Cole Wheels introduced their new Dynamic Spoke Alignment hubs that run a straight pull spoke through a small sphere washer to eliminate bending stresses.
They say this helps the spokes last longer and let them run higher tension. The spheres allow about 3° of angle movement, which helps keep the spoke from bending too much at the hub during big hits, particularly good for mountain bikes.
In other news, they’ll have 650b and 29er carbon clincher mountain bike wheels, plus a 26″ carbon tubular. Their carbon road clinchers get wider 22mm rims as an option.
Also new for road, they have new disc brake-only wheels that have a disc specific alloy rim. It’s good for cyclocross, too. 135mm rear hub. Retail is about $550. There’s a disc-specific carbon rim in the pipeline, prototype pic after the break…
Cole’s naming scheme suggests this is a ‘cross ready Carbon clincher wheelset with a 30mm deep rim profile. This is laced up to one of their older hubs which is still straight pull but doesn’t have the new spherical setup.