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SOC15: First look at new ultra wide 29er rims from Derby

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Founded in 2012, Derby Rims was one of the first manufacturers to bring ultra wide rims to the market. In addition to being at the forefront of the wider is better trend, their product was unique because it was carbon, and affordable.

At Sea Otter this year, they were showcasing a new ultra wide 29er rim that should appeal to both ultra wide and mid fat loving crowd.

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The new rims have a 45mm exterior and 39mm inner width and will be available in both XC and AM rated versions around late May. 

All of the 2015 production rims will feature angled spoke holes, which will better align the spokes with hub flanges, and will decrease the amount of spoke bend required when building with wider flanged hubs.

 

Derby Ultra Wide 29er Rim Water Drain Hole

 

 By reinforcing the carbon rim wall to ad a drain hole, water can easily evaporate.

A new feature for this new rim set is a water drain hole. This patent pending features allow water which enters through the spoke holes during a ride or after washing your bike to drain. This is critical for weight weenies, because Derby has found that water accumulation in the rims often ads as much as 50-100 g of weight.

The production XC rim will weigh between 500-520 g, and the AM version will probably weigh 30 g more. Retail is currently set at $420 a rim. To learn more, visit the Derby website here.

 

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17 Comments
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Ted
Ted
8 years ago

how do you patent a hole that easton rims have had for years?

STS
STS
8 years ago

My computer says it’s April 30th. Or is it April 1st? Just asking because “patent pending water drain hole”. I mean com’on this is so dumb it cannot even be meant as a joke, right?

STS
STS
8 years ago

Mavic Cosmic rims had those holes some twenty years ago but even then nobody would have dared to apply for a patent because they drill a hole into a rim to let water drain out. This is beyond ridiculous, I can’t take this company for serious, I’m sorry.

Jim
Jim
8 years ago

In the USA I could patent the sound of my farts.

tom
tom
8 years ago

jim, think you mean copyright. Unless your farts employ heretofore undiscovered technology.

Jonathon
Jonathon
8 years ago

American Classic has had drain holes now for a number of years.

norcom
norcom
8 years ago

Is the hole patented on the left or right side of the rim? And is it on the top or the bottom of the rim?

Kernel Flickitov
Kernel Flickitov
8 years ago

You guys are nuts! Who cares about the patent on the stupid drain hole, BFD. All that matters is that Derby is finally angle drilling their rims.

Jim
Jim
8 years ago

Tom, yes you are correct, but that would be using sense in all this . I think I could argue that there is something original and inventive about the way they are made, thus creating a patentable aspect to manufacture.

Sheepo5669
Sheepo5669
8 years ago

Nice world champ colors on the rim

Josh
Josh
8 years ago

Disclaimer: I did not do any research with the USPTO, but did notice that it says patent pending, which, honestly is all but worthless. Having gone through the patent process before, “patent pending” is more or less (that is not a legal definition :)) treated with limited regard. In fact, I would be highly surprised if Derby took the patent process all the way to its conclusion due to the amount of resources required – resources which could quite frankly go into better inventory stocking as in the past they seem to run low on product to actually sell. As everyone has noted, if they actually tried to patent this they’d most likely be denied due to other products incorporating the feature and for a sizable amount of time. Getting a “pending” status is pretty easy and from a marketing standpoint sounds great – which is why a lot of people do it. Also, I’d be a little surprised if Derby is even around in several years, it would be fool hardy to invest in actually patenting this feature given the overall timespan many companies in the overall bicycle industry persist, particularly niche ones. This isn’t an indictment of their products, more a generalized analysis of the state of the bicycle industry or any industry for that matter – which is only a very small percentage of companies persist beyond 5 years post start up phase – and I would still consider Derby to be a start up.

MissedThePoint
MissedThePoint
8 years ago

Why’s it so heavy? Kappius’s XCW rim is still under 450g (40mm ID) and even has offset spoke bed and doesn’t look like it’ll be as much of a pain in the ass to tape up, though its MSRP is $700.

Derby fan
Derby fan
8 years ago

Just bought some Derby’s from Ray a few weeks ago and have to say they are some of the best wheels I have ridden. Trued up amazingly and lightened my ride a half pound quickly. And really a drain hole argument? Jesus cristo. Get over it.

Baz
Baz
8 years ago

I was kinda interested in these rims then I saw the patent pending b.s. and I felt sick. No way I support them or One Up for that matter now that they have become patent trolls.

Odellio
Odellio
8 years ago

unique “drain holes”……. And a bunch of people hating on unique “drain holes”. Stupid sh*t like this makes the comments worth reading. Hate on haters i love you.

Ray AKA "derby"
8 years ago

Derby Rims, the world’s first carbon fiber rims wider than 30mm, with innovative carbon fiber rim design features improving durability, many brands copy very closely now, are very wide. And like every other hollow or “double-wall” rim of any material having spoke holes, water easily enters past the spoke nipples filling the hollow rims very quickly, and is trapped inside for many weeks while the water slowly vaporizes and escapes back out past the nipples, unless more water is trapped when the wheels are again washed, or ridden though a stream, or in the rain. I estimate the very wide hollow rims like Derby Rims without water drain holes can carry at least 1 ounce, at least 30 to 40 grams of water in each rim, adding rolling weight. We pay very much extra for light weight highest performance wide carbon fiber rims, and the water drain holes keeps Derby Rims light in weight.

I have filed two provisional patents so far, including the new hollow rim water drain holes now produced in every new Derby Rim. The provisional patents are filed firstly for self defense. In 2014 and up to today, many well known brands have very closely if not exactly copied my innovative features of my original 2012 and 2013 rim designs, seen first publicly during evaluation testing in Spring 2013. And those brands closely cpying my design features are all very well funded, and could possibly patent my designs and then legally require me to stop using my own designs or pay to license the use of my own designs because I didn’t file for a patent first. I filed with the USPTO, to protect myself and Derby Rims service motivated business from the exploitative self interest motivation of many other businesses. Secondly, if granted, the patents could help gain partnerships.

If anyone has evidence of rims produced with water drain holes which can be linked on the web or found in any publicly available documentation, please refer such evidence of prior production to me. I have found no evidence that hollow or “double wall” rim drain holes have ever been documented or used in production before Derby Rims.

Enjoy!

Sasquatch
7 years ago

When are we going to see a 65mm (60-622) rim?

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