A few weeks ago, Alchemist sent us photos of rim parts and cutaways to tease their new X-Sens rims. Now, they’ve rendered a mockup of the X7.32 enduro rim built up into 27.5″ wheels.
With only the rim cutaways to see before, we were all left wondering how they’d be laced. In order to give them the proper lateral stiffness, they are indeed going to be laced across the rim, sending a spoke from the left hub flange to the right side of the rim wall.
The naming scheme likely refers to both wheel diameter and inside width, with “7” telling us it’s a 27.5 and “32” referring to an inside rim width of about 32mm. Those number match up with what we’ve seen so far, and Alchemist chimed in on the comments in that first post to say rim weights could be as low as 390g and that they’ll actually cost less than their RR rims.
More pics and upcoming sizes below…
Click to enlarge either photo.
Alchemist will offer this design in three wheel sizes, with variations for different types of riding:
27.5″ family:
– X7.26 with internal width 26mm for XC-MARATHON
– X7.32 with internal width 32mm for ENDURO
– X7.44 with internal width 44mm is a “PLUS”
29″ family:
– X9.26 with internal width 26mm for XC-MARATHON
– X9.32 with internal width 32mm for ENDURO
– X9.44 with internal width 44mm is a “PLUS”
…and only one for 26″ for fat bikes with an internal width of about 85mm called X6.85.