To meet customer demand, Mad Fiber has introduced a clincher version of their full carbon tubular road wheels.
The construction is the same as their three-piece rim, except that the rim bed is alloy. The big benefit of this design over full carbon clinchers that it resists heat-induced expansion, the bane of many full carbon clinchers. And you can run them tubeless because the rim bed is completely sealed.
MSRP is $3000 with ceramic bearings, $2800 with standard steel bearings. Production weight is pegged between 1200 and 1250g, looking to have them out in January.
Considering their original tubular wheels weigh in at 1080g, that’s not a big weight penalty to go with the more user friendly nature of clinchers. That, and the price is the same, which is not the case for many competing brands’ carbon climbers when compared to their matching tubular.
Because there’s an alloy rim bed, they have no tire pressure limitations. Like their tubulars, there is no rider weight limit, either. The picture above shows the alloy piece that replaces Mad Fiber’s full carbon tubular rim bed. The carbon sidewalls bond to the sides of the rim bed to create the brake track.
Brand PR guy Jasen Thorpe has been racing the tubulars in Cyclocross, and the clinchers have the same carbon brake track. Speaking of which, I asked why not give it an alloy brake track? Thorpe says it’s increibly durable and has excellent modulation.
Hub is built with cosmetics as an after thought to performance, hence the unfinished look.
