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EB13: Alex Rims Testing Hookless Road Rims – Plus New A-Class Karves MTB Wheels & More – UPDATED

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A-Class-Karves-T-Bar-spoked-mountain-bike-wheels

Alex Rims and A-Class wheels had a few unique new items to show off for both mountain and road bikes, unfortunately they’ve asked us to remove images of the prototype hookless road bike rim for both standard and tubeless clinchers since there are no plans for production.

As far as things actually available now, the new A-Class Karves wheelset uses a T-bar system to hold the spoke nipples. The benefit is that the spoke tension is spread across a much larger area, and they move freely, so the spokes are always facing directly at the rim with no binding or undue stresses. They say this improves stiffness and durability….

A-Class-Karves-T-Bar-spoked-mountain-bike-wheels

It’s 28mm wide, 25mm inside, with an unbroken tire bed so there’s rim tape requires to use the UST tubeless bead.. They now have an XD Driver Body available, too.

It’s available in all three wheel sizes with weights of 1682g (26″), 1730g (27.5″) and 1806g (29er). They’re compatible with all three front axle standards and QR and 12×142 rear.

A-Class-Supra-35-downhill-mountain-bike-rims

Supra 35 is a new DH rim with 35mm wide rims. It’s around 550g for 26″, and it’s likely they’ll have a 650b size in the near future.

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David Lewis
David Lewis
10 years ago

You mean “losing” the bead hook, not “loosing” the bead hook, unless they are throwing it with great force.

Best,
David

chadquest
10 years ago

note to self, carry digital calipers with me at trade shows to measure things, such as fat bike rims, etc.

Sevo
Sevo
10 years ago

Alex makes Surly rims if I recall correctly. No surprise 🙂

Jim
Jim
10 years ago

Hi Tyler, was this fat rim spotted at the Alex booth? because I contacted them, and they said this is not their product. Confusing, isn’t it?

Steve M
Steve M
10 years ago

Confused. Does the T-Bar spoke go into the A-hole on the A-Class rim? or am I bass ackwards?

JonDangerFTW
JonDangerFTW
10 years ago

Sure, the rim loses 50g without the bead hook. But how much heavier does the tire have to be to withstand being run tubeless at 100psi on a bead hook-less rim?

AlanM
AlanM
10 years ago

@JonDangerFTW, a tubeless tire doesn’t have to be any different to run on hook-less rim. With tire tolerances being so good these days, the hook isn’t needed.

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