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ÆRA ushers in new era of carbon all-road, gravel adventure forks & wheels

 Æra Aera high-performance carbon adventure road all-road gravel forks & wheels
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New British carbon component maker Æra is trying to reshape how we look at performance forks and wheels for mixed surface adventure riding. Catering to the needs of the growing high-performance road and gravel adventure riding segments, Aera has five different full carbon forks and two families of carbon wheelsets, all delivering light weight to the high volume tire crowd.

 Æra high-performance carbon adventure forks & wheels

 Æra Aera high-performance carbon adventure road all-road gravel forks & wheels

Last week with on the ti J.Laverack GRiT gravel bike we got a look at new carbon wheels and forks from upstart component maker ÆRA. Designed in the UK and produced in Asia, each of Aera’s carbon components were developed on going fast on any surface with the low rolling resistance & durability of high volume, tubeless tires.

The idea was to develop light & durable components for everything from the multi-day, mixed-surface adventures many of us cyclists dream of, but also equally capable of the regular demands of commuting and our fast weekend warrior rides.

Æra carbon road, all-road & gravel road forks

 Æra Aera high-performance carbon adventure road all-road gravel forks & wheels

All five of the new forks share one central idea big tire clearance – even the more traditional £430 Road Disc & £360 Road Caliper forks still will fit up to 32mm tires (or 28s with mudguards). But the standout forks go even wider…

Æra Gravel Adventure carbon all-road/gravel fork – Tech Details

 Æra Aera high-performance carbon adventure road all-road gravel forks & wheels

The Aera Gravel Adventure fork is the fattest with space for up to 650b x 52mm or 700c x 50mm rubber. While most riders won’t go quite so wide with their tires, it means plenty of room for mud clearance, plus the option for full coverage fenders with the included mounts. The 1.5″ tapered steerer Gravel Adventure fork has 50mm offset, 395mm axle-crown, 12mm thru-axle & flat mount brakes, and retails for £450. No word on official weight.

Æra All Road Disc & All Road Dynamo Disc forks – Tech Details

 Æra Aera high-performance carbon adventure road all-road gravel forks & wheels

The All Road or AR forks don’t go quite as wide, but offer even more versatility. Clearing up to 650b x 40mm or 700c x 38mm tires, the AR forks are intended for more fast moving, all-road adventure bikes. The still are disc specific, with flat mounts, 12mm thru-axles, 1.5″ tapered steerers, and internal brake routing.

 Æra Aera high-performance carbon adventure road all-road gravel forks & wheels

But besides the standard £430 AR fork, there is also the £495 AR Dynamo fork that adds a crown mount for a headlight and internal routing for dynamo hub wiring. Both AR forks feature the same 45mm offset and 397mm axle-crown measurement. All forks are painted black in the UK, with the possibility for custom paint jobs or paint matching for an extra charge.

Æra All Road Disc Brake tubeless carbon mixed-surface road wheels

 Æra Aera high-performance carbon adventure road all-road gravel forks & wheels

The Æra carbon disc brake wheels are meant to be fast, high-end all-rounders for everything from fast asphalt riding to dirt & gravel roads too. Aera’s wheel concept is to offer core carbon rims in three depths that buyers can then have custom-built with the hubs & lacing best suited for their individual style of riding – with complete wheelset pricing from £1570 -£2160.

 Æra Aera high-performance carbon adventure road all-road gravel forks & wheels

The AR Disc Brake rims come in depths of 36, 46 & 56mm and buyers can pair equal depth rims front & rear, or any of the rims with a deeper rim out back.

 Æra Aera high-performance carbon adventure road all-road gravel forks & wheels

The disc brake rims are tubeless-ready carbon clinchers with 21.1-22.9mm internal widths, optimized for 28mm road tires, but can be used with 25-50mm tires. Wheels can be built with 24 or 28 Sapim CX-Ray spokes, brass nipples and Hope, King, Tune, or Son dynamo disc brake hubs. Black hubs are standard but Æra can do ano colors as a special order, as all the wheels are hand-built in the UK.

Æra All Road Rim Brake tubeless carbon mixed-surface road wheels

 Æra Aera high-performance carbon adventure road all-road gravel forks & wheels

Rim brake versions are also available as the AR Rim Brake wheelsets. Again there are three rim depth options – here 35, 45 or 55mm deep. The rim brake versions have an 18mm wide internal tubeless-ready carbon clincher rim (for 23-32mm tires), and also offer build options with Hope, King, Tune, or Son dynamo hubs.

RideAaera.com

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Jon
Jon
5 years ago

That’s quite a lot of money for a carbon fork.

KF
KF
5 years ago

This isn’t ‘ushering’ in anything except another sticker company. The rims are absolutely not their design. They are straight out of the Light Bicycle catalog and have exactly the same dimensions. Waaay too expensive for something they didn’t design. An “adventure” fork with no eyelets for not a single accessory isn’t very adventurous… Sorry, but you can’t do anything Bush League like this and expect to be around long term in an extremely crowded market. Not to mention, claiming your design and “component maker” when clearly not is pretty insulting. I’ll be surprised if they’re still around in 3 years.

Dan
Dan
5 years ago

Maybe i’m wrong but those rims appear to be rebranded Lightbicycle rims. If so you can save a ton of cash by buying them directly.

As for the fork, I dont know anything about them.

Martin "freakforti" Hotan
Martin "freakforti" Hotan
5 years ago

Absolutly agree with the quotes above – common – that fork not even has racks mounts – what’s the USP here – almost 2019 and still trying to sell 2015/16 stuff what a wast of time energy and resources …
I just don’t dig it – sort off another me too thing

record11
record11
5 years ago

one has to wonder if the author of the story (Cory Benson) just rolls his eyes and trys to think of new adjectives for the same old mass produced generic rims.

KF
KF
5 years ago
Reply to  record11

Would be nice if Bike Rumor vetted these rebranding companies more. It’s absolutely a disservice to the readership here to give companies like this the time of day. It takes far more than some MAMIL with funding and some marketing experience to get in this game. The dustbins of history are filled with these pretenders. INNOVATE OR DIE!!

record11
record11
5 years ago
Reply to  Cory Benson

Cory. no fault on you at all. It is an odd predicament. If you were to say “same poo, same smell, new pile” then you get the MFG’s going after you. I get the feeling that the X-Mas bag there is packed to the gills with ‘new’ things to test ride (as if a single ride or two tells a tale).

KF
KF
5 years ago
Reply to  Cory Benson

Cory, their wheel line up is so blatantly rebranded they should have been disqualified from being reported on. The forks, sure. At point of contact you simply say…. ‘keep your obviously rebranded wheels off the press release, we’ll talk about your forks’…. But one has to wonder how much “design” actually went into those forks if they can’t get their wheel story straight. It’s almost as if these sticker companies think the general consumer are idiots. This kind of overt rebranding just doesn’t pass the sniff test like it used to, especially concerning wheels.

Fred Gravelly
Fred Gravelly
5 years ago

I wish more people would speak up to the BR staff like this ^^^ BR (imo) used to be a good informative read, but it seems like they’ll report on any product or company with no scruples what-so-ever. But hey, they’ll report on vans and beanbags n sh*t now, so whaddaya expect >80(

Patrick C
Patrick C
4 years ago

Does anyone have reviews on their forks? I’m looking at their fork with internal routing for dynamo lighting and am curious if they’re any good/safe.

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