I was able to tour Reynolds’ new headquarters facility and was very impressed by them. Their Director of Technology and Innovation is Paul Lew, the man who invented the carbon clincher in 1996. If you’ve ever ridden a carbon fiber wheel (of any brand) you can thank Paul.
I’m looking forward to some test rides, but have not yet done so. I’m interested to hear from current Reynolds’ fans about the latest wheels and innovations from Paul. From what I gather he’s made a huge impact since joining Reynolds a few years ago. Is Reynolds on the rise or just another wheel company?
I was able to tour Reynolds’ new headquarters facility and was very impressed by them. Their Director of Technology and Innovation is Paul Lew, the man who invented the carbon clincher in 1996. If you’ve ever ridden a carbon fiber wheel (of any brand) you can thank Paul.
I’m looking forward to some test rides, but have not yet done so. I’m interested to hear from current Reynolds’ fans about the latest wheels and innovations from Paul. From what I gather he’s made a huge impact since joining Reynolds a few years ago. Is Reynolds on the rise or just another wheel company?
I’m using their new 72mm wheels on my road bike. They are clinchers and I find them to ride well and accelerate like a lighter, shallower rim. I’m impressed and find them to be a worthy option in the growing “wide/carbon/clincher” options.
Did Paul share his invention with Corima? I thought they had carbon clinchers in their 4 spoke wheels in the early 90s.
Paul Lew was a partner with Lee Vaccaro at Lew Racing. To say it didn’t end well is generous. Plenty of folks left in a lurch over some extremely expensive wheels. Paul may well be an excellent technologist/engineer but I’m not certainly not seeing the hero worship.
I was able to tour Reynolds’ new headquarters facility and was very impressed by them. Their Director of Technology and Innovation is Paul Lew, the man who invented the carbon clincher in 1996. If you’ve ever ridden a carbon fiber wheel (of any brand) you can thank Paul.
I’m looking forward to some test rides, but have not yet done so. I’m interested to hear from current Reynolds’ fans about the latest wheels and innovations from Paul. From what I gather he’s made a huge impact since joining Reynolds a few years ago. Is Reynolds on the rise or just another wheel company?
I’m using their new 72mm wheels on my road bike. They are clinchers and I find them to ride well and accelerate like a lighter, shallower rim. I’m impressed and find them to be a worthy option in the growing “wide/carbon/clincher” options.
Did Paul share his invention with Corima? I thought they had carbon clinchers in their 4 spoke wheels in the early 90s.
-SD
I made two changes to my TT set up this year. I bought a Castelli Speedsuit and swapped my original 808 tubies (on DT240 hubs) with a wheelcover for Reynolds RZR 92s. In my first TT (22.6 miles), I took out an almost 5 year old PB by 46 seconds. My second was a 40k. I cut my 1:00:02 from last August to 58:08 this June on the same course.
The wheels are a little tougher in crosswinds than my old Zipps and the quality control needs a little work (wrinkled decal and rough edge at the “V” of the rear wheel. But, I am extremely happy with the wheels’ performance.
Full disclosure: I am two pounds lighter and probably 5 watts stronger this year than last.
I was able to tour Reynolds’ new headquarters facility and was very impressed by them. Their Director of Technology and Innovation is Paul Lew, the man who invented the carbon clincher in 1996. If you’ve ever ridden a carbon fiber wheel (of any brand) you can thank Paul.
I’m looking forward to some test rides, but have not yet done so. I’m interested to hear from current Reynolds’ fans about the latest wheels and innovations from Paul. From what I gather he’s made a huge impact since joining Reynolds a few years ago. Is Reynolds on the rise or just another wheel company?
I’m using their new 72mm wheels on my road bike. They are clinchers and I find them to ride well and accelerate like a lighter, shallower rim. I’m impressed and find them to be a worthy option in the growing “wide/carbon/clincher” options.
Did Paul share his invention with Corima? I thought they had carbon clinchers in their 4 spoke wheels in the early 90s.
-SD
I made two changes to my TT set up this year. I bought a Castelli Speedsuit and swapped my original 808 tubies (on DT240 hubs) with a wheelcover for Reynolds RZR 92s. In my first TT (22.6 miles), I took out an almost 5 year old PB by 46 seconds. My second was a 40k. I cut my 1:00:02 from last August to 58:08 this June on the same course.
