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Found: Sinusoidal Princeton Carbonworks WAKE 6560 wheels claim faster, lighter, cheaper

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Ready for another battle of the wind tunnels and white papers? There’s a new wheel company in town, and they’re aiming straight for the top with their first wheel – the WAKE 6560. Started by a group of elite rowers who have found their passion for cycling, Princeton CarbonWorks is the result of four years of work from self proclaimed “Princeton and Boston University Uber-nerds.”

Found: Sinusoidal Princeton Carbonworks WAKE 6560 wheels claim faster, lighter, cheaper

It’s hard to not immediately think Zipp NSW Sawtooth when you see the WAKE 6560, but Princeton CarbonWorks says that they started with a blank page and settled on the sinusoidal design through a lengthy design and FEA testing process. The design is said to offer a constantly varying trailing edge which offers lower drag and reduces the effect of vortex shedding. Like the name suggests, the rim varies from 65mm to 60mm deep and includes 24 sinusoidal oscillations. The rims are also tubeless ready with an internal width of 18mm, and 26mm external.

Found: Sinusoidal Princeton Carbonworks WAKE 6560 wheels claim faster, lighter, cheaper

In their own wind tunnel testing, Princeton tells us that the WAKE 6560s supposedly produced less drag than the Zipp 858, yet are lighter than the Zipp 303. If true, that becomes particularly impressive given that they’re also less expensive.

Found: Sinusoidal Princeton Carbonworks WAKE 6560 wheels claim faster, lighter, cheaper Found: Sinusoidal Princeton Carbonworks WAKE 6560 wheels claim faster, lighter, cheaper

Available in both rim and disc brake models, each are built with standard or Chris King hubs as an upgrade and Sapim CX-Ray spokes with Secure Lock nipples. The rim brake model uses a 16/24 spoke pattern, though 24/24 is available on request. The disc brake version is only available in 24/24. Weights are given as 655/840g for standard hubs or 675/850g with CK for the rim brake, and 705/815g standard or 745/850g CK for the disc brake version.

Shipped with skewers, tubeless tape, valves, padded wheel bags, and Swissstop Black Prince pads (rim brake model), WAKE 6560s start at $2,400/$2,600 per set with standard hubs (rim/disc), and bump up to $3,200/$3,400 for the Chris King equipped versions. We’re also told that a 30/35mm deep version of the WAKE rim is on its way in the near future so keep an eye out for that.

princetoncarbon.com

 

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Carl
Carl
6 years ago

I wonder what their test was. I know a lot of the high end aero wheels do best in some sort of yaw situation and the graph in this article lists only one number. It’s also a bit of a confusing graphic with the weight being the obvious data point in the bars and the line as the drag, both in units of grams.

That being said, that Pinarello in the title image looks real good.

Paul
Paul
6 years ago
Reply to  Carl

Good question Carl – I think this post in Princeton CarbonWorks “news” answers that.

https://www.princetoncarbon.com/uncategorized/slaying-cycling-giants-in-the-land-of-nascar-a2-wind-tunnel-visit-2/

Smale Rider
Smale Rider
6 years ago

Chris King hubs are great and all, but no conversion to 15mm axel makes this wheel a dud.

Goliath
Goliath
6 years ago
Reply to  Smale Rider

Throw babies out with the bath water much?

Skeletor
Skeletor
6 years ago
Reply to  Smale Rider

What is this obsession with Chris King hubs?! Particularly amongst the most function-centric group of cyclists on the web! They produce sooo much drag. Hilarious that everyone is drag measuring rims and then would put CK hubs on them. R45’s are some of the worst hubs I have ever used or serviced given their pricetag and apparent quality. A lot of people will shake their heads at this comment, and thats fine, they’ve never had a problem with their CK’s or something, but call Chris King and ask them why they offer a wide range of oversize bearings for the R45 in particular- varying in thousandths of an inch. Hint: its because the shells stretch and the bearing fit is compromised. Less drag on the R45? Thats because they REMOVED a seal. Get some white industries if you want a fast American made hub that works.

Flatbiller
Flatbiller
6 years ago
Reply to  Skeletor

I rode some White Industries hubs and the PERCEIVED drag was more than what I felt on the King hubs.

Are you going to tell my PERCEPTION was wrong?

So much subjective crap gets tossed around here as canon.

Smale Rider
Smale Rider
6 years ago
Reply to  Flatbiller

If the hub sounds like angry bees, it’s dragging. Un tested rotor hubs would be possibly acceptable. 321 hubs spin good as well. Then there is heavy no drag onyx hubs.

John
John
6 years ago
Reply to  Skeletor

Hahaha what a load of bollocks.

