CWC Online: 1085g Mad Fiber Wheelset just arrived!!!

[CWC Online]

Mad Fiber Wheelset just arrived!!!

 

1085g and NO weight limit

Edited July 18, 2011 by CWC Online

[bontie]

Are these UCI legal yet?

AFAIK not. Killer wheels for triathlon though...

[Tiny K]

Those are some mad fibre wheels! I spotted them just now on the website (before seeing this ad here). Bit pricey for me though

[Eldron]

I would be scared to give those things a dirty look...carbon fibre is only really strong in it's angle of intended use. Those skinny carbon spokes make my sphyncter tighten up!

 

The tiny surface area of connection between the hub and spokes even more so...

['Dale]

Those are some mad fibre wheels! I spotted them just now on the website (before seeing this ad here). Bit pricey for me though

Shaxxy!

 

Price?

[andretraut]

Eish, Jnr, eish, just when I thought I am sorted, you come and spoil my peaceful Monday with this post! Sis on you!

[andretraut]

Shaxxy!

 

Price?

Twentysixandahalfthousand!

[Tiny K]

Shaxxy!

 

Price?

 

R26.5K

['Dale]

Twentysixandahalfthousand!

Looks good for the smooth tarmac of the Spanish hills, not my usual racing routes here in WC... Lil more uneven and bumpy.

 

[Falco]

No thanks, one half decent shunt and those babies are on the scrap heap.

Only good for riders sponsored by very deep pockets.

[gummibear]

Madfibre gives a four year warranty and damage replacement policy.

 

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos/tech/madfiber/madfib2.jpg

 

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos/tech/madfiber/madfib3.jpg

 

 

About Carbon optimized design:

From the outset, the goal for Mad Fiber has been to fully realize the potential of carbon fiber in a bicycle wheel by matching advanced aerospace technology and production practices with decades of bicycle wheel building and design experience. To accomplish that, we had to ask, what is the best way to apply carbon to the wheel building process? Should we follow what has come before, and simply use carbon to emulate structures (extruded rims, forged spokes, threaded nipples) that have been optimized to be made of metal? Or should we go a different way and develop new techniques to get the most out of carbon fiber’s superior properties? The answer is obvious, no? To be successful, we had to do two key things, both of them part of our patent pending design and manufacturing process:

1) Build our carbon rims in a way that facilitates consistency of production and performance of final

product rather than striving to replicate extruded metal rims. Mad Fiber rims are built from three distinct pieces (the two sidewalls and the tire seat). As opposed to using a manufacturing system of bladders and molds to emulate an extruded metal rim, this enables exceptional control of the carbon manufacturing process, minimizing voids and eliminating the use of excess resin, resulting in increased strength and decreased weight.

2) Use carbon spokes, built and connected to both hub and rim in a way that maximizes the benefit of carbon rather than using or simulating metal spokes. There’s an awful lot of talk in the market about making (and reinforcing) spoke holes in carbon rims. We’ve seen carbon rims drilled just like traditional aluminum rims. We’ve seen carbon rims with the holes molded into the rim (with reinforcing fibers placed around the openings). And we’ve seen threaded inserts riveted into drilled holes to at once reinforce them and allow the use of externally threaded spoke nipples.

What’s it all mean? To us, it’s clear: using traditional spokes and nipples with carbon rims is an imperfect proposition. Creating a hole in the rim weakens the rim right at the point where the spokes and nipples apply a stress concentration. So we went a different way. We bond wide carbon spokes to both the rim walls and the flanges. This eliminates the issue of spoke hole drilling/reinforcing, and it spreads wheel loads over a broad area, increasing strength and aerodynamic benefit while decreasing weight.

 

So, no threads, right? Great. But that leaves the question of how to tension the wheel. Because anyone who has ever ridden a wheel that works with the spokes in compression understands: tensioned wheels feel better and deliver more strength for a given weight.

To understand the solution, you’ve got to think back to your high school trigonometry class. Imagine a line drawn from the rim straight to the center of the hub body. Now imagine a line drawn from the rim center to the hub flange. It’s a longer distance to the hub flange than it is to the hub center, right?

