Kirk Pacenti is following up his SL23 with a new disc brake specific rim that’s a bit wider and tubeless ready, perfect for everything we’re fans of when it comes to skinny tires.
Compared to the SL23, there are a lot of changes that make it disc specific:
“We obviously don’t need any extra material in the brake track,” Kirk told us. “So we shifted that to the spoke bed since they’ll see higher loads with the disc brakes. And we opened up the internal width a little bit. It goes from 18mm to 20mm wide inside by reducing the hook width, which is thanks to not needing a brake track. So external width is the same.
“We also increased the depth of the bead well in the center to make them easier to set up. The only complaint we ever had with the SL23 was that it was hard to setup, so this makes it easier.”
It’s based on the SL23 rim, making it suitable for road racing/training and cyclocross, as well as all manner of gravel and adventure road cycling that’s not carrying a packed load on the bike.
Rim weight is about the same, around 450g, the material is just distributed differently. And yes, it’s tubeless ready with the use of tape.
They sell for $109 per rim for now, but that’ll likely go up with the next production run when they add a bead blasted finish. Don’t worry, Kirk said it won’t be more than $119. The new finish is something customers had been asking for, and it provides a more uniform surface for anodizing, which makes the colors more consistent from batch to batch. For starters, it’ll only be offered in black, but Kirk says if enough people want silver, they’ll be happy to offer them.
Sold mainly as rims only, but they do custom builds upon request. Eventually, Kirk says he’ll likely develop a 135mm Centerlock hub that’ll be their design but made for them in North American from another hub manufacturer.
Full SL25 700c rim specifications are:
- Size: 700c – ISO 622
- Width: 24.5mm
- Inner bead width: 20.0mm
- Section Height: 26.0mm
- ERD: 590mm
- Weight (700c):450g
- Welded Construction
- Disc Brake Specific
- Hole Count: 24, 28 & 32h
- Color: Black
Check ’em out here.
