Leading carbon fiber wheel manufacturer Blackstone TEK (BST) of Johannesburg in South Africa is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year.
Founded in 2002 by Gary Turner and Terry Annecke, the company almost single-handedly created the volume production carbon wheels market, and as such has had quite an influence on the race and custom motorcycle industries.
The company has been ISO 9001 certified since 2003, audited by the German TUV and JWL and DOT E certified, with BST indeed being the only OEM certified supplier of carbon fiber wheels in the world and the biggest aftermarket supplier.
The winner of multiple international awards, BST has over 25,000 wheels in the market worldwide, offers four different styles of wheels in sizes ranging from 12” to 23” and offers over 200 individual fitments for 20 different manufacturers.
BST wheels have become a default choice for Harley, Buell and performance V-twin customizers looking to save weight and add strength. BST carbon fiber wheels have been the ‘go to’ for AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building competitors, for whom performance engineering is the driving force in their design decisions.BST’s latest success has been with Ducati’s new 1299 Superleggera, said to be the first ever factory bike to be equipped with carbon fiber wheels.
“To lighten the load and provide a reduction in rolling resistance, Ducati chose BST carbon fiber wheels to enhance the performance,” says Gary Turner.
“A traditional metal wheel manufacturer uses one wheel per test – our wheels are engineered to withstand four tests - cornering fatigue, radial fatigue, torsional fatigue and impact testing - all using the same one wheel,” Gary explained.
BST employ some 50 plus people at their 4,800 sq m (approx. 51,500 sq ft) facility and have exported their wheels “to just about everywhere in the world, including Kazakhstan…basically everywhere that has a motorcycle community.”
www.blackstonetek.com