Mountain bikes don’t get all the fun when it comes to new products this year from Reynolds. Sure, the Black Label line looks killer, but road bikes get something that prevents them from being killer – new brake pads. The Achilles heel of carbon wheels has always been the braking performance. Many companies, including Reynolds, have developed their own brake pads for use with carbon rims with varying degrees of performance. Reynolds’ original Cryo-blue brake pads were actually pretty good, but they say the new Cryo-Blue Power brake pads are even better.
Put the brakes on after the break and check out the new Aero 46 tubular…
Compared to the Cryo-Blue pad, the new Brako co-branded Power pad is 44% bigger and has 6 diagonal slots instead of the 3 vertical slots – which drastically improve the water shedding of the pad. Designed specifically to work with the CTg (Cryogenic Glass Transition) brake track, the combination of pad and hybrid carbon laminate reduce heat build up and dissipate heat faster to offer 42% better stopping force in the wet, and 33% better in the dry.
Sets of 4 brake pads will ship with every Reynolds 2014 carbon road wheelset and they are also available after market for $70 per set of 4. It’s important to note that all rims and pads are not created equal and you should only use the Cryo-Blue Power pad on Reynolds wheels.
New to the AERO family is the 46 tubular, which was previously only offered in clincher. The 46mm rim is the most versatile, lowest profile in the AERO series and uses Reynolds Dispersive Effect Termination (DET) design which according to Reynolds is a true airfoil design. The shape is designed to decrease boundary layer turbulence creating a low drag, low lift wheel with less impact on steering. The tubular 46 is now the lightest rim in the line as well, with wheelsets coming in at 1405g per set (640g front, 765g rear). AERO 46 wheels use a 16h radially laced front and 20h 1x rear, laced with DT Swiss Aerolite Double butted spokes and G2 external alloy nipples. The custom DT Swiss straight pull hubs are 11 speed Shimano/SRAM or Campy compatible.
The Assault SLG also gets the tubular treatment creating a 41mm deep, 25mm wide light weight set at 1315g. (clincher shown above)
The Assault series features Reynolds enhanced SLG or Swirl Lip Generator which is essentially a lip on the top of the rim that provides an aerodynamic advantage to the wheel. Only effective on wheels deeper than 3omm, shallower wheels have a deeper SLG that according to Reynolds provides the aero advantage of a deeper wheel. Assault wheels use a 2oh radial front, and 24h radial/2x rear laced with DT Swiss Aero Comp double butted spokes and external G2 alloy nipples to a Reynolds Racing straight pull hubset.
