While many companies sit behind a desk or send reps out to be the face of the company, owner Wayne Lee and VP Kevin Lineberger are road warriors. I was supposed to meet up with them a few months back at a wheel demo 10 minutes from my house, but the flu kept me home bound. Skip ahead to 2 weeks ago while at a local Enduro which was a whopping 25 minutes from my house. While raising a beer to some friends on the podium, I hear Wayne and Kevin’s name shouted out thanking them for their support… and there they stood. Unless a locally based business, you just don’t see that.
Atomik has been taunting us with their carbon road wheels since last October and now they’re available and priced well within the reach of those with non-dentist incomes. I had been testing a prototype set of their Chubby 27.5+ wheels for some time and soon after we caught wind of the carbon road tubeless wheels, they asked if I could give them some feedback on them as well.
Check out my first impression and why I’m waiting to do a more extensive long term review soon…
Atomik has been busy in many ways this year… actually, the last 2 years since that’s how long they’ve been around. In just a couple of years, Atomik has come out of the gate with strong attention to detail, and not just with their products. In what may seem to be a risk on the surface, Atomik sees the value and importance of a local bike shop’s ability to showcase and market their products. Their online store allows a customer to purchase a product, but they must pick it up at a local dealer. Some would say that this is suicide in today’s click-happy society, but what has actually happened is that dealers are getting behind this program, stocking a few wheels, and when someone calls or places an order on Atomik’s site, often it’s in stock down the road from the consumer.
I’ve been on a prototype set of their 38mm road wheels since January, and while I did find a couple of quirks, the wheels have managed well so far. And to be sure they got some use, I swapped them between my personal bike and a test bike, (because I liked riding the test bike more).
The wheels have a 27mm wide rim with a U-shape profile that has become common due to its performance in both head and cross winds. The wide rim profile makes for a laterally stiff wheel that tracks well and goes right where you point it. To put it into perspective, it makes the bike handle a little more precisely without making it twitchy feeling. That said, these were the shallower 38mm wheels that most would prefer for all-around use as the ride is still rather supple and they perform well in cross winds (compared to a stock aluminum rim). Their 50mm (and surely the 85mm), will likely ride a little harsher and make for a little more complicated ride on a side-windy day, but everybody knows that anybody who is anybody travels with all three sizes (in their 1996 Passat wagon).
The wheels are also full carbon road-tubeless with a bead hook. They sent the wheels with 25mm Hutchinson Intensive road-tubeless tires which were trouble free and weren’t impossible to mount and dis-mount.
