King of the mountains

The race is nearly finished, one last climb to go, just some miles between you and the victory. What counts in these minutes ? Maybe the medicine you ingested, your physical ability for sure, but the last 5% for the all-dominant attack might be contributed by the material you´ve got. The wheels you are using can be your competitive edge. One of these wheelsets - the Speedcomposites Sinus - which are able to provide you this edge, went through five months of hard testing.

We tested the wheels with 24/28 CX Ray spokes and Campagnolo freehub body. One week after the wheels finally arrived, we had not even been able to mount them yet, the rearwheel had to be send back. What happened ? Lars van Beurden - the owner of Speedcomposites - informed us via email that his suppliers had delivered him wrong grade aluminium and that there was a risk, that the rear hub might brake. Bad news, but better to have a reliable and honest contact at the manufacturer, than having a broken rearhub on a climb in the middle of nowhere. At anytime the contact was polite, fast and things flowed smoothly.

After one additional week we were finally ready to roll. Directly heading into little climbs the wheels gave the rider great response and neck-snapping acceleration when asked. The mounted TUFO tires ( Elite Jet 160 ) also did an excellent job with low rolling resistance and great puncture resistance. The ability to absorb road bumps and vibrations was stunning, it always felt as if you were rolling some millimeter over the ground. Even when our test rider ( 1,92m - 78kg ) went out of the saddle, we did not hear any grinding brake pad or felt a lack of control. Our decision was right to have the four additional spokes at the front wheel, that gave us the little extra stiffness we needed.

What goes up, must come down. In the descents we experienced a carbon rim typical brake response in dry conditions. The bike was equipped with 06′ Zero Gravity brakes and yellow Swissstopp pads. The performance declined in wet conditions but the situations were always under the rider´s control. Unfortunately everytime a very nasty and shrill sound accompanied every slowdown, but this might be due to the absolutely untouched rim surface and the brand new brakepads because the sound softens from day to day.

The workmanship of the Sinus wheels is of an extremely high standard, regardless if you have a look at the hubs, the bearings or the rim itself. When necessary, the spokes can be trued easily - a matching spoke wrench will be delivered with the wheels.

In search of a cheap alternative in the lightweight wheel sector, the search necessarily has to end with this product. A sophisticated niche product, which demonstrates that a good wheelset must not cost $3000 or even more. In the future you might be the rider who can launch the decisive attack - thanks to your new wheelset.