The wheels are a little tougher in crosswinds than my old Zipps and the quality control needs a little work (wrinkled decal and rough edge at the “V” of the rear wheel. But, I am extremely happy with the wheels’ performance.
Full disclosure: I am two pounds lighter and probably 5 watts stronger this year than last.
Just curious…what tires/tubes did you run in each case?
I was able to tour Reynolds’ new headquarters facility and was very impressed by them. Their Director of Technology and Innovation is Paul Lew, the man who invented the carbon clincher in 1996. If you’ve ever ridden a carbon fiber wheel (of any brand) you can thank Paul.
I’m looking forward to some test rides, but have not yet done so. I’m interested to hear from current Reynolds’ fans about the latest wheels and innovations from Paul. From what I gather he’s made a huge impact since joining Reynolds a few years ago. Is Reynolds on the rise or just another wheel company?
I’m using their new 72mm wheels on my road bike. They are clinchers and I find them to ride well and accelerate like a lighter, shallower rim. I’m impressed and find them to be a worthy option in the growing “wide/carbon/clincher” options.
Did Paul share his invention with Corima? I thought they had carbon clinchers in their 4 spoke wheels in the early 90s.
-SD
I made two changes to my TT set up this year. I bought a Castelli Speedsuit and swapped my original 808 tubies (on DT240 hubs) with a wheelcover for Reynolds RZR 92s. In my first TT (22.6 miles), I took out an almost 5 year old PB by 46 seconds. My second was a 40k. I cut my 1:00:02 from last August to 58:08 this June on the same course.
The wheels are a little tougher in crosswinds than my old Zipps and the quality control needs a little work (wrinkled decal and rough edge at the “V” of the rear wheel. But, I am extremely happy with the wheels’ performance.
Full disclosure: I am two pounds lighter and probably 5 watts stronger this year than last.
Right next to Tom’s question, what skin suit did you replace?
For reference:
Tour Magazine data wheels in Trek Speed Concept 7.2, 808FC has 5.1watts on RZR92 at 45kph
Tour Magazine, 2013 test, same bike with dummy, 808/Super9 shows 3.5 watts advantage on 808FC.
Also good followup here on the CXR80 and Aeolus 7 from your tunnel test…CXR80 0.5watts better than 808 but tire Crr significantly higher.
I remember seeing advertisements for those things in the back of Inside Triathlon. Back when InsideTri came in paper and was the size of a small newspaper. Does anyone have a picture of it mounted to an actual bike?
I remember seeing advertisements for those things in the back of Inside Triathlon. Back when InsideTri came in paper and was the size of a small newspaper. Does anyone have a picture of it mounted to an actual bike?
I have some photos of a concept bike with that fork and front wheel.
I’m guessing the google can find images before I can.
Damon Rinard would be a likely source, too.
Corima had carbon clinchers in the early 90’s. Definitely predating the Lew Wheel. I had a custom set of Lew wheels, but I don’t think he ever released a clincher until well after 96. I met Paul back in the Wear and Tear Black hole days. Interesting stuff for sure and definitely some unique ideas.
The original Lew Composites was bought by McClean Quality Composites which either sold to Reynolds or bought into Reynolds to market the wheels. Paul left the company after that. They brought him back in when the brains left and started ENVE and after Lew V.2 had gone under.
So based on that data from the Velo 2013 test it would seem the Super 9 tested about 1.25 watts slower than the Lightweight disc. Did it say what tires were used on the Lightweight and Super 9?
I bought those Tour articles and only the 2013 is apples against apples with many of the wheels tested in clincher version and all of them (when tested in clincher) with GP TT tires. The tubular wheels tested are with Conti Podium TT 22 tubulars which seems like one of the best tubulars in term of aero if we refer to the Easton White Paper for their new wheels. Only Mavic wheels have their own tubulars in this test.
So 2013 test is great but missing Zipp 808FC clincher with Enve clincher and Reynolds clincher comparison .
2012 article (first graph in your post) is harder to analyze. Zipp wheels were clincher with GP4000S tires, all other wheels were tubulars. Now it means Zipp wheels were in their fastest configuration whereas all the others were not. To make this comparison more realistic, you would need to add an 808 FC carbon clincher with GP4000S VS 808 FC tubular with Podium TT 22 comparison . What do you think ?
