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Equinox to Debut New Carbon Spoked RT38 Plus Road Wheels

Written by Tyler Benedict
2012 Equinox Advantage RT38 Plus ultralightweight carbon fiber spoke and rim road bike wheels
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2012 Equinox Advantage RT38 Plus ultralightweight carbon fiber spoke and rim road bike wheels

Coming to a Eurobike near you, Equinox will be debuting their new Advantage RT38 Plus carbon fiber spoke-and-rim road wheels (current model shown in this post).

Weighing in at a claimed 1100g for the pair, that’s a drop of 150g from the current version. The wheels are made of just three parts: rim, spoke assembly and hub, with the first two being made up completely of carbon fiber. The parts are made of carbon nano tube material, high TG epoxy resin and T1000 fiber which, combined with the unique construction technique, leads to claims of a much stiffer wheel than one built with metal spokes. The tubular rim itself, which only weighs 265g, is said to be 20% to 30% stronger than other carbon rims. Because the spoke assembly is mounted to the rim rather than bonded to it, it also makes repairs and adjustments much easier.

Sure it’s light and supposedly stiff, but it’s the way the pieces come together than really caught our eye. Hit ‘more’ and check it out…

2012 Equinox Advantage RT38 Plus ultralightweight carbon fiber spoke and rim road bike wheels 2012 Equinox Advantage RT38 Plus ultralightweight carbon fiber spoke and rim road bike wheels
Tyler Benedict
11,281 articles

Tyler Benedict is the Founder of Bikerumor.com, where he’s been writing about the latest bikes, components, and cycling technology for almost two decades. Prior to that, Tyler launched and built multiple sports nutrition brands and consumer goods companies, mostly as an excuse to travel and ride in new places.

Based in North Carolina, Tyler also loves the Vanlife & family adventure travel and is always on the lookout for the next shiny new part and off-grid adventure.

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Colin
Colin
13 years ago

Are the actually going to sell this to the public, or will we have to wait until it’s branded as Planet-X, Token, etc.?

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Monkey
Monkey
13 years ago

are those aluminum rivets? for real? on the drive side, behind the cassette?
So, you drop your chain off the back of the cassette at 40 mph downhill, you try to pedal, sheer off the aluminum rivets and then the entire spoke assembly from the right side of the rear wheel comes apart. You go flying.
Oh and those rivets they’re silver, not black.
I do like the concept and the wheel design however. The weight is amazing.
I would like to see the bearings in the front hub is that a cap covering them or are they super small cartridge bearings?

Why not extend the hub all the way over instead of adding the cap extension on the non drive side?

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Aaron
Aaron
13 years ago

1100g is good, but not amazing for a 38mm carbon tubular. Both Zipp and Reynolds’ 32mm rims come in just under that. Reynolds used to spec an 1100g 46mm wheel with Sapim spokes. Granted, the Equinox is probably way stiffer, but sheesh, I’d hate to brake a spoke! The assemblage looks expensive!

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cwg
cwg
13 years ago

their website shows that the wheels are manufactured @ Gigantex(see wheel inspection sheet in photos)
also, what look like rivets, are hex screws, still a problem in my book even if you use loctite.

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Really?
Really?
13 years ago

I think this is a really cool movement in wheel technology. Mavic ultimate, Madfiber, now this. I think that it only makes sense that companies are moving forward from the basic hub+rim+spokes.

Monkey,
When was the last time you tried shifting into an easier gear than your 23/25 what have you while going 40mph down a hill. shifting into your spokes at speed seems like quite the moot point to me. I can only think of times I’ve shifted into my spokes going UP steep hills.
Sincerely,
Anyone who has ridden a bike

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gay for bikes
gay for bikes
13 years ago

If you can lay down the cash for these then you can afford to have a professional adjust your derailleur to work properly. Perhaps you could get someone to teach you to ride a bike too. Keeping the allen bolts at proper torque behind a cassette sounds like it could be a mild hassle, but it is likely to be a minor one in comparison to when Shimano put spoke nipples on the hubs of their wheels

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h2ofuel
h2ofuel
13 years ago

Well they’ve beaten Corima in the spoke count contest as it appears each wheel has only 2 spokes, or possibly 5 and 8.

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Hot wheel
Hot wheel
13 years ago

Nice wheels to look at,

But an absolute pain to service the bearings.
Afther a ride with lots of rain I wanted to service the bearings.
As it turns out ,you have to loosen and remove all of the spokes because they are made out of one piece.
They are also in front of the bearings!!!
A big design error if you ask me.
Only to use with sunny weather.

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PAS Trading UK
PAS Trading UK
12 years ago

Carbon Composite Technology for the Future,

As Importer and Distributor for EQUINOX I can thank the contributors of positives and challenge the negatives above… the wheel is fully guaranteed and warranty of 2 years > the build using one element on GS completes in fraction of time when compared with traditional spoking > the hub is fully servicable with simple bearing puller – exploded diagram available upon request.

The wheel has siginficant advantage with 12 worldwide patents. Stiffness and aero advantage over competitors offering are just two positives to consider. Now available for 2012 are Clincher offering also…

Please feel free to post – we are happy to reply with facts and figures not subjectivity!

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murphi17
murphi17
6 years ago

I love this wheelset

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