Australian composites specialists Partington Advanced Engineering have an all-new aero carbon road wheelset, mixing materials & rim depths for a surprisingly light weight of just 1150g. Developed over the last five years, the mid-depth disc brake wheels lace alloy hubs to carbon rims with unique carbon spokes, balancing stiffness with low weight…
Partington Adv Eng 39R/44R composite aero road wheels
We first caught up with the Partington team four years ago when they were under the 36T name, just over a year into their wheel development. After securing government funding for their advanced wheel development & production in Geelong, Australia, Partington are now ready to offer their composite wheels to consumers.
Partington calls their new wheels “a fundamentally fresh design approach” that takes a more wholistic approach to wheel building, where there’s less of a hard line between individual hub, spoke & rim components.
Tech details
The first product out of Partington Adv Eng is a mixed depth UST tubeless-ready aero disc brake road bike wheelset – the 39R/44R. Those resulting wheels are an integrated composite wheel structure, with machined alloy hubs wrapped with 20 bladed UD carbon spokes that extend out toward the carbon rim. A somewhat conventional spoke-nipple-rim interface allows for ease of wheel building and regular truing the efficient transfer of loads, but even then the wheels are said to never need adjustment throughout their life – no need for truing.
The Partington 39R/44R pairs a more blunt-nosed 39mm deep front rim profile to a deeper V 44mm deep rear that they say together optimize aerodynamic behavior in wide-ranging wind conditions making the wheels solid all-rounders.
The rims are said to be made over a PMI foam mold with a mix of high & intermediate mod carbon, plus aramid fibers with a UV-resistant resin. Internal rim width is 21mm (26.5mm external) and Partington have chosen to use a hooked-bead tubeless rim profile adherent to Mavic’s UST standard for consistent & reliable performance with a range of tubeless road tires – optimized for 25-30mm tires.
The 39R/44R aero road wheels are disc brake-only for use with centerlock rotors, with alloy hubs (in black or silver), apparently based on DT Swiss. They are fitted with 12mm thru-axles, SINC hybrid ceramic bearings, and can be ordered with Shimano/SRAM, MicroSpline, XD/XDR, or Campagnolo freewheels. Complete front wheel weight is claimed at 520g, rear wheels at 630, and 1150g for the pair.
Pricing & availability
The light, Australian-made wheelset isn’t cheap at AUS$6900 (~$4825/4250€). But at just 1150g for the mid-depth tubeless disc brake wheelset with high stiffness claims, there are few competing wheelsets at any price. The carbon composite wheelset is made-to-order, which also allows buyers to pick their wheels’ stiffness (one of two stiffness levels). But that also means there is a long 16-week lead time from initial deposit to customer delivery. Partington wheels are backed by a two-year warranty, and they also offer a discount Crash Replacement program.