The 2012 article uses Competition22 tubulars on the tubular wheels, though the Reynolds 66/81 combo is also clincher with GP4000s tires, same as the 808. Adding further confusion, the 404/808 they list in the test was not meant to be in the test at all, as it was the stock wheelset from their Plasma Premium they had previously reported on and were using in the positioning portion of the study, so it had some 500+km already on it’s Competition22’s, so quite difficult to draw any conclusion between those and the other tubes tested with nice, new tires.
In general, the Comp22’s measure just over 22.2 and the GP4000s have a beautiful shape, but measure at 24.3mm wide with both at 100psi. The clincher tire shape is generally a bit better at higher yaw angles and will stall a bit later, but the 2.1mm width difference is something of an equalizer making the narrower tire a bit faster before the stall So you can expect the GP4000s to be slightly better at higher yaw as it holds the air slightly better and the tuby to be slightly better at lower yaw due to reduced frontal area…though as you see on the 66/81 wheels that the whole thing is still largely rim shape dominated as those post the worst drag of the group despite the having the clincher GP4000s ‘advantage’
As for the question on the Lightweight, the advantage is at least partially due to the narrower tire. On a frame with a nice cuttout, the primary source of drag on the wheel comes at the tire trailing edge, and the narrower tire just leaves that little bit much narrower wake, though there is also the likelihood that the LW disc has a slight advantage on that particular frame. Lens discs can be better on frames with widely spaced seat stays whereas concepts like the Super9 have the advantage in narrow stay bikes…though either way, we never see it matter more than about ~1watt.
Lastly, I’ve got the 808 GP4000s vs Comp22 vs PodiumTT in our tunnel database which I can’t access as we are at the tunnel and posting live data to it as I type this. Once were complete I’ll query a plot and post it.
J
Thanks for answering ! Looking forward for this 808 FC tubular (with the Comp 22 and Podium TT 22) VS clincher comparison.
You are right, I missed (or at least I had forgotten) in the 2012 test that the Reynolds wheels 66/81 were clincher with GP4000S. Now to Reynolds defense, even their own white paper (page 32) shows the 81 as being quite slow compare to the competitors.
What’s funny is that TOUR tested in 2012 with the fastest clincher and an “average” tubular and in 2013 with a slower clincher (though better in rolling resistance) and a faster tubular. Easton latest white paper shows (page 9) the Podium TT 22 as being quite faster than the Competition 22, though I’m not sure how they average the different yaw angles exactly.
It won’t be a scientific test, but I’m giving myself a chance to make my own oppinion on ZIPP vs Enve vs Reynolds… I used to have as rear wheels Super 9 CC and 808 CC and as front wheels 404 CC and 808 CC. Love them but I’m always interested in trying new things so I kept my favorite racing setup Super9 rear + 808 front and sold a set of 808+404. I also sold my Powertap wheelset used on my training bike in an effort to build two new wheelsets.
Here they are :
Enve 6 clincher with Powertap G3.
Reynolds Aero 72.
I’ve just started riding both but I’ll keep my oppinion a little bit longer as I broke my collarbone 4 weeks ago so I’m still not very comfortable on the TT bike (can’t stay long on the extensions yet). I didn’t expect much surprise as I’ve ridden many high end wheels and the differences are often noticeable but not “oh my god” kind of surprising anymore… still there is actually a front wheel I am very surprized with… give me a few more rides, with each ride I manage to spend more time on the extensions so getting a better feel for the wheels in “real” use conditions. For more scientific results, I’m also hoping to go in the tunnel before or after Ironman Arizona but travelling from Europe I won’t be able to have all the wheels with me during that trip … maybe I can manage to bring two front wheels though .
Lastly, I’ve got the 808 GP4000s vs Comp22 vs PodiumTT in our tunnel database which I can’t access as we are at the tunnel and posting live data to it as I type this. Once were complete I’ll query a plot and post it.
Josh, were you going to post that data here in this thread or will it be posted somewhere else? Any chance you have any other tires you could add to the graph? Specifically looking for some narrower tires like maybe Zipp Tangente 21mm, Attack, or something else in the 20-22 range.
Paul Lew would take credit for inventing evolution if he thought he could get away with it. Yes, he’s done a couple of interesting things as an engineer (he is widely credited with being the first guy to exploit the capabilities of UD fiber for use in wheels), but the scum-bag things he’s done outweigh them in my book…
And, there were a lot of carbon wheels before Paul made his. Corima, Zipp, Hed - Hell, even Sun had carbon wheels that all predated him by a long shot.
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