Rob English, founder of English Cycles, has been working on his aero hubs for quite some time. Now, finally, they’re through the first production run and available separately or as complete wheelsets with Enve’s 6.7 Smart System aero rims.
In a nutshell, here’s the scoop directly from English:
“This is a concept I have been working on for a couple of years – I have been racing on a prototype front hub for the last two seasons. I was able to partner with C4 in California to produce a production version. With a deep front rim, a narrower flange spacing can be used without compromising the lateral stiffness – the bracing angle remains similar to a shallow rim and regular width hub. The wheel then has less frontal area, and the spokes are further from the fork to reduce interference in the airflow. I haven’t been able to test any of this theory in the windtunnel, but subjectively the wheels feel fast.”
More pics, plus a closeup look at one of his super-trick custom Di2 triathlon bikes, after the break…
The front hubs use tear drop shaped aero flanges over the axle with a narrow set hub shell. The hub has carbon fiber bearing covers with adjustable preload. It weighs a claimed 120g and retails for $225. The rear hub is fairly straightforward with direct pull non-drive side spoke holes and traditional J-bend spoke flange toward the cassette. It’s available with either SRAM/Shimano or Campagnolo freehub bodies for $450. Claimed weight is 182g.
English will build wheels to go with his custom bike with just about any hub, but he’s offering a custom build using ENVE’s recently introduced Smart System 6.7 rims. The front is a 60mm deep full carbon rim and the rear is 70mm deep, hence the 6.7 naming scheme. Wheelset price is $2,600 and includes his 44g ti/carbon skewers. English says these rims offer the aero benefits and deep enough profile to work with his hubs for a very fast set of wheels that’ll still perform well in crosswinds. That’s his way of saying they’re good for road racing, too. Of course, you could always build them with the deeper 8.9 rim pairing, which ENVE says is their flat out fastest set for TT/Triathlon.
The wheelset as shown weighs in at a claimed 1435g, not bad for a deep aero set. Spokes are available in custom powdercoated colors, too, as shown on this sweet bike:
Remember that slick custom Di2 road bike with with virtually no wires or cables showing? This is the triathlon version of it with a bit of a different take on hiding the electronic system. Roll on over to Triathlonrumor.com for the full run down on this bike.