Mikel
Mikel
6 years ago
Reply to  Skeletor

CK hubs always feel like they need new bearings to me, even right out of the box. And don’t tell me that the bearings need to “break in” because that’s nonsense. I just think it’s an overcomplicated design with required custom tools and a ton of maintenance to adjust them. No thanks.

Harrison
6 years ago

Hey Skeletor, while we’ve had lot of demand for CK, we do always have a custom option and would happily build out wheels with any hubset you had in mind! Feel free to email info@princetoncarbon.com to drop us a line-

thesteve4761
thesteve4761
6 years ago
Reply to  Harrison

Curious. Is the fact that the same mold is being used for all versions (front/rear rim, both disc) indicative of 24 being the right count of “sinus'”? Or just about mold cost? The Whale Rims are 20fin f rim, 24fin for everything else. Eerily similar shape though.

Paul
Paul
6 years ago
Reply to  thesteve4761

24 is the result of design consideration for aerodynamics and stress migration, as well as the obvious optionality of hubs/lacing patterns. We could have used less iterations of sine curves with a front specific mold, however our design process lead us to believe that this would not have increased the aero or strength benefits, and simply would have only inhibited our build options for custom wheelsets. Also, regarding the 454, we were test riding our shape 12 months before Zipp released the NSW 454. We actually said something similar to your “eerily similar…” when they released THEIR version of OUR wheel.

Jason Miles
6 years ago

“Weights are given as 675/850g for the rim brake, and 705/815g for the disc brake version.”

The graph makes the wheelset weight look less than 1500 grams but their stated weight adds up to higher than 1500 for both the disc and non-disc.

Richard
Richard
6 years ago
Reply to  Jason Miles

Looks like the rim brake weights listed in the article are for the Chris King build. The standard hub weights for rim brake are listed at 655/840.

Harrison
6 years ago
Reply to  Jason Miles

Jason, the article is reflective of our upgraded Chris King hubsets which are heavier than our standard retail hubsets. Please check https://www.princetoncarbon.com/product/wake-6560/ for accurate weights, thanks!

Tree
Tree
6 years ago
Reply to  Harrison

how come your graph says the weight is under 1500 grams, but your weights of the wheels are OVER 1500 grams

Tree
Tree
6 years ago
Reply to  Tree

wait… got it . that gap represents 5 grams

thesteve4761
thesteve4761
6 years ago

How does that front lacing work with a normal Chris King front hub? 1x?

Paul
Paul
6 years ago
Reply to  thesteve4761

Steve –

Radial lacing on the upgrade to Chris King R45 front.

thesteve4761
thesteve4761
6 years ago
Reply to  Paul

Right, but are they specially drilled front hubs? A stock King R45 laced radially to a rim with non equivalently spaced spoke holes won’t work…..

Paul
Paul
6 years ago
Reply to  thesteve4761

Like other custom lacing patterns, cross counts, etc – J-bend spoke/hub interface allows for our drill pattern without custom drilling. Unlike our straight-pull hub, which is custom drilled.

Thesteve4761
Thesteve4761
6 years ago
Reply to  Paul

For crossed lacing patterns, sure. But that doesn’t work for radial. Paired spoke drilling at the rim requires paired spoke drilling at the hub.

Vincent Damiani
Vincent Damiani
6 years ago

Will they be selling the rims separate from the wheelsets ?

Paul
Paul
6 years ago

Vincent –
Simply put, no. We have full custom, as well as our Chris King, upgrade options. Both of these wheelset options are hand built in the USA with wheelman that we’ve thoughtfully selected.

jb
jb
6 years ago

no mention on how you tested heat resistance on the brake track. have you seen the alto wheels test?

Robin
Robin
6 years ago
Reply to  jb

You mean the poorly done test that was that topic of so much discussion here?

Paul
Paul
6 years ago
Reply to  jb

We have seen the Alto wheel tests – our rims and wheels surpassed stringent internal tests (more rigorous than either ISO or UCI standards) prior to being subjected to independent lab testing, which they also passed. Brake track heat dissipation is only one item of the battery of required testing protocol that we went about verifying internally, and independently. We took the time and spent the money to have WAKE 6560 UCI registered, which opened the door to have our product raced internationally at the highest level.

Mikel
Mikel
6 years ago
Reply to  jb

Lol Robin, sour grapes cause you bought a bad rim? It was pretty straight forward how each rim was tested the same way. Seems like Princeton is doing a cool rim, it’s always nice to see something unique. Maybe they can publish a similar brake track test or send a rim to Alto for testing. It’s nice to have context/numbers and be able to compare them.

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