Amidst the new monoblock cassette options for juniors and mountain bikes launched at the Taipei show earlier this year, Edco hinted (with prototype in hand) that they’d soon switch from using Reynold’s carbon rims to their own design. Now, that’s come to fruition and they’ve switched all of their carbon rims to full carbon – no more alloy brake tracks.
They say the new carbon brake track stops just as well as alloy in wet and dry with their own brake pads, which ship with the wheels. How? There are no special materials in the brake track, it’s all in the way it’s constructed and a combination of their ITL (Integrated Low Temp) braking surface with high Tg resin and the pad material.
Alongside those changes are new disc brake options for many of the wheels and their really-and-truly full carbon new wheels that were developed specifically for the new Sapim CX-Carbon spokes…
Supersport is Edco’s top of the line, and the Supersport Julier Light uses new Sapim CX-Carbon spokes, which they co-developed.
The rims have an 8k twill weave that makes it much much stiffer, something they say you’ll really notice in the corners. And, if it gets dinged, the crack won’t propagate. They weave the carbon themselves, and they create their own prepreg in their own facility.
Rims are 25mm wide and 28mm deep, claimed rim weights are 270g (tubular) and 350g (tubeless ready clincher).
The carbon spokes are straight pull only and have a bonded stainless steel head at the rim with traditional threads for easy wheel building and truing.
Edco’s rear hub uses a nifty pattern of inserting the spokes on the driveside flange that essentially locks them into place once the wheel’s built.
Once tensioned, each rear spoke prevents its neighbor from coming out. But de-tension one spoke entirely and you can bend it over its own flange to replace it.
Like the Supersport, all of the Aerosport line is tubeless ready for 2016. They also use the 8K weave on the shell (as in, not on the braking surface) to make them stiffer and more durable.
They’re available in 45mm and 65mm depths now, with 85mm and 105mm coming by end of year.
The Aerosport line used to use Reynolds’ sharply pointed Aero rims, which seemed to provide some inspiration here, too, but with a bit rounder midsection.
Next down the line are the Prosport wheels. Not shown, the Julier is a new 28mm new for Prosport, joining Pillon (35mm) and Albis (50mm).
Tubular and clincher, rim and disc brake options on all depths. They say the tubular has a nice round profile to avoid snake bites, making it great for cyclocross. The Prosport clinchers are not tubeless ready.
At the lowest price point are the Optima wheels. Where their higher end rims are full carbon fiber, the Optima’s rims use a blended composite body mated to their new full carbon ITL brake track. So, for a 50mm deep rim, you’re looking at 560g for the Optima versus 460g for ProSport.
The upside is they start at just $1,249 for the 38mm deep Albula. The 50mm deep Albis is $1,299. They say hubs on both are comparable to DT240s.
For all wheels, disc or rim brake, they’re only available with standard quick release axles now. But they are working on thru axle options for the future.
Cassettes come down a bit, to $209 for SRAM/Shimano and $219 for Campy 11-speed. Ten speed models will be a little less than that, final USD pricing TBD.
The 10/11 lock ring is $12.95 and lets you fit an 11-speed cassette onto a 10-speed freehub body. That’s possible because they add longer ribs to the support section under the smallest cogs, letting it sit off the end of the freehub body a bit. Their special lock ring goes deeper to ensure it’s held tight enough…just make sure your frame has clearance for it and the chain when sitting atop the 11-tooth cog.
