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Corima WS Black all-black carbon wheels debut updated designs & disc brake options

2019 Corima WS Black carbon road bike wheels for rim and disc brake bikes
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Corima is the French high-end wheel brand we don’t hear as much about in the States, despite being on top pro’s stage-winning bikes over the years. Like another French wheel brand, they’ve done some amazing things with full carbon wheel construction and have their own unique take on rim and wheel design. And also they’ve been a little slow to adopt more modern widths and options, but after 30 years of making wheels, that’s changing.

For 2019, the new Corima WS Black rim and disc brake wheels take the all-black hub and spoke combination from their narrower S-series wheels and combine them with the wider WS-series rims for a stealthier aesthetic and compatibility with up to 32mm wide tires.

2019 Corima WS Black carbon fiber rim bicycle wheel with all black spokes and hubs

The “Wide” rims come in at 26mm external/16 mm internal, which they say works with tire widths from 23mm – 32mm, covering the range of what most people are riding today. The new WS Black rim-brake wheels use black J-bend Sapim CX-Ray spokes in the front (18) and CX spokes in the rear (20). Those are laced to an updated CORIMA Black Alu hub. On the rims is a new sanded braking surface, a new treatment that’ll be used going forward on all of their rim brake options.

2019 Corima WS Black carbon fiber rim bicycle wheel with all black spokes and hubs

Rim brake wheels include ti skewers and options will include:

  • 32 mm TUBULAR (1270g) & CLINCHER (1500g)
  • 47 mm TUBULAR (1390g) & CLINCHER (1580g)
  • 58 mm TUBULAR & CLINCHER (Launch Spring 2019)

2019 Corima WS Black carbon road bike wheels for rim and disc brake bikes

The disc brake wheels use the same type of spokes, but bump it up to 20 for front and rear wheels. The layout is a bit different, but they say their quasi-paired spoke layout and switch to a 2x non-drive lacing handles the torque just fine. Hubs switch from standard QR to 12mm thru axle (100mm front, 142mm rear). Options include:

  • 32 mm TUBULAR (1420g) & CLINCHER (1650g)
  • 47 mm TUBULAR (1530g) & CLINCHER (1720g)
  • 58 mm TUBULAR & CLINCHER (Launch Spring 2019)

Pricing and ship dates for all are TBA, will update here when we get that info.

2019 Corima WS Black carbon road bike wheels for rim and disc brake bikes

Hubs are made in France using EU-sourced materials and are their own design. They outfitted with a 30-tooth ratchet ring, 17mm diameter titanium/aluminum axle and custom NSK cartridge bearings.

Corima carbon fiber road bike rim cutaway shows internal design feature and torsion bar construction to keep them laterally stiffer

The rims, too, are a completely proprietary design and a big part of what makes Corima unique. They use an aerospace foam core and a carbon “torsion bar” connecting each side of the rim. These two features, they say, make the rims much stiffer laterally than their competition, so much so that the rim will retain it’s profile and trueness even if you break a spoke.

For 2019, Corima and Look (that’s the new Look 795 Blade RS in the top photo, and Look recently bought a majority stake in the brand) will both be sold through a wholly-owned U.S. office based in Florida, which means quicker service and better pricing to and through their dealers than their prior distributor network model.

Corima.com

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adilosnave
adilosnave
5 years ago

Always thought their wheels looked amazing. In regards to lacing, does this arrangement infringe on the Rolf paired spoke patent? Or does Trek own that now? Or maybe there isn’t even a patent.

KF
KF
5 years ago
Reply to  adilosnave

The patents are expired.

Antoine
Antoine
5 years ago

More than 10 years ago corima made tubeless road wheels, now they’re doing regular clincher ! It’s crazy. I have a feeling french bike brand always innovate 5 to 10 year before the market is ready, then regret it do standard product and finally lag behind. Lapierre did this numerous time. They had a wonderful 29 trail bike in 2012 (zesty 29) and now they have boring 27.5. Now corima had those cutting edge wheel but they don’t even produce those anymore when many rider want them.

Larry Falk
Larry Falk
5 years ago

Amazing how Bontrager’s new Aeolus XXX wheels have a 21 mm internal width and Corima has only a 16 mm internal width. While choice is good, the Corima design conservatism is shocking to me. Antoine is correct: Corima seems to ‘zig’ when every else ‘zags’; and then, Comima ‘zags’ when everyone else ‘zigs’.

TimE
TimE
5 years ago
Reply to  Larry Falk

I suspect that’s another misprint as my 23mm Outside width Corima 47 is 17mm Internal. The internal for the 26mm wide rim should be 19mm.

Francisco
Francisco
5 years ago

That foam filling makes corima rims exceptionally silent and vibration-free.

Morgan
Morgan
5 years ago

1650g for a 32mm profile clincher? I hope their prices are super low. Reynolds just came out with their AR29 that weight almost a half pound less for a pretty reasonable $1300.

TimE
TimE
5 years ago
Reply to  Morgan

Corima rims are way stronger than any of the other brands. That claim about the wheel staying true if you break a spoke is very very true. I went through a bad batch of WheelSmith DB14’s in my custom built Corima 47’s. The wheels stayed true. I only realised a spoke had broken hen I heard a strange rattle coming from the wheel. Corima Wheels are literally strong enough to train and race on for several seasons

TheKaiser
5 years ago

That cross section with the additional bracing wall and thick tire bed looks like it will do well with handling the heat of braking. The braking surfaces are way better supported then more traditional designs.

TheKaiser
5 years ago
Reply to  TheKaiser

Forgot to add, the double wall extends almost out to the bead hook, which is uncommon. That is what probably accounts for the narrow internal width that other commenters thought were either bad design or a misprint. It looks like they have traded better structural integrity for narrower internal width.

TD
TD
4 years ago

I bought a set of new CORIMA wheels WS TT (tubular 3 spoke and disk). The officially stated weight of 3-spoke tubular of 745g is completely non-sense. The actual weight of my wheel is 860g, which is 15% more! Never experienced such a difference with any other high-end bike components.

Furthermore, consider the customer support of CORIMA as non-existent. No feedback, no reaction on any e-mails so far.
Think twice before buying the CORIMA wheels!

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