Light Bicycle Custom Paint Thoughts

Hello friends. I thought about posting this for a while and and am now following through. I hope this helps future buyers and I’ll put on my thick skin in case some people don’t like my bike. It already has a lefty and dropper, so I was on thin ice to begin with. 😂

So I bought the “Caffeine” colored Topstone Carbon Lefty which the intention of getting deep carbon rims and baby blue Onyx hubs. Then I got the bike and spent ages going back and forth and back again on baby blue, white or antifreeze for the hub color.

During my internal hub color struggle, I thought, “I might as well paint the rims too!” So I started the custom paint process at light bicycle. I sent a few font files and a crappy photoshop of where I wanted my font and how to mask off the paint for the carbon section. I like the light colored wheel trend in the industry of late and when Chase Sexton’s Kawi has silver wheels, I can only nod and say “Hell yes!”

I wanted a silver to match the Cannondale logo on the frame. Took me a while when Light asked for a Pantone # for the silver, but I finally found it in Cannondale’s brand standards for font/color/size/message etc.

When I sent the Pantone off with the sketch and the font they sent back a question if I want the carbon weave to show through the paint, I said yes! So the design idea was to have a carbon weave with a light silver over it in 80% of the wheel and glossy carbon with text on the remaining 20% The proof is attached. This is my first, future buyer FYI, the depth of the proof compared to the 40mm rim in real life is difficult to gauge. If I could, I would make the carbon go out two more spoke holes. I would also have the TMKF bigger and angled to follow the silver cut and the “Ride Hard Ride Fast Take Chances” bigger too and stay along the horizontal surface.

For those curious

TMKF – Woody Guthrie

“Ride Hard, Ride Fast, Take Chances” was a line a crew member from another team repeated ALL NIGHT long to every racer that went by at the 2001 24 Hours of Moab. It was annoying at the time but 25 years later, I still say it once before or during every ride with my Dad.

Back to the wheels.

So I approve the proof and order the Baby Blue hubs from ONYX at the same time. Both companies say 4-6 week lead time and Light had to ship overseas in tariff time. Onyx had the hubs and the Sap blades black spikes and black aluminum nipples ready to hike in less than 2 weeks. (I love the engagement and silence of Onyx, I highly recommend)

The light bicycle order viewer said to expect a 30 day fab and paint time and then the wheels would ship.

I paid the Light invoice on May 21, 2025. I have an email thread with 50 emails in it and 40 are after I placed the order. I had to ask for updates at each step, hell I think it took 30 days for them to procure the carbon, much less lay it up and paint it. The painting is where things are kind of “meh” it seemed one rim kept failing post paint QC. I can’t prove it but I think what happened is they just kept re-spraying both rims until they both passed QC because I can’t see any weave through the silver. It’s not the end of the world. Finally the rims passed and they shipped on October 7th. I thought I would have the wheels ready for summer races last year. Oh well.

Once they arrived at Onyx, Steve’s team assembled them and shipped them in a day?Less? Full props!!

So I’ve been riding them through the winter and I love the feel of the wheels. Light, instant engagement, high speed on the flats and they look great spinning. I just wish I could do a few things different in hindsight on the paint.

FYI for those who don’t know. Hub logo should point to valve stem so putting my logos opposite and readable with the carbon down worked great with the Onyx and WTB logos. No mismatched logo directions, kind of lucky on that TBH but happy since mismatched logos would annoy the shit out of me.

I’m not unhappy with my wheels or light, just thought I would pass along my findings with the lead time and proof process. Totally happy with the performance but would like to make a few small changes next time.

Onyx is perfect, no issues at all.

Full wheel specs

Light Bike WG40

Onyx Vesper – Baby Blue (Silence is golden)

Spain bladed spokes

Muc Off Big Bore Clik Valves

WTB Vulpine 700×45 tan wall front tire

WTB Vulpine S 70×45 tan wall rear tire

SRAM two piece rotors

SRAM titanium rotor bolts