Check out our new cycling kits.  

Link:    http://shop.jakroo.com/storefront/Williams-Cycling

Williams 58 and 85's offer the highest value "dollars per watt" & "dollars vs. time" performance in the market today.
 
Cycling Power Lab models cycling performance by applying mathematical/physics models to real world course, weather and component data with the goal of answering many of the performance related questions aspirational bike riders should be asking.  The below reports evaluate properties of Williams Wheel System 58 and 85 versus comparable wheel models from competitors.  This report focuses on:

• Theoretic Time-On-Course savings
• Aerodynamic Value Analysis - Dollars Per Watt
• Aerodynamic Value Analysis - Dollars versus Time-On-Course Saving

Link Here:       http://www.williamscycling.com/Cycling-Power-Lab-Analysis_ep_46.html

Williams Aurora SLC Saddle - Gear of the Year 2012: This Year’s Best

Gear of the Year 2012: This Year’s Best - 

 http://www.feedthehabit.com/mountain-biking/gear-of-the-year-2012-this-years-best/

"Williams Aurora SLC Saddle More well-known for their renowned wheelsets, Williams has expanded their product offering in 2012 to include saddles. The Aurora SLC is a work of art with carbon rails and Italian microfiber that features a man-friendly cutout to reduce numbness. At $129, this one is an easy addition to the list. Read review… "

http://www.feedthehabit.com/road-biking/williams-aurora-slc-saddle-review/

Show us your Williams Wheels

williams wheelsets video from Williams Cycling on Vimeo.

SmartStop-Mountain Khakis makes its mark in USA CRITS, NCC series

Williams supplies SmartStop-Mountain Khakis with bars and stems.

