Revel bikes has now added wheels to its product portfolio with a radical new composite rim technology.
The American mountain bike brand has embraced an advanced carbon material which promises less tooling complexity, better material properties and recyclability.
Enabling Revel’s new RW30 mountain bike wheels is a composite material called fusion-fibre. It differs from traditional carbon fibre with regards to the curing agent used to set it: nylon instead of epoxy resin. With the resin-chemical reaction, fusion-fibre is much easier to work with and a lot less toxic to produce.
A claimed benefit of this new material is that the absence of epoxy allows for superior fibre activation and mechanics. Carbon fibre has often suffered a reputation for harshness when excessive volumes of epoxy resin are blended into the process. This surplus epoxy ruins the ‘feel’ of carbon as a vibration absorption material.
Mountain bikers understand the value of environmental awareness and treading carefully with the planet’s natural resources. This awareness has always caused tension between the desire for quality carbon-fibre components and their toxic production methods, which eventually end up as landfill.
Revel’s fusion-fibre is said to be fully recyclable. Again, this is because of nylon being used as the curing agent, instead of epoxy resin, making it easier to separate the materials chemically in a recycling process.
- £10,000 gold-leaf tri-spoke wheelset by Spengle
- Crankbrothers Synthesis are front- and rear-specific MTB wheels
Beyond these new composite wheels being potentially smoother to ride and more environmentally friendly over their entire product lifecycle, they are also within competitive specification. Both the 27.5- and 29-inch RW30 wheels feature a 29mm internal diameter and that width is optimised for tyres in the 2.3- to 2.6-inch range.
Customers can choose between 28- or 32-hole spoke arrangements and the weights are competitive too. Revel claims that its RW30 rims weigh 440g a piece, in 27.5-inch and 480g in the larger 29-inch diameter. Single purchase rims are priced at $699 each.
There are also complete wheelset builds, which register at 1730g for the RW30 27.5-inch and 1840g for the 29-inch. Revel’s RW30 wheelsets retail for $1975 and spin on Industry Nine 1/1 hubs.
