The 30 mm sweet spot (FLO vs Kinlin)

The takeaway message of this season of UCI races is that as rims go, deeper is no longer better: for years the trend was for ever growing rim depths, to the point that even in hugely mountainous stages of the Giro d’Italia, Rigoberto Uran was spotted riding 60 mm deep rims, in the face of…

Mavic UST rims for road tyres?

Tubeless is slowly but steadily taking over in the road wheel market. While only a small minority of road cyclists use tubeless tyres, virtually every new wheel and rim offering on the market come as tubeless ready or tubeless compatible. Some rims are even certified with a Universal Standard for Tubeless (UST) logo. What it…

Hardknott, Wrynose and perfect reflections

Well, I didn’t see that one coming. When we signed up for the Fred Whitton Challenge back in January, we kind of bought out in the idea of torrential rain and high winds. We would have cashed in, if anyone promised ten degrees and grey skies, so when a forecast of twenty plus materialised, we…

How to keep cool with road disc brakes

Disc brakes have invaded the road bike market over the past three years. Unlike the high tech mountain bike equivalents, most road bikes are fitted with undersized 140-160 mm rotors and cable operated calipers. Hydraulic systems are now available from both SRAM and Shimano, but they are very expensive and typically fitted on high end…

The “Fred” and a few other things

A few months went by and a lot of things have changed. We no longer live in London, I have a new and more demanding/exciting job and I haven’t built a wheel since August. I have a much nicer space to work on bikes and wheels, but I have far less time than I used…

Ghetto Tubeless Conversions

Having been a convert to road tubeless for well over a year now, I frustratingly look at the road and cyclocross tyre market for the next big thing to happen. IRC make lovely tyres which are impossible to find in Europe, Hutchinson’s tyres are too expensive for anyone who is not a City banker and…