Being a car enthusiast, I know this brand well. In fact, there was time when I seriously considered purchasing a set of their wheels for a Porsche project that I was involved in, but that’s another story.
Given their expertise with carbon fiber, it’s not surprising to learn that Dymag has entered into the foray of road bike wheels.
While information is still forthcoming, I was able to glean from Dymag’s site, that the British company is planning to offer a series of tubular and clincher wheelsets, with rim depths consisting of 24mm, 38mm, 44mm, 50mm, 60mm and 88mm. In addition, rims will be available for separate purchase, as well as complete wheelsets featuring Sapim spokes with either Hope Mono RS or DT Swiss 240 hubs.
Currently, Dymag plans to sell directly from it’s website, with only a few selected retailers in the UK. It remains to be seen if the brand will enter into the US market. We hope so ! Anyway, here’s some information that I was able to cull from their website:
Carbon Cycle Wheel Technology
When designing our new cycles wheels, the first thing we asked ourselves was what makes a bicycle road wheel aero dynamic and how can we achieve the optimum aero dynamics to build in real world ride useability and high performance, coupled with a degree of comfort and safety.
A technical, well-constructed carbon fibre wheel can become a very poor overall package with poor quality hubs and spokes attached to it, built in an inferior manner. This is why we use the best quality items in the construction of our wheels hand finished in Great Britain by qualified, experienced designers and builders who live and breathe wheels! We use only benchmark proven hubs by both Hope and DT Swiss. These are then hand laced to the rims using Sapim spokes and nipples.
At its core, cycling is an equation, – simply put it’s all about forces for and forces against. If you subtract the forces which slow you down i.e. rolling resistance, wind, gravity, bearings and more from the amount of power the rider is churning out, the result is speed! There are two quick up upgrades available to you and your bicycle’s overall package which will make you faster! Improve the engine (“You” get fitter and more efficient – a long and drawn out process) or reduce the resistance (a possible instant fix) and that’s where Dymag carbon cycle wheels come in.
The Dymag designers observed the aero data published by other companies and we noticed that wheels became very aerodynamic at a specific yaw angle. Just a few degrees in either direction of that yaw angle caused the drag to rise very quickly. This may be fine in a controlled environment like a wind tunnel but doesn’t help at all in the real world. No doubt we would all love to think that on our next ride we can maintain and ride at the optimal wind angle, but Mother Nature simply won’t allow this to happen.
Dymag’s goal was to produce a carbon wheel range that stayed aerodynamic for as long as possible as around 80% of cyclists spend most of their time riding at 5 and 10 degree yaw angles. Thus during our time spent developing our wheels we tweaked the rim shapes and profiles to be as aero dynamic and as light as possible through the most efficient and commonly used 5 and 10 degree yaw angles. We also concentrated on producing profiles that are complimentary to each other so our customers can mix and match rim profiles for front and rear applications as they feel appropriate for their type of road riding.
The result is a carbon rim construction designed to give the rider a laterally very stiff, light wheel range to choose from. A laterally stiff and light product equates to a more efficient wheel as less watts are lost in sideways movement and propelling a light wheel when accelerating or climbing. Through the carbon matrix we used in construction, we’ve also built into the rims an amount of real world rider comfort and our double laminated brake track ensure progressive, reliable, safe braking in all weathers and temperatures. We’ve also carried out impact testing as we feel that the safety of our customer and the longevity of our wheels should be of paramount importance!
44mm Profile
The Dymag 44mm profile tubular "Tub" is designed with the climber in mind who needs an aero dynamic edge. This is a very stiff light carbon fibre wheel that gives an instant response to pedal input. The 44mm profile can be used in front and rear matching applications or as a mixed set for example, 24mm front "Tub" 44mm rear "Tub".
New Cycling Team
For the 2014 season, Dymag will be partnering with Ian Rees who has set up a team of riders with one uniting factor – they all have Type 1 diabetes or have experience of diabetes. The team will be re-named Dymag T1 D and will ride on Dymag wheels at all the major UK elite events.
Ian has been training on the Dymag wheels for several months and has given valuable feedback to the designers. He said: “The wheels are incredibly responsive and really bullet proof in that they can withstand significant impact without collapsing into the brake blocks which has happened with other wheels I’ve ridden on. The weight and performance is comparable to wheels that are a lot more expensive, so we are really excited to be working with Dymag.”
He added: “I am aspiring to have an all diabetic team by 2015 to compete in elite and pro level races. At present we have a third of the team being diabetic and the rest all know what it’s like to ride with diabetes and how to keep blood sugar’s ready to race. I aim to raise awareness with diabetes sufferers of the positive benefits that sport and keeping active brings.”
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