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Atomik Carbon Rolls In On New Carbon Fiber Wheels and Handlebars

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Atomik Carbon Press Kit Tailwhip
Photos from Atomik

Atomik Carbon has been working on their new tubeless wheel line for over two years.  We had a short test on them earlier this year, and had a closer look with them as well during their development.  Now, ready for launch to the public, they are giving us the full specs, details and prices of the product line.

Atomik has created a line of rims that do more than just change width for the differing purposes of XC, Trail and AM.  They all use a thicker sidewall with a proprietary material designed to absorb impacts, and a combination of Toray T700 and T800 fibers.  How the rim is used though, will affect the final design…

Starting with the AM rim, the sidewall has a larger than normal 3.5mm thickness.  This helps give surface area when the tire is pinched against the rim, as well as contains the proprietary material to absorb this energy and transfer it down the sidewall.  Combined with a small bead hook, this is what Atomik has termed the “Mod-Hook”.  For this aggressive rim, this helps with tire retention when things get rough.The Trail rim retains most of those features, but goes to a hook less design, to save weight where the extreme conditions tire retention may not be as needed.  Atomik’s hook less design still incorporates a 3.5mm width in the sidewall, using the mix of Toray fibers and proprietary materials. The XC rim is the lightest and narrowest of the bunch, and based on the inner and outer rim width measurements, moves down to a sidewall thickness of 2.7mm.

Atomik Rim Information

Available in 32 holes, and both wheel sizes for AM and Trail, and just 29er, but 28 and 32 holes for XC, Atomik goes further to predetermine for the customer exactly what they will need for each riding type.  There may be people riding AM on 28 hole wheels, and people riding XC with 27.5, or even (gasp) 26 inch wheels for sure, but they have created a line that hits the largest swath of how riders are using different tools for different purposes.  Regardless of which riding type you prefer, and which rim you choose, the MSRP is $375 each per rim with a wide range of decal colors. Also available as complete wheels built to a variety of high-end hubs ranging from $1,350 to $1,800.

Atomik Rim Decal Colors

Along with the complete rim line, Atomik is also launching a pair of handlebars, a flat and a riser.  At 750mm wide for the flat bar, and 785mm wide for the riser bar, both use a 31.8mm clamp diameter, a 9 degree backsweep, and come in matte black with a gloss black decal.  Keeping with the simple pricing scheme of the rims, both bars sell for $145.

Atomik Carbon Fiber Handlebar

Atomik intends to only sell through local bike shops, and has a small, but growing dealer list on their website.  If your favorite dealer is not on the list, give Atomik a shout directly.

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D
D
9 years ago

light bicycle rims are Two hundred dollars less a piece than these. Sounds like retail “keystoning” to me. What advantage do these really offer.

Duncan
Duncan
9 years ago

@D – they have a special ‘anti vibration layer’ for any vibrations that have made it past your tires at 30psi and your 5-6″ of suspension.

Oh and a bead hook that no one wants.

Big mike
Big mike
9 years ago

I don’t know, for the price and weight, if your wanting carbon rims they don’t look bad at all. I like that they are only going through IBD’s. I am not real big on the hookless bead part but I think that is a short lived phase about half way through its life cycle.

gilb
gilb
9 years ago

from first hand experience with both – these rims are far superior to lb’s that actually break very easily.they are well engineered and actually hold well at real world abuse.
the hookless trend is crazy but why not choose a rim with a hook if its lighter and stronger than most rims in this price level.i mean whats the real advantage of hookless other than weight and easier bult molds ?
the hook here actually helps in spreading the load at impact and i only guess it helps a bit more retaining the tire bead at hard side impacts. the only “down” side here is its not as wide internally as other options, but until ill ride a wider rim i cant really tell if its that big of a disadvantage.

Sam
Sam
9 years ago

D-there was a thread on nsmb.com about light bicycle rims, almost everyone who bought a pair cracked them very quickly. There is a reason they are so cheap.

Gabe
Gabe
9 years ago

@Sam there are multiple threads on MTBR (a site 100x larger the NSMB) where a sh*tload of people have bought LB wheels and only the smallest minority have had problems…..

David
David
9 years ago

The early Light-Bicycle rims [late 2012, and on into 2013] were a bit dodgy, as shown by the early NSMB reviews [also consider the trails they ride are nastier than what most of us will ever tackle]. Did they use their customers as beta testers? Yeah, probably. Thankfully, they took that R+D and changed their layups and build process to deal with the many shortcomings.

I have no qualms about buying more L-B rims, and I’m stoked on the hookless fatbike rims. I had a very hard time rolling the tire off the rim when it was completely flat, so I’m confident that 5psi won’t be an issue. Looking at the 38mm hookless rims for my DH bike now…

Jerome
Jerome
9 years ago

No 26″ rims? 🙁

Jerome
Jerome
9 years ago

Manufacturers should make a little market survey before offering new products. In a recent Pinkbike poll, 66% of the users were (still) riding on 26″ wheels and this proportion is pretty representative of what I see around here. So, again, why no 26″ rims?

J N H
J N H
9 years ago

Jerome, sadly people who ride a lot and people who spend a lot don’t always overlap. ‘The market’ is largely driven by people with a high disposable income who ride their bike maybe 20 times a year and buy a new one every 18 months. They’re the ones buying the latest and greatest, not the people you see on the Thursday night group ride every week year in year out.

Colin M
9 years ago

@Gabe

MTBR is a site run by freds with mostly fred users. Anyone worth a coin just lurks there and doesn’t bother posting. How they feel about a product matters little to anyone except marketing depts.

@Duncan I’m pretty sure the majority of riders/buyers want a bead hook. The new trend doesn’t have complete buy in.

Angst Sucksmore
Angst Sucksmore
9 years ago

awesome

Gregor
Gregor
9 years ago

I’ve been riding on a pair of Light Bicycle carbon 29er rims for two seasons and they are great. I have had no problems with them at any time. They roll very nicely, especially at low pressure. I’ve bottomed them out several times and they just keep on ticking. Despite the stigma of cheap overseas carbon they still make a good product.

Angst Sucksmore
Angst Sucksmore
9 years ago

read this if u want to learn something.

Carbon can be fixed…aluminum cant

carbon wheels are slightly stiffer and lighter (the radial rib) IF you have a good wheel builder you wont need a carbon rim.

It just comes down to weight….have somebody like shawnee at bicycle village build u a wheel….

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