US Continental squad adds horsepower for 2013

The SmartStop-Mountain Khakis racing team ended its first year back in the UCI Continental ranks with a couple of exclamation points, continuing its domination of the USA CRITS series and adding a runner-up effort behind UnitedHeatlhcare in the final standings of the inaugural USA Cycling National Criterium Calendar (NCC).
Star sprinter Luke Keough capped his second consecutive USA CRITS individual overall title Sunday with a win at the Tour of Vail criterium, the final event of the season, while SmartStop-Mountain Khakis sealed the overall team win for the fifth consecutive year. Just one week earlier, Keough finished off his second-place overall effort in the National Criterium Calendar series with a win at the TD Mayor's Cup Criterium in Boston, the final race of that series.
Keough stole the win from UnitedHealthcare's Karl Menzies – who celebrated an assumed win a little too early. Keough's teammate Shane Kline was third, and Menzies' teammate Hilton Clarke, who had sewn up the overall series title before the Boston race, was fourth. SmartStop-Mountain Khakis finished second overall in the first-ever NCC behind Clarke's UnitedHealthcare squad, which is a UCI Pro Continental team.
It was a pretty good showing for a team that had to drop to the amateur level last year.
"To be second to UHC, both with a young guy like Luke Keough, and then to be second in the team competition with basically me and a bunch of young guys, is hugely satisfying when you look at the teams we beat," said SmartStop-Mountain Khakis' senior rider, 40-year-old Adam Myerson. "We beat them on Luke's talent for sure. But we also made the commitment to go into every race, to sending split squads of six riders to conflicting races on the same weekend on opposite coasts. A lot of other teams simply didn't do that."
The team, owned by Jamie Bennett and Pat Raines, turned professional at the Continental level in 2006 and eventually found its niche in criterium races, winning the USA CRITS' individual overall title four times, with Mark Hekman taking it in 2009, Isaac Howe in 2010 and Keough doubling up in 2011 and 2012. The squad has also won the overall team title five consecutive years. But SmartStop-Mountain Khakis ran into a bit of a hiccup at the end of the 2010 season when sponsor Jittery Joe's failed to meet it financial obligations, Myerson said.
"Things were low at the end of that Jittery Joe's year," Myerson said. "The economy had tanked, and so everybody was feeling it. But we just kind of hung on because we knew we had built something valuable, and we couldn't just walk away from it. So we focused on a rebuilding year. Now we're going into our seventh season."
The team dropped its UCI status and registered as a USA Cycling Domestic Elite program for 2011, but Myerson said the riders and management didn't change their approach to the season, eventually leading to another USA CRITS individual and team title.
"Even though we were amateur that year, we changed nothing," he said. "We hired the riders back that we wanted. We gave some guys raises. We went to all the same events, save the US Pro Championships, but we replaced those with the Elite amateur nationals."
The faith in the program paid off with increased sponsorship and a return to the UCI ranks this year, eventually leading to SmartStop stepping up to takeover as title sponsor from Mountain Khakis about halfway through the season. The increased investment allowed the team to amp up its output and results. Now SmartStop is on board for at least two more seasons, and Mountain Khakis is likely to continue with its characteristic one-year deals.
"The CEO of SmartStop started to attend some races and just got a handle around his sponsorship," Myerson said. "He was so excited by it and by how much potential the team had, it was basically a matter of him saying, 'What's it gonna take? What do we need to do to win more races?' And so that's when he said, 'Let's make a bigger investment. Can we start this right now?'"
The team will grow from 11 riders in 2012 to 14 next season, Myerson said. Notable additions include the return to the team of Isaac Howe, who rode from Mountain Khakis in 2009 and 2010 but spent the past two seasons with Kenda/5-Hour Energy. Jackie Simes will move from Jamis-Sutter Home to SmartStop-Mountain Khakis for 2013, along with Frank Travieso, a former Jamis rider who spent last season racing close to home at the amateur level following the birth of his first child. Track specialist Bobby Lea is also signed up with SmartStop-Mountain Khakis for the 2013 season.
"Having Isaac back, and with Shane Kline staying with the team – and he'll be stepping up as a primary sprinter – I think with those two guys we feel good about our sprinting for next year. But we're trying to reinforce the train, too," Myerson said. "We're looking for guys who can ride in breaks and who we can count on, but also guys who can reinforce our lead-out train."
In 2013, SmartStop-Mountain Khakis will say goodbye to Luke Keough, who is moving onto a Pro Continental team, but with Howe, Kline and the rest ready to step up – combined with the improved resources – Myerson expects another great year for the team. And he said he hopes the industry finally takes notice of what the team has accomplished.
"I think we really proved ourselves against a formidable opponent that certainly eclipses our budget," Myerson said. "That's why I hope people are willing to invest in us, because we've shown how thrifty we can be and how much we can make up in good organization and a lot of expertise within the organization. We can make that go, and with a little bit of money, the sky's the limit."

Williams Gets Dirty

Williams began as a road wheel company, but over the years we've grown and expanded to the point where we make high end products for almost every discipline of cycling, including road, track, TT/Tri, and cyclocross. However, there's been one big chunk of the bike world that we've totally missed out on: mountain.

Well not anymore! We're excited to announce that we are in the prototyping and testing phase of some, how should we put it, BAD ASS new wheels and components specifically for ripping up singletrack. We've got our product testers putting the new gear through the paces, including the test of truth in the Leadville 100. We're experiencing lots of thumbs up so far, and lots of excited hoots, and here's why:

Wheels: we plan to launch our mountain line with alloy wheels for traditional 26 and 29ers. Our goal is to create wheels that are stiff and strong, have bombproof durability, and still come in at an impressively low weight. And of course, we're going to do it all using our direct-to-consumer business model to offer a competitive price point and incredible value. If we can make a wheelset that helps riders upgrade their performance, shave weight, and do it all without breaking the bank then we'll have succeeded in our quest. As stated previously, we're still in the prototyping phase, but we can say for sure that our wheels will feature a version of our Six-Sixty hubs for lightning-fast three degree engagement, and interchangeable end caps for all popular axle designs.

Handlebars: carbon is the way of the future. It's lighter, it's stiffer, and it makes a normal bike look like a NASA rocket. We're experimenting with a few different designs to determine the best shape, rise, and bend for carbon mountain bike bars. While stiffness, strength and low weight are paramount, we're also mindful that different types of riding demand different styles of bar. The guy racing a full suspension 26 might need slightly different bars than the guy racing the single speed 29er. Our goal is to develop a few bars that live up to our high standards of performance and can meet the needs of different styles of riding.

