Shimano just unveiled a smattering of new road tubeless wheels, all updated for 11-speed, but all for rim brakes. Now, they’ve got their first disc-specific road bike wheel with the WH-RX830.
Built on Ultegra level hubs with a CenterLock rotor mount, they’re laced to new carbon laminated alloy rims. They’re 17mm wide inside and use Shimano’s proven tubeless rim profile.
Rear spacing is 135mm, and they’ll roll on their usual high end cup-and-cone bearing system for easy maintenance…
Freehubs are 10- and 11-speed compatible.
Both front and rear are quick release skewer only, no thru axles for now.
This one’s at an angle, so the gray part is the inside of the rim, not a brake track. We’ve inquired about rim profile, depth and more tech info (including weights) and will update as soon as we hear back.
UPDATE: The hubs are very similar to the CX75 hubs that sponsored pros have been using laced to carbon tubulars, which means they’re essentially a non-series, Ultegra level piece. The rims are indeed disc specific. That means no brake track, and the carbon fiber laminate runs all the way up the sidewall. That allows for a thinner aluminum rim extrusion while maintaining the appropriate stiffness. Rim depth and external widths are not yet disclosed, and final production weights are TBD. Lastly, yes, you can use them for cyclocross, but Shimano’s spokesperson told us the Road Tubeless bead profile is not exactly what most tubeless ready cyclocross tires are running, so the interface is not the same as UST or mountain bike standards that most ‘cross tires are conforming to. But, like all Shimano road wheels, they’re up to the task in terms of strength and stiffness.
