Even bike parts, the tools we play outside with, can have “a finish that stays a pleasure to use.”
The Stealth Grey series from ASTRAL CYCLING is built around exactly that idea.
When they first arrived about a year and a half ago, I built up a wheelset right away and have been riding them ever since.
Behind the calm matte grey color is serious durability. It doesn't draw attention to itself, but it's genuinely tough, and the seemingly contradictory combination of being both strong and thin gives it a real “still waters run deep” kind of charm.
The Stealth Grey finish is a limited production run, but it's part of the official lineup of ASTRAL, whose sister brand is Rolf Prima, and it's one of the products they put out with real confidence.
Before we knew it, nearly all of them had headed off to all kinds of bikes, and even after they sold out we kept getting lots of restock requests.
Right around then, ASTRAL actually came to us saying they wanted to make more too! So this time we've finally been able to restock, with a little extra added to the lineup.
The value of a ceramic coating that's “thin and strong”
Before introducing the models that arrived, let's quickly go over the ceramic coating technology that gives Stealth Grey its name.
The Stealth Grey series from ASTRAL and Rolf Prima uses ceramic coating technology from the American company Cerakote. It achieves a coating containing ceramic particles, with high hardness, excellent heat resistance and excellent corrosion resistance, in a very thin film.
Because it's so thin, it doesn't alter the rim's original shape and only improves surface durability, so there's no significant effect on spec-critical things like how the tire bead seats in the rim or clearances.
It keeps things light while adding toughness against outside damage that you just can't avoid on a ride, like flying stones, mud, and scraping against branches on the ground. It's an ideal quality to add to bike parts made for playing outdoors.
By the way, typical paint on metal ends up around 60–100 microns thick, whereas Cerakote's coating delivers its performance at around 25 microns.
One micron is 0.001mm, so 25 microns is about the thickness of a thin tissue.
A lineup to suit both on-road and gravel
Now, the newly added Wanderlust in this production run is the model ASTRAL is pushing hardest right now.
With a slightly slimmer profile than the Outback, it's positioned as an all-road-leaning gravel rim that combines speed on the road with suppleness on unpaved surfaces. It strikes a nice balance of lightness and stability, so it handles everything from everyday rides to long tours.
It's happiest with tires of around 32–45mm, so it's a spot-on match for bikes like the WILDE Rambler SL, OMNIUM CXC, SURLY Midnight Special and Straggler, for riding styles that want to enjoy both road and dirt.
The Outback now comes in 20-inch as well as 29-inch. With gravel touring on mini-velos and handmade builders offering small-wheeled bikes becoming more and more common, having more 20-inch options really means something.
You can now also match front and rear on setups like OMNIUM's cargo bikes, with a 20-inch front and a 29-inch rear. That's a pretty nice bonus, right?
And let's not forget the Solstice, which sold out fastest last time. For people like me who are devoted to rim-brake road bikes and track bikes, it adds a precious option.
We had them make a few more than last time, but this model got more inquiries than any other, so grab one before they're gone.
Seen as a “tool for the outdoors”
A finish like ceramic coating, which combines light weight with durability and isn't easily affected by its environment, is a great match for tools used outdoors.
In fact, in the world of outdoor gear it's often used on UL products, and the idea of combining lightness with strength naturally overlaps with one of the qualities we want from a rim.
In styles like gravel, touring and bikepacking, where you spend long hours outside going back and forth between paved and unpaved roads, damage from flying stones, mud and the like is unavoidable.
Being able to keep using your rims without losing performance even in those conditions ends up broadening what you can do on your adventures.
A finish that's thin yet highly durable answers exactly that need, and together with its understated texture, I feel it quietly underpins its reliability as a tool for the outdoors.
And, last but not least: we can't reveal the whole picture yet, but there's a special item coming up next, packed with ASTRAL's own requests and passion. Please hang on just a little longer for that one….
