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Pacenti Debuts Wide, Shallow Aero Road Tubeless Rims

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Pacenti 24mm aero road tubeless rims

Kirk Pacenti has been busy latetly, what with taking over the eeCranks production all. Now, we hear he’s designed a new road tubeless rim to fill a void left when brands like HED stop offering their rims outside of complete wheels.

Wider rims are popping up everywhere thanks to the improved aerodynamics and ride quality. HED, Zipp and many others have pushed the trend, and this rim gives those wanting custom builds, like using Chris King’s new 11-speed road hubs, the ability to take advantage of the latest tech.

The rims were developed with input from Fair Wheel Bikes, and here’s what FWB’s Jason has to say:

“The rims are something we designed in conjunction with Kirk and have been in the works for over a year. The rim is a 26mm deep, 24mm wide with an aero profile. Our prototypes have all been right at 445 grams and that’s where we’re expecting to see the production ones. The rim is tubeless ready and we’ll have them in 20, 24, and 28h drillings, black only. Welded seam, non-eyeleted, machined brake track. The first production run is already finished and on it’s way to us. With the holidays coming up we expect things to slow down a bit but should have them available at the beginning of the year.”

The images above are a profile drawing (left) and some early prototypes FWB had in for testing.

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Sevo
Sevo
11 years ago

“Fill the void left by brands like HED when they stop offering their rims outside of complete wheels”

Umm…..HED has offered rims only for all their wheels for years. Don’t see that changing unless you know of something we don’t. But currently you can still buy their rims through various distributors no problem.

That said, there is a lack of good solid tubeless rims available for road/cross/monstercross usage. Wheelies yes, tubeless compatible/optimized rims, no. Really just the Stan’s rim which I’ve heard is best for lighter riders.

Nice looking rims.

WG
WG
11 years ago

@Sevo – Mavic do nice tubless-compatible MTB rims. Not very cheap, but bombproof indeed.

dgaddis
11 years ago

No 32H??

Keifer
Keifer
11 years ago

Internal width, please.

First Troll
First Troll
11 years ago

with an exterbal width of 24, one could guess internal would be aound 19.5mm

Kirk Pacenti
11 years ago

We have 32H on the way.

Internal width 19mm.

(Editor’s note: Corrected from 18.5 to 19mm, per Kirk’s request)

Sevo
Sevo
11 years ago

WG-Mavic has failed to impress me much for years. Bet they don’t offer such in low spoke count, machined sidewalls for rim brakes, and typically heavy for price just because it says “mavic”. Guys like Pacenti, Stan’s, Velocity, HED, ENVE, etc… have been kicking their ass for years.

Dgaddis-a rim that wide/tall on a road bike or cross…no need for 32 hole. Overkill. I’m 220lbs now and even at my heaviest of 240lbs with a significant power out put at the cranks I have 20 spoke front on my monstercross with 28 rear, could do 24 I think. Cyclocross bike is 20/24.

Meta
Meta
11 years ago

Nobody does any R&D anymore. They went to China and got them cheaply built. How much better or different these are Hed Belgian rims; yes they still sell them! Or the hipster H Plus Son, or the generic Vitesse from Boyd.

WV Cycling
11 years ago

I’ve been riding a pair of 1280g Flit Leticas for four or so years now. I weigh 135lb, bike weighs 16.

Would the aero profile of such a rim benefit me in terms of the weight gained? I’m guessing it would add a total of 115-150g as compared to the rims I am using now.

WG
WG
11 years ago

@Sevo – I actually appreciate the fact that they drill their rims with so many holes. It enables builders to make stiffer wheels while keeping them relatively comfortable and the weight penalty coming from extra spokes is absolutely minimal. But that’s just me.

And calling Mavic expensive while mentioning Stan’s uberexpensive and wobbly rims in the same sentence… well, should I be nice or honest about that?

Jordan
11 years ago

WV Cycling: 90% of the time the answer to that question is yes. Aerodynamic drag affects you more when accelerating than weight does. And if you are fast up mountains aerodynamics help as well. I’m not sure how aero these wheels actually are, but if they are similar to Zipp 101s (doubt it) then they are going to have similar aero properties to a 40-50mm V shaped rim.

n00b
n00b
11 years ago

Like these. Can be run as standard clinchers with tubes no problem, correct?

WG
WG
11 years ago

@n00b – correct.

CW
CW
11 years ago

@WG – a 26″ mavic xm819 is $95, 19mm wide and weighs close to 500g. A 26″ Stans Arch EX is 24.5mm wide, 400g, and $88. Mavic also doesn’t offer any rim thats tubeless compatible in 29″ or 700c.

Dale
Dale
11 years ago

These look dope. I’m 180 lbs and have 8 stans alpha wheels with range of 20-28 spokes. The super light ones on ac hubs took a fair beating and got to the point of needing constant retensioning. All the others hold up fine.

Bottom line, a more durable tubeless road rim with a bit deeper than normal profile is a great addition to whats available.

WG
WG
11 years ago

@CW – you seem to have forgotten to compare the stiffness of both rims. Mavic is hands down better in this game.

bikaholic
bikaholic
11 years ago

“Internal width 19mm.”

Can you actually fit a 23mm tire on this rim? It seems too wide for such a narrow tire to fit safely.

http://sheldonbrown.com/tire-sizing.html#width

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