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Wheelworks shows off their wheel smashing UCI impact test

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wheelworks nz UCI wheel impact test jig and specifications

Last year, Wheelworks NZ rolled out their own series of carbon wheels called Maker. They offered a fully customizable build with a carbon rim of their design, a lifetime warranty, and a lifetime of free replacement brake pads, all for $1,750 USD. And each pair is handbuilt in their Lyall Bay workshop.

Now, to make the set even more enticing, they’ve built their own UCI-compliant impact testing jig to obtain certification. Translation: As soon as the stickers arrive, you’ll be able to race them in sanctioned events. For most of us, that simply means more confidence riding over the roughest roads we can find.

Roll past the break to see the jig in action (high speed and slow motion)…

wheelworks nz UCI wheel impact test jig and specifications

Tristan at Wheelworks says they’ve tested and submitted all the paperwork for their Maker 35, Maker 50mm, Maker Disc, and Maker AR wheelsets and that all should be approved for use in UCI events. About the jig, he says:

“The UCI test stipulates 40 Joules of energy with a weight of between 6 and 10 kg (13 to 22 lbs) and a corresponding height. A 20mm thick pad made of a specific ASTM rubber contacts the rim. After the impact there can be no visible cracks or delamination and the wheel must be true to within 1mm both laterally and vertically, and the rubber pad can’t be damaged. Our jig is just shy of 6 feet tall and we can test up to 10x the UCI specification.”

Wheelworks.co.nz

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John Moore
8 years ago

I was quite interested to see the slo-mo video to get an idea of how much a wheel would deform under that sort of impact. It seems almost nil. I would expect ‘compliant’ wheel (the type chosen for Paris Roubaix) to have a bit of deformation and a ‘stiff’ wheel to have almost none.

Either this video is still too high-speed to catch it, my eyes suck, or this is a very stiff wheel.

WV Cycling
8 years ago

@John – Agreed, you think spoke de-lodging or even flexing would be shown.

anonymous
anonymous
8 years ago

Spoke wheels are very radially stiff.

It’s lateral flex that you can feel, or detension the spokes, or a really big rim denting pothole

fiddlestixbob
8 years ago

the UCI test feels pretty weak IMO.
we’ve 80kg riders dropping a meter on these wheels and you dont want them to crack when they do (also, many of these wheels do not crack when people do that, which is good)

Tristan @ Wheelwo0rks
8 years ago
Reply to  fiddlestixbob

@fiddlestixbob keep in mind that when you have an 80kg rider landing a jump you have the tyre compressing, suspension compressing, and the rider absorbing the impact with their arms and legs. All of these things increase the impact time and therefore disperse the impact energy. With the UCI test there is no compression other than the couple of mm of the rubber bumper. The UCI impact test is still reasonably low impact which is why I designed this jig to test up to 10x the UCI standard

Jason
Jason
8 years ago

its a Stans advertisement but here is the spoke flexing you guys are expecting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT2DHtew5Ts

PFS
PFS
8 years ago

Its good to keep in mind that these are UCI tests. The international testing is overseen by ISO and in the USA, ASTM. The ISO and ASTM tests are much more involved and really get down to if the wheel is safe for everyday use.

Champs
Champs
8 years ago

Wheelworks wins the Internet just for these videos getting straight to the point.

Craig
Craig
8 years ago
Reply to  Champs

@Champs – Agreed.

Bikemark
Bikemark
8 years ago

I’ve learned nothing from watching a video that the manufacturer wanted us to see. There’s some compression of the rim and rubber mat because that’s why the weight bounces. Impressive parlor trick but they’re not getting my money… because that’s still a stupid amount of money to pay for a wheelset.

PsiSquared
PsiSquared
8 years ago
Reply to  Bikemark

Those “parlor tricks” are tests required by the UCI to get a wheel set approved for use in UCI competition.

Mr Roboto
Mr Roboto
8 years ago

Visible deformation in a video like this has a lot to do with frame rate, as well as shutter speed. The Stan’s example is a different (higher) frame rate and shutter, so you get a clearer image of what is going on. I’m sure the Maker wheel is stiff, but you are not seeing the deformation in the video more because of technical reasons, not because it isn’t happening.

thesteve4761
thesteve4761
8 years ago

Glad to see that the old test is gone. This one seems significantly easier to pass, , and a little less nonsensical. Would be good if the UCI brought in a braking heat test also.

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