickens & Soderstrom products based on their performance in our own tests. I was off to Wales for a weekend’s trail riding and Lee the Co owner of W&S has sent me a bottle of his tyre sealant. My girlfriend’s rear tyre, which was using another branded sealant, kept deflating, so I thought I would give it a try. When I got back from Wales both bike’s tyres were fully inflated, even after a few thorns were pulled out. My other half’s bike was sat around for a few weeks after and I got the track pump out to put some air in her tyres to find out that they didn’t need it, they hadn’t lost air. I then asked Lee to send us his oil that at the time he was testing in his lab. One of our staff does huge mileage on the road, so he tested it and came back after over a month of riding saying he was overly impressed and wouldn’t stop raving about the product.
"We distribute only high-end cycle components such as Dash wheels and saddles and EECycle work brakes, so we felt Wickens & Soderstrom products fitted perfect with our portfolio."
To become a stockist, email arthur@dianomi-uk.com.