Bonus: one of the best parts of diving headlong into mountain biking is that it's given us the opportunity to test our other components on the dirt. The feedback we've received has been incredible. Our carbon rail SLC saddles, stems, Ionic seatpost, and carbon cages have all logged many hundreds of miles on demanding singletrack and have lived up to lofty expectations. We're proud to certify that these products are ready to shred the gnar.

This marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Williams. We are fired up to get these new products into production and we can't wait to share them with you!

(As soon as we have more info, pictures, reviews, and a launch date we'll post it on the Mountain section of our website, facebook, and twitter.)

Wheel Tech: The Next Generation

We've just released updated models of our alloy clinchers and BOY are they sweet. We're using the same bomb-proof niobium alloy rims, and keeping the same slick decals, but from the rim in everything has been redesigned.

We started by radically chagning our hubs. The new Six-Sixty hubs feature a six pawl, sixty ratchet freehub mechanism that reduces engagement time. Push on the pedals and the freehub engages almost instantly. We've managed to keep tall, wide hub flanges for strength and stiffness, but we've machined out the rear hub to lower the weight. To top it all off, these hubs feature our high quality hybrid ceramic bearings for that low rolling resistance that keeps you cruising all day.

The overall weight of the wheelsets drops dramatically with the upgrade to Sapim CX-Ray spokes. Widely considered to be the best spokes in the industry, the CX-Ray is not only lighter than traditional spokes, it's also more aerodynamic. With these premium spokes you get a big reduction in weight, and a vast increase in performance.

When you put all the pieces together you get some of the nicest alloy clinchers on the market, offered at a direct to consumer price and backed by the legendary Williams customer service. Hard to beat.

System 19: 1353g  $569

System 30: 1495   $549

System 30X: 1548   $559

Team Title for Mountain Khakis/Smart-Stop

After a grueling week of high speed crit racing Team Mountain Khakis/Smart-Stop emerged victorious, taking the overall team title at the USA Crits Speedweek Series. This was no small feat, as this series attracted the very best criterium riders in the nation. TMK/SS came out strong, winning the first two races outright, with Luke Keough sprinting to victory in Athens and Ben Zawacki kicking hard from a late race breakaway to take the win in Roswell. These stellar early performances set the tone for the rest of the series, and the guys consistently fought their way to the pointy end of the race and found themselves on the podium and peppering the top ten.

The race for the team title was shaping up to be a titanic battle between Team Mountain Khakis/Smart-Stop and Team Exergy. It all came down to the final race, the Sandy Springs Criterium, where TMK/SS dug deep into the suitcase of courage, pulled on their big boy pants, and slammed three riders into the top twelve. When the dust settled and the points were tallied TMK/SS had taken the team title by ONE POINT!!! Holy smokes, that was close!

That victory is a testament to the amazing team spirit that drives Mountain Khakis/Smart-Stop in everything they do. Cycling is very much a team sport, and while it's usually a single rider standing atop the podium he couldn't be there without the support of the whole squad. That's why it's so, so sweet for the guys to earn the team title at Speedweek. It's a great honor and an important recognition of the hard work and sacrifice that every individual makes which allows the team as a whole to be successful.

Congratulations to you guys, from everyone here at Williams. We're proud to work with such a committed team, and we're proud to know that our components can stand up to the punishment dished out in the fastest racing in America. Keep on kicking butt, guys!

As Good as Gold

Williams sponsored professional team Mountain Khakis/Smart-Stop had a breakout performance this weekend that saw them clinch victory in three separate races, including one of the most prestigious criteriums in the US.

