Road RX60

Things we focused on during the design process

 MINIMIZATION OF CROSSWIND SUSCEPTIBILITY

The more predictable the bike’s behavior when the wind direction changes and the resulting steering forces are reduced to a minimum, the safer you feel on it. Especially on fast tracks, you don’t want to be surprised by sudden crosswinds and gusts. In the worst case, the rider can no longer maintain the aerodynamic position and has to straighten up, which involves high aerodynamic losses. For this reason, the biggest challenge and priority for us was to optimally design the handling of the wheel even in difficult wind situations.

Crosswind susceptibility results from an asymmetrical force distribution acting on the front wheel in crosswind conditions. This asymmetrical force effect generates a moment around the steering axis, which is immediately reported to the driver. By optimizing the profile shape, this asymmetry can be minimized by distributing the force of the crosswind evenly over the rim. This was realized through elaborate CFD simulations (Computational Fluid Dynamics) by our aero partner iXent.

Especially in crosswinds starting at 8°, the RX60s demonstrate their strength and outperform one or the other established rim models of well-known brands.

LOW AERODYNAMIC DRAG

Air resistance is the aerodynamic force that affects the road cyclist in the direction of travel and that decelerates him. It depends on speed as well as on the attack surface of the road cyclist and the road bike with the components installed on it. In order to minimize this air resistance, the area of attack of the overall system must be minimized.

Air resistance increases exponentially as a function of speed. Above 15 km/h, air resistance is the greatest force. Although the wheels only contribute about 12 % to the total air resistance, the behavior of the wheels plays a significant role. They are decisive for the sailing effect and have a significant influence on the handling of the bike under external influences such as wind and gusts, which set a sudden steering impulse. As the graph shows, our RX60 wheels are in no way inferior to other aero wheels. Especially at an angle of attack starting at 4 degrees, the advantages of our RX60 rims can be seen through a low drag coefficient.

OPTIMAL ROLLING RESISTANCE

The practice of using tires that are as narrow as possible and have high air pressures is a thing of the past. Nowadays, the latest results show that wider tires minimize rolling resistance. In addition, they bring good driving characteristics such as traction and comfort and can be driven with low air pressure due to their large volume and wide contact area, which in turn contributes to greater puncture safety.

The RX series rims have therefore been designed for 25 – 28 mm tires, because up to a certain speed, the lower rolling resistance due to the wider tire brings more advantages than the better aerodynamics of a narrower tire.