yes chris for the carbon clincher

looking forward to it.

Each order historically has contained about 450 carbon wheels. This one will have 1,000. So contrary to what some people think, we are doing what we can to grow. There are so many components that go into growing a business, and having stock isn't as simple has hitting the "more wheels" button. For example, consider the cost to develop this new product line. Seven new wheel molds, hiring an engineering team full time at CD-Adapco, prototypes, trips to Taiwan, traveling to and riding IM courses, a couple days in the A2 Wind tunnel at $600 an hour etc. I'm not saying this to brag, but just trying to illustrate the point that there are many facets to consider. This is especially true when the goal is to stick around and not make a quick buck off of one product line. The R&D budget for this line of products is something we couldn't have even fathomed 5 years ago when we were building our first prototype in our one car garage. It's all a big puzzle and we are putting the pieces together the best that we can.

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Chris Thornham
Co-Founder And Previous Owner Of FLO Cycling

Thank you. Ryan Cooper from Best Bike Split is crunching some serious numbers right now. We'll have really good estimates on time savings for some common IM courses available soon. I spoke with Carl Matson from Trek earlier, and he told me that our numbers/findings are lining up with theirs as well. So that's reassuring.

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Chris Thornham
Co-Founder And Previous Owner Of FLO Cycling

We will definitely be testing heat build up in the braking report. Our initial tests are all good, but keep in mind that our factory has been refining the braking surface over years as well. We certainly haven't partnered up with a first time rim maker for this project. We are using arguably the top rim manufacturer in Taiwan for this product.

Regarding the FLO 45 wheels for that course. They would be a great choice, but the weight of our other Carbon Clincher wheels are all very low now, so if you can handle the wheels in crosswinds, I'd lean towards a deeper and more aero set for racing triathlon.

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Chris Thornham
Co-Founder And Previous Owner Of FLO Cycling

There sure will be. Standard build wheels will be rated up to 198lbs and our Clydesdale build wheels will be rated up to 242lbs.

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Chris Thornham
Co-Founder And Previous Owner Of FLO Cycling

In all honesty no. There are several reasons and the biggest reason is that there are so many variables that go into wind tunnel results. We studied a lot of those while in the tunnel this year. For example, tire pressure effects, your results. Something as small as a 5psi difference matters. I think no matter what we did to be as fully transparent as possible, people would doubt our results. I personally think the only way to have a direct comparison that people would believe, would be to have a representative from each brand at the same tunnel, at the same time testing together. While I personally would love to be part of a study like this, my guess is that most companies wouldn't share the same excitement for the idea.

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Chris Thornham
Co-Founder And Previous Owner Of FLO Cycling

Hi Chris
always great to have product engineers here to answer questions directly thanks.

are you able to provide any input on the durability of the new full carbon clinchers? i realise its a bit early to have any real world long term experience but would you be able to give some indication of expected mileage lifespan given "normal" use? i'm thinking of a set of 45s for training and race use on my road bike

Fair enough! You have been really generous with your responses, and have won over a customer with your transparency.

I think these are a very good product, and these will likely be my next set of wheels. They look fantastic, the data is good, your testing protocol seems robust, and they’re extremely well priced. I'm really pleased with how positive the response has been here and elsewhere.


However as you note, coastal courses (and those beside large inland bodies of water) produce higher yaw angles. Many triathlons are held beside the ocean, and many of the remainder are held beside large lakes, with significant parts of the ride exposed to these conditions. However your testing has two of four locations with what appear to be inland ride courses. For those of us who live and race near coasts (in my case it's all coastal and large lakes in Australia and NZ) could you explain how this is going to affect us?

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'It never gets easier, you just get crazier.'

Oh. Ok. Stability also relates to steering/yawing moment. What does the tunnel data look like for that component?

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Kraig Willett
http://www.biketechreview.com - check out our reduced report pricing
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You are either one of the most cunning, ingenious trolls in forum history or one of the least self aware, most intolerable blowhards on the planet.

So are you going to go for UCI approval? This may be required for some road racers and even some triathletes.

That's a shame - a couple guys locally race road on the Flo 60's and when they come by they are LOUD - like scary intimidating loud. In a good way, of course :-)

...depending on the model used, yes. the BBS numbers will be interesting...looking forward to seeing them.

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Carl Matson

I always assume that if you're creating noise you're wasting energy, usually in the form of drag.

I wonder if it would be efficient and legal to put a speaker in your disc to make the womp womp sound.

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'It never gets easier, you just get crazier.'

It won't affect you, a quote from the website regarding if there are differences inland vs coastal vs other yaw angle profiles:
Yes [there were differences], but they were so small that trying to separate them in an attempt to design better wheels would have been unreasonable.

No need for the pink. BMW's latest M5s play fake engine sounds through interior speakers.

Chris,

any plans to

1) Re-design the FLO 30 to cope with the new yaw understanding and/or switching to full carbon (shaving off some grams...)?
2) Offer the FLO 45 rims only?
3) Offer your products through an european distributor?

Thanks - and looking forward to the tire report :)

axti

Thanks. I still love my Al + C 60/90s. I will probably stick with them!

As I said in a previous post, we aren't using a first time carbon factory to build these wheels. We are using arguably the best rim manufacturer around who has been building and refining these products for a very long time. We also didn't invest all of this time and money into this project only focus on aerodynamics. What would be the point of building a very aerodynamic but poor quality wheel. These wheels can be used for both training and racing, are very stiff, yet compliant, and in my opinion are the best products we have ever made.

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Chris Thornham
Co-Founder And Previous Owner Of FLO Cycling

We are considering it.

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Chris Thornham
Co-Founder And Previous Owner Of FLO Cycling

I'm not sure if you read the full article on data analysis, but the differences between coastal and inland rides were so small that they didn't effect the design algorithm. More or less, we saw almost identical patterns wherever we were riding.

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Chris Thornham
Co-Founder And Previous Owner Of FLO Cycling

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Chris Thornham
Co-Founder And Previous Owner Of FLO Cycling

Are you trying to calculates watts to spin based off of this? If so, are you going to try and relate our wind tunnel results to a completely different wind tunnel study?

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Chris Thornham
Co-Founder And Previous Owner Of FLO Cycling