Ahhh, asymmetric rims have been out for years and years. This isn't new. Just not that common on narrow rims because they didn't help much. Really couldn't offset them much because the rims were so narrow. With wider current crop of rims, it's more common.

I actually have some WTB asym I29's at home. Awesome rims by the way with near even spoke tension, but a little difficult to setup up the tubeless valve.

 

Costs a decent bit more to make the offset rim bed (in terms of the huge tooling that extrudes/forms the aluminum), and the spoke drilling can be janky. The WTB Asyms also have the non-offset valve hole, which looks odd but in practice is a non-issue.

With rim widths settling into the 25-35mm range for most applications, being able to get 2.5-4mm of offset, coupled with wider flanges on hubs (especially on the back) mean that having wildly different spoke tensions will be a thing of the past, but because this opens up the possiblity for making really low spoke count wheels that won't necessarily implode, we'll see lots of slightly anemic builds sporting impressive weights, but also the ability to spec out fairly classic builds to be really solid (32 spoke F/R, brass nipples, double butted 14/15/14ga j-bend spokes, on offset rims). I think the only reason the market for the latter isn't bigger is that guys (particularly larger and aggressive riders) have already gone out and gotten handbuild wheels meeting those specifications for 15x100/12x142mm hub spacings, and those wheels are still rolling along awesome. The high-bling wheelsets, and cost-target OEM ones get binned a lot quicker, so we see more press about it.

I think the RF Turbine-R (Although TBH, I don't know why they didn't make these the Atlas wheels) will be an eye-opener for a lot of people, because the offset rim on a burly hub with an appropriate specification of the spoke/nipple combination ends up nit being heavy, but will be remarkably rugged. The only downside is that the super-fast engagement hub out back sends the price skyward, and that they're still speccing 28H front and rear, so my corpuscular self would still likely get an untimely hankering for tacos if I ran them too hard.

Good insight my friend! If manufacturers make something that last forever then that would be bad biz. Rather make something more affordable and sell more! And I believe carbon rims are so stiff that spoke tension might not be a mayor issue as before.

 

I have a WTB i29 front right now and the few rides I have on it make everything feel like hero dirt. Going riding tonight to see how it holds up to the loose trails now that our recent major race is finished and our trails were hammered over the weekend.

As for them setting up tubeless, I have had a ***** of a time. Tried both Stans Universal Valves and DT Swiss tubeless valves and both leak at the valve stem. Not sure what to do now other than go either ghetto split tube tubeless or see about getting a rimstrip from somewhere like Stans. Currently I am using Gorilla Tape Ghetto tubeless which has always seemed to work for me.

 

I did the gorilla tape ghetto tubeless (gorilla clear tape actually) and used an old tube to provide the valve. Cut it out the tube till I only had a 1/2" wide and 1"+ long strip of tube and valve, then taped it down with basic electrical tape. The threaded valve keeps it from moving too much, and the tape keeps it sealed, but still easily removed if I ever need to throw in a tube.

 

So what do you what think of even spoke tension wheels? Are they stiffer? more complient...? The only not dished wheel I have is a front road wheel... But can't compare it with MTB... LOL

 

Costs a decent bit more to make the offset rim bed (in terms of the huge tooling that extrudes/forms the aluminum), and the spoke drilling can be janky. The WTB Asyms also have the non-offset valve hole, which looks odd but in practice is a non-issue.

With rim widths settling into the 25-35mm range for most applications, being able to get 2.5-4mm of offset, coupled with wider flanges on hubs (especially on the back) mean that having wildly different spoke tensions will be a thing of the past, but because this opens up the possiblity for making really low spoke count wheels that won't necessarily implode, we'll see lots of slightly anemic builds sporting impressive weights, but also the ability to spec out fairly classic builds to be really solid (32 spoke F/R, brass nipples, double butted 14/15/14ga j-bend spokes, on offset rims). I think the only reason the market for the latter isn't bigger is that guys (particularly larger and aggressive riders) have already gone out and gotten handbuild wheels meeting those specifications for 15x100/12x142mm hub spacings, and those wheels are still rolling along awesome. The high-bling wheelsets, and cost-target OEM ones get binned a lot quicker, so we see more press about it.

I think the RF Turbine-R (Although TBH, I don't know why they didn't make these the Atlas wheels) will be an eye-opener for a lot of people, because the offset rim on a burly hub with an appropriate specification of the spoke/nipple combination ends up nit being heavy, but will be remarkably rugged. The only downside is that the super-fast engagement hub out back sends the price skyward, and that they're still speccing 28H front and rear, so my corpuscular self would still likely get an untimely hankering for tacos if I ran them too hard.

 

Unless you have a rim-brake front wheel, or a singlespeed rear wheel, or (some, but not all) fatbike wheel, you have dish in your wheels regardless of whether the rims are drilled asym or not.

Asym rims help to reduce dish, but they don't eliminate it. If you have any of the above (rim brake front, singlespeed rear, some fatbike wheels, etc...) and you use an asym rim, you actually make your dish worse. By about the same amount that a normal mtb rear wheel is dished -- in other words, not really enough to matter for most of us.

Asym rims are a nice option to have, and I've been using them where appropriate for over a decade now. They aren't any harder or more expensive to manufacture per se, there just hasn't been a huge demand for them and thus those that would have to spend the money for the extrusions haven't had a huge impetus to do so.

 

When I looked at new rims I talked to Stan's about the new Arch mk3. I asked if they've considered offering asym rims. They said they did their homework on the issue and it didn't make a significant enough real world difference to go that route.

Maybe I'm naive, but I pretty much believe them. Stan's has been doing this stuff a while and has seemed to try and push the envelope on doing what they can to make a better aluminum rim. I can't see where an asym design would cost much more, or be much more difficult to manage, so why not unless, like they said, didn't make that much difference on the dirt.

I'd like to hear others' thoughts.

 

When I looked at new rims I talked to Stan's about the new Arch mk3. I asked if they've considered offering asym rims. They said they did their homework on the issue and it didn't make a significant enough real world difference to go that route.

You have to keep in mind that NoTubes is devoted to the weight-weenie racer crowd, and unless X improvement yields Y loss of grams, that demographic just doesn't see the point.

My guess is that their 'homework' was a quick ROI calculation, based on back-of-the-napkin math, with no one present able to figure out a way to effectively market asym to the racer crowd.

Just my $.02.

 

Makes sense.

A bit off topic, but any words about the new Arch as a rim for trail riding?

(Especially if one is not going the fat tire route.)

 

Yup, very good point! I still think the slight difference on the Nox guys chart is irrelevant to the real world. Maybe in the racing world it does make sense because they compete for that slight difference...

 

At 240 lbs, I've ridden years on center drilled and dished wheels. they work, and I don't see any reason they wouldn't continue to work. I was building a new wheelset, and the asym rims were available, so I couldn't justify not going asym. They make the offset hubs required for disc brakes and cassettes a little less offset. Not a game change, but a good option.