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Carbon Is The New Black: Berk Composites Black Road

Carbon Is The New Black: Berk Composites Black Road

Weight weenies around the world will recognize the name of Jure Berk and his vision — to produce the lightest and strongest, most well-designed components and frames from carbon fibre. Aleš Arnež is one of the Berk team and this is his own Berk composition.

Carbon Is The New Black: Berk Composites Black Road

Jure is a former U23 Continental pro cyclist who raced for the Slovenian Radenska team. He made his first composite bottle cage at the age of 15 and a seat post after that. The first Berk frame was completed in 2009.

Carbon Is The New Black: Berk Composites Black Road

With the help of Olympic silver slalom canoe medalist Dr. Andraž Vehovar, the business was born in 2013 under the name of Berk-Vehovar Composites LLC. The Berk team has since grown to include other specialists — all great friends and cyclists.

Carbon Is The New Black: Berk Composites Black Road

Aleš is an architect and former street artist who performs the role of designer and coatings expert. We’ve actually featured a couple of his steel-based creations on these pages over the years: a beautifully restored Olympia and Cicli Montagner.

Carbon Is The New Black: Berk Composites Black Road

For his excursion over to ‘the dark side’, Aleš assembled his Berk with the cream of his company’s components. The inner structural layers of the bespoke frame are composed of more than 80% M40J carbon with an external 3K layer of T700 carbon.

Carbon Is The New Black: Berk Composites Black Road

Naturally, the intent was to let the weave of the carbon show through. His good friend, Žiga Artnak, an award-winning designer and typographer, designed the graphics and lettering on the inside of the fork leg: Galileo Galilei’s famous quote, “And yet it moves”.

Carbon Is The New Black: Berk Composites Black Road

Aleš built it up with a mix of hard-wearing and lightweight mechanicals, consisting mainly of Shimano 105 — with a Dura-Ace cassette — a Ritchey UD stem and 3K FSA bars. A Berk UD/3K saddle/seatpost combo stands proudly above the frame.

Carbon Is The New Black: Berk Composites Black Road

A pair of The Hive‘s Revl brakes haul up an Ambrosio Crono tubular wheelset with DT Swiss 240 hubs at the centre, marrying the contemporary with the classic. A pair of gum wall Vittoria tires perfectly complement the gold accents.

Special thanks to David Krevs for the photos. See more on Aleš’ Flickr stream.

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Carbon Is The New Black: Berk Composites Black Road