The spokes are bonded to the rim walls and hub flanges before the flanges are fixed to the hub body. This means that their un-tensioned lengths correspond to the distance from the rim to the hub center. Then all of the parts are placed in a fixture that allows us to precisely move the flanges to the outside of the hub body and bond them in place, simultaneously tensioning the wheel as the spokes are pulled into the position that requires them to cover a longer distance.

By considering all of the demands on the spokes and wheels: requisite tension to produce the desired strength and ride feel; spoke length and flange spacing dimensions to produce this tension; and optimal flange spacing for aerodynamics, we were able to create a wheel with the desired characteristics and do it in a way that comes out of the jig perfectly straight – and never goes out of true. That the same wheel approaches or exceeds the strength, aerodynamic and weight standards set by the industry’s best offerings in each category? That’s the result of carbon-optimized design. The difference between using carbon to emulate parts originally made of metal and instead, designing parts from the beginning to take advantage of carbon’s superior properties.

About strength and durability: Built to last

 

How many times have you seen a product with amazing specifications come to market only to have a rider weight limit that restricts its availability to just the smallest guys out there? On one hand, we love the idea of product customized to the individual rider, and on the other, we have to ask, “but what about everyone else?” So maybe you see some custom options from us in the future. But let’s talk about now: Mad Fiber road wheels, at just 1085g per pair, meet or exceed every industry standard test, and other tests that we have developed on our own. For example:

Wheel fatigue tests: Mad Fiber road wheels pass both the DIN and CEN standardized tests for wheel durability, as well as a third test, commonly run by a prominent US bike manufacturer, that is thee times more rigorous than the others.

Lateral strength: Mad Fiber road wheels surpass the CEN TC333 2002, test 4.10.2 standard, holding up (with no deformation) to a 56lb load applied for 60 seconds.

Lateral rigidity: Mad Fiber road wheels pass the Rinard side force test, which defines an acceptable range of deflection with a 25lb load applied to the wheel as a way of quantifying lateral stability as it relates to handling.

Radial strength: Mad Fiber road wheels can support over 600lbs static load – exceeding the common industry standard.

Brake heat stability: By heating our wheels to over 250 degrees while simultaneously applying a vertical load, we were able to validate their structural integrity under simultation of a worst-case scenario (dragging the brakes for an extremely long period on a sustained, steep descent).

Overall thermal stability: Mad Fiber road wheels resin and bonding show now ill effects after exposure to temperatures of over 220degrees F for 120 hours.

So what does it all mean? No Rider Weight Restriction. (and really durable wheels.)

Edited July 18, 2011 by gummibear

[Eldron]

Madfibre gives a four year warranty and damage replacement policy.

 

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos/tech/madfiber/madfib2.jpg

 

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos/tech/madfiber/madfib3.jpg

 

Thats very good of them - will they also pay for my dental bills and my hospital stay.

 

Nope.

[Mister B]

can i rent a pair for a day ? LOL.

move over Zipp!

[javadude]

Wow, they're not exactly the best looking wheels in the world, are they.

[gummibear]

Thats very good of them - will they also pay for my dental bills and my hospital stay.

 

Nope.

 

That is more surface area than some carbon rear stays have and the stays hold.I know a guy who is 110kg's and he rides them often.No hassles.I am not a fan of glued wheels though,but they are a nice ride.

[Eldron]

That is more surface area than some carbon rear stays have and the stays hold.I know a guy who is 110kg's and he rides them often.No hassles.I am not a fan of glued wheels though,but they are a nice ride.

 

I am being a bit melodramatic! Much as I believe carbon is a great engineering material I will never ride carbon bars, stem, seat post or wheels. I just don't think the risk is worth taking.

 

The material itself doesn't bother me - it's the amount of human input that carbon needs that scares me. Alu and steel are both highly automated when manufactured but carbon need hands to lay, compound and bond. Scary stuff!