Luke Keough standing tall after winning the Terrapin Twilight

On Saturday night TMK/SS lined up for the famous Terrapin Twilight criterium in Athens, Georgia. As far as American criteriums go this one is legendary. The list of past winners includes Gord Fraser, Davis Phinney and Chris Horner, and the atmosphere is electric. Tens of thousands of crazed (and often beer-soaked) fans line the one kilometer course. The cheers are deafening, and the energy is so powerful riders practically vibrate with it as they take the line. A win in this race can launch a rider into the limelight and solidify a team's reputation as one of real players in American racing. Which is exactly what happened when Luke Keough blasted from the shadows Saturday night to win with by bike throw.

A HUGE bike throw victory for young Luke Keough!

For full details please see the report in Cycling News, or visit the Team Mountain Khakis/Smart-Stop website.

The team has been working hard to come together in order to deliver when it counts. The victory at Athens not only proved that they have what it takes to perform in the nation's biggest races, but infused them with the confidence and positivity to go out hungry for the win in every race. They say success breeds success, but it was was nevertheless astounding to see the team go out the very next day and take another huge win in the Roswell Criterium.

A big margin on a big win for Ben Zawacki

Roswell is another pillar of US crit racing and the 2nd race in the Speedweek series that Athens kicks off. After a long day of racing with TMK/SS constantly on the front initiating moves and controlling the race, Benjamin Zawacki managed to initiate a three man move in the closing laps. Strong, and sure, and full of confidence, Zawacki left his breakmates far behind and powered to a resounding sprint win. You can see video of the finish here.

Ben Zawacki beaming atop the podium at the Roswell Criterium 

Not to be outdone, Shane Kline used a strong kick to take the win at the Brick City Criterium back in North Carolina. The team took the race by the horns and wrestled it into submission, controlling breaks until 10 to go and then setting up an unbeatable leadout.

Shane Kline dusts the competition at the Brick City Criterium

After this weekend's dominant performances it cannot be denied: Team Mountain Khakis/Smart-Stop is a true force to be reckoned with in American racing. We're proud to support such a strong program, and we're happy that they can confirm what we've known for a long time: Winners Ride Williams.

Taipei Roundup

Our apologies for this late review of our Taipei trip, but we've been pretty darn busy catching up on work and regaining our health. There's nothing like a whirlwind business trip around the globe to tax the immune system.

We set out for the Taipei International Cycle Show with some large, but focused goals, and we're happy to report that we had a very productive trip. We don't want to sound overly dramatic, but we're convinced we're at work on projects that will take Williams Cycling to a whole new level. Now it's a bit cruel to make a statement like that and then not reveal any hints about what these big plans include, but until designs are finalized and dates are set we just can't divulge much information. It's a bit of the old, "we'd tell you, but then we'd have to kill you."

So while we can't give you all the sweet details of the stuff we're working on, we can give you a firsthand look at what it's like to travel to a small country on the other side of the world for one of the biggest bike shows ever.


Taipei is a one shot, 14 hour direct flight from San Francisco. It's never nice being crammed into a tiny seat in a big aluminum germ factory in the sky, but at least we knew we'd be safe upon arrival thanks to the quarantine beagles.

The air travel can be tough, but luckily once we arrived the local transport was, how should we say it... magical. We got to ride with taxi drivers who had time traveled from the 80s and on beautiful horsey buses.

The show itself is massive. There are two main floors, each of which is the size of multiple football fields. A small part of one of those floors looks like this:

There were also three other smaller floors and an entire auxiliary exhibition center dedicated to athletic apparel that we never saw. That's a ton of gear!

So when you're spending all day on your feet going from meeting to meeting and logging serious miles just to get form point to point it's important to keep your body in peak physical condition. Strategies for this include properly fueling your body:

And maintaing a rigorous exercise regime:

Oops! Keith might have overdone it:

International travel can be pretty darn expensive, and when a trade show knows they have a captive audience they can really jack up the prices for a good lunch:

But all the high prices and the physical demands become worth it when you get to enjoy perks like robotic toilets, celebrity sightings and first looks at amazing new products:

Stock photo bike guy strikes again! This time in pink!

All kidding aside, it was a really great trip. Taiwan is an amazing country with a rich culture and history, as well as some of the most generous and welcoming people in the world. We had a fun and productive trip and we can't wait to go back. If you want to check out some more photos from trip you can see them on our facebook page here.