Some might think that carbon spokes are a bad design, just to get attention? To be lighter?
Maybe you were a victim of early carbon-spoke integrated wheel sets. If carbon spoke wheel sets can’t be replaced or upgraded at will, they’re just toys sitting around the house.
Drive reintroduces the carbon spoke wheel sets to you
It is difficult for ordinary steel spokes to be both lightweight and wind-breaking, but of course, flatter and wider spokes have better wind-breaking performance.However, steel spoke cannot be flatter, wider and lighter due to material density, hardness and tensile strength, therefore, all steel spoke manufacturers can only control the limited tensile force to ensure the maximum tension of the spoke, or shape the spokes to make them look more wind-breaking. But even so, steel spokes weigh about 4.3g at the lightest. The point of carbon fiber is to replace metal, so that it can be lighter and harder. Why not?
Many carbon spokes are made by directly bonding the metal to the carbon spokes with special glue, or by designing slots in the metal that are embedded in the carbon spokes, this does not guarantee the longevity of carbon fiber spokes. We solidify the carbon fiber with the metal in a resin. At the same time, the tension of each spoke nipple is increased by 400kGF to make the two more firmly locked together through the physical structure until the metal is completely combined with the spoke. Therefore, each carbon spoke passed the tension assisted detection of 400kGF. At the same time, the metal at both ends can be disassembled freely like ordinary spokes and spoke nipples. Only nee to use 3.4mm spoke tool,use 5.5mm internal spoke nipple spanner to adjust the spoke nipple from inside the rim bed. This solves one of the biggest problems of carbon spokes, allowing for more freedom of replacement and installation. At the same time, the width of the Drive carbon spoke is 3.3mm, which is flatter on the windward side of the spoke, enabling a larger area of air cutting in accordance with aerodynamic principle. Drive‘s carbon spokes weigh less than 3.0 g on average, which is 30% lighter than the lightest steel spokes.
In the match of the spoke nipple, anti-loose technology is also adopted. The internal threads of the spoke nipples are double threads with different sizes of thread distances, so when the spokes are locked in, the internal threads of the spoke nipples can achieve the effect of double locking, which is anti-loose. This is also critical for carbon spoke use. Many consumers may wonder if carbon fiber spokes will fall off during riding.This is actually a very low probability, only when improper use of spoke length, spokes nipples and rim holes’ Angle mismatched, spokes tension imbalance, If all these three possibilities are present at the same time, the spokes will fall off.
What is the ultimate cycling experience of using carbon spokes?
The rigidity of carbon spoke wheel sets is quite different from that of the steel spoke wheel sets. The high power riders, climbers and sprinters are the biggest beneficiaries. Carbon fiber spokes are much more stretchable, so the tension is much higher than steel spokes, and the power transmission efficiency is much higher than steel spokes, so you can save energy.
