The old 90’s were a bitch to handle.

What's old is new again, I guess.

GCN did a paid promotional piece on them, talking about improved cross-wind stability and aerodynamics, etc. Seems they (claim) to be doing it differently than anyone else.

Trek has a whitepaper if you want to nerd on on the "how"

Could you get the bikerumor link to work? Acrobat declined to open it, even if saved first. And I can't find it anywhere else, even on Trek's site.
bikeradar's article https://www.bikeradar.com/...ts-and-prices-52012/ covers some of the background - using an instrumented bike for riders to indicate when it felt unstable, then correlating that with previous wind tunnel measurements. Came up with the conclusion "The engineers defined instability as anything that caused a steering torque of .75N-m or greater in less than 1.4 seconds [assume this means torque change]. Then they designed around that, while still trying to make the wheel as fast as possible in a variety of wind angles."

Try this one instead:

https://www.bikerumor.com/...XXX_Whitepaper_3.pdf

Great read. BTW the rim shape appears to be very similar to a forthcoming wheel made by Velocity: http://blog.velocite-bikes.com/...rims-for-wide-tires/

I *think* Velocite is going to make that rim in a filament wound version eventually. If you look at their CFD model it's interesting to note how the effective aerofoil profile changes at different points in the rim. That's something I hadn't really thought of before.

I found this chart from the white paper particularly interesting:

I’d love for someone to do a white paper and show they are second best, it’d be more believable.

Trek kind of did with the Speed Concept 2. (More drag that P5 at low yaw).

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Developing aero, fit and other fun stuff at Red is Faster

This is definitely the most interesting part... and the hardest to believe. I still question how durable they are when descending extremely steep mountain ranges (i.e. melting) but the braking power chart is a "take my money" moment.

Call me foolish but I tend to believe Trek/Bontrager's data... even though I'm skeptical that these new wheels brake as well as aluminum.


I'd love it if someone in the disc brake crowd would put out such a chart. Said chart should be apples to apples IMO: cable vs cable, hydro vs hydro. I think disc brakes would be very hard pressed to beat something like the Magura RT8s on aluminum rims.

Wonder why they didn't test against 454?

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808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

Couple of things I found interesting:

The Bontrager has the thinnest brake track walls of the 3 brands. (Subtract putter width from inner width) That’s where a good chunk of the weight difference resides. So, thinner walls and still great braking performance. That’s cool to see.

Also, the narrower “v-shaped” profile is similar to what ENVE has done with their more recent wheels (the 7.8 and new 4.5). Makes me happier with my stubborn, hipster decision to rock the old Reynolds Aero wheels :)

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Alex Arman

Strava

Do they have a new 4.5 out? I've been waiting for them to release a 4.5 that's tubeless compatible.

Sorry, I meant the 4.5 AR's - the super wide disc model.

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Alex Arman

Strava

I wonder what pads where used with each (obviously Black Prince w/Aeolus XXX)? Throw some KoolStop Salmons on for the Paradigm test :-)

I also wonder how a Hed Jet Turbine ranks on that chart...especially with RT8s ;-)

You aren't going to see an "apples to apples" test like that against discs. The results won't fit the industry "common wisdom"...

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http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/