Velocite MONC and Noir carbon rims have arrived

The new Velocite MONC and Noir rims are finished and are being made into complete wheels by our wheel builder.

A quick family shot of new Velocite carbon tubular and clincher rims

The rims are completely new in every regard except for the shape. They still come from the same molds, but the carbon fiber layup is entirely different to the previous generations’ layup. Gone is the 3k layer to be replaced with two layers of unidirectional (UD) carbon, thus the rim sidewalls are now made entirely from UD carbon with 3k being used in the braking surface/tire bed and spoke anchor parts of the rims. This layup change is visible, but all carbon fiber layers have been revised. This layup change makes the rims stronger, stiffer and more durable. The weights remained roughly unchanged:

Noir 50 tubular: 360g
Noir 90 tubular: 680g

MONC 50 clincher: 540g
MONC 90 clincher: 840g

The MONC series was also changed with respect to the clincher sidewalls. The MONC rims are made using a patented process that incorporates an extruded alloy element into the tire bed/clincher element part of the rim. This element looks like a letter “H” and resembles an alloy rim without the sidewalls. The purpose of this is to maximise the rim safety by