Opening Things Up, Part 2

In the last blog, we discussed that our alloy wheel business has grown like a weed in the last year. We continue to be advocates for the alloy wheel set as a concept. As we explained when we announced the passing of the Rail 34, there are a bunch of situations where alloys have an outright advantage over carbons, even before you take into account the significant price differences between carbon and alloy wheels of equivalent quality.

It’s easy for us to see that the Nimbus Ti and Nimbus Ti CLD builds with Pacenti rims were our biggest sellers in 2015. They’re fantastic wheels, of a quality that smashes anything near the price, and at a price that smashes anything of equivalent quality. Since these are such popular builds for us, we’ll be promoting them both to standard build status for 2016. The default Nimbus Ti build will be Nimbus Ti hubs with SL23 rims, and Laser and D-Light spokes. The default Nimbus Ti CLD set will be Nimbus Ti CLD hubs, SL25 rims, and Laser and D-Light spokes. Spoke count options will actually increase a bit this year, with 32h options for disc builds, and our aim is to have all options ready for near immediate shipping at all times.

The other side of the coin is that we’re creating a category called “Nimbus Ti Open.” This includes a broader range of rim choices than we offered in 2015, and you can consider these sort of “semi-custom” wheels. We’ll keep parts on hand to be able to fulfill orders in short order, but they won’t necessarily be ready for immediate shipment all the time – we’re aiming for no more than a week from order to ship on these. We’re bringing in new choices in both rim and disc rims this year. All of the 2015 options (Stan’s Grail and 340, DT R460, and Stan’s Crest and Arch) remain, while we’re picking up the DT R460 disc rim, Velocity Quill and Aileron, Ryde Pulse Comp, Pulse Comp Disc, and Trace XC, as well as HED’s aluminum rims. These will all be priced very very well, though not quite as well as the Pacenti builds.

Open

The news that we’re going to be working with Corima carbon rims should be a bit anticlimactic by now. Corima’s rims are unique in their construction in a few ways, and of almost shocking construction quality. When we began to think about rims with which to diversify our carbon line, Corima was an immediate choice. We’re developing a great relationship with the distributor, and we’re very excited about them. Corima also brings us back into the road carbon tubular market.

As CX season approaches, we’ll have a few more things to talk about with regard to more CX-specific builds. We had a great year in cross this year, and we want to build on that even more in 2016.

Finally, the product mix will continue to include custom builds with a wide variety of hub and spoke options.

Prices will go up a bit.  As I said, they’ll be ultra competitive, but the development of alloys as such a big part of our business and a few other factors necessitate this. If we make what you’re after, we will ALWAYS be a competitive supplier for it. We only have the capacity to sell so many wheels a day/week/month/year, and the simple fact is that we have to average a certain net per build in order to make the business work. We put a furious amount of resources into the business, and demand a certain return in order to make that worthwhile.

The 2015 pricing was a bit of an introductory price level. The Nimbus Ti concept needed to get established, and our 2015 pricing contained some element of marketing expense for us. There was maybe also a bit of a discount for the lack of cachet and brand familiarity, and while we’re not charging any sort of premium now that we’ve achieved those, we aren’t continuing to discount for it, either. We’re quite comfortable with the place we’ve built for ourselves, and we believe that the market is, too.

 

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7 comments

Used my Nimbus Ti CLD wheelset, shod with Schwalbe S-One tubeless tires, for the Hell Of the North Plains ride, this past weekend, here in OR. Gravel, dirt, snow, and tarmac. Wheels were 100% solid, and proved again to be a very fast rolling combo with the S-Ones. Very impressed with the Nimbus Ti CLD. https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/hellofthenorthplains?source=feed_text&story_id=10205861800999275

Rico

That looks like an interesting day on the bike!

Dave

I'm still newish to tubeless (left in the dark ages?). I see that the new rail 52 is "tubeless ready". I understand it makes it easier to install tubeless…..my question is, does the hook where the tire seats any different from the original design? I have the rail 34s and considering converting. Also is is tuff to clean the rim from the sealant if I go back to tubes? Thanks Dave!

Johnc

Hi John -Yes, the bead hook is a bit different on the new rims versus the old, but that doesn't prevent you from going tubeless on your wheels. Don't exceed 100 psi on a 23, 95 or so on a 25 (though if you're going tubeless you'll probably be well within that anyway) and you'll be all set. As for cleaning, no I don't think it could be considered tough. A dry paper towel or two should do it. A handy wipe would be rid of any stubborn residue. I use a vet's syringe to extract still-liquid sealant when changing tires so that I can reuse it, but you don't have to do that by any means.

Dave

For wheel buying using reviews and information on the net can be a bit confusing. I just want a wheelset that's light, reliable, easy to service and works well with my bike. The Nimbus Ti Pacenti adds to all the reasons i picked my bike. My bike does a lot of things well and has an excellent relationship with your wheels. I have 50mm x 25mm TLR carbons and i just sold my Zipps 101 (nice wheels) I won't compare them cause each wheelset has a different relationship with my bike and purpose-job.Bottom line- for little money i got a wheelset that does what I and my bike ask of it. Thanks for your pricing and for doing your homework. Oh, I mounted a set of tubeless Maxxis Pardons 25mm without my koolstops lever, hands only… dry without coursing.

Ray

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