Atomik Carbon just hit the scene officially in March and we had a first look/first ride on their XC carbon rims before they debuted publicly at the SE Bike Expo.
Despite that youth, they’re moving fast to bring more products to market. Hookless all-mountain rims are being tested, and they’re prototyping tubeless ready, single wall carbon fiber fat bike rims, too. All that’s below, but first, we’re happy to say their graphics (new version shown above) have been improved and finalized. Co-founder Kevin Lineberger says they’ll come in a wide range of color options, from bright to subdued, and can easily be removed for a totally stealth look. Now, on to the tech…
From Lineberger:
We’ve also been testing a hookless version of our AM rim for a few months now with great results. The thickness of the bead retainer has been kept wide (similar to our hooked rim design) for added strength, and the rim also features the same added layer of composite material though out the rim bed to better absorb shock and help ward off impact damage from hard hits. The OD of the rim is 33mm and the ID is 27mm, with a weight of 385 grams +/- 10. The rim is currently in production and will be arriving very soon. The hookless design is a lighter option for riders who want the benefits of a wide carbon rim without the additional weight penalty.
For those not sold on the hookless thing, their standard AM rims and wheels will start shipping early May in both 27.5″ and 29er. The rim profile’s been slightly reworked to eliminate the use of the Bontrager rim strip and have a ramped bead lock. That, combined with the ability to use Stan’s NoTubes rim tape or Gorilla Tape means a drop of up to 20g per rim in ride-ready form.
They’ve got several professional riders riding the rims, they just can’t say who because they’re under contract with other brands at the moment…but they’re pretty big names who apparently have some very good things to say. If you wanna test them for yourself, they’ll be demoing at the Dirt Rag Dirt Fest in PA in May.
The fat bike rim’s a little further away from reality, but looks promising with a 85mm wide single wall construction. Target weight based on computer modeling is currently at 470g, but spoke hole alignment and reinforcement isn’t final yet. They’re still debating which axle standard -170mm or 190mm- to optimize the angle for. Either way, it’ll be tubeless ready with similar ramping and bead locking to make setup easy. More as we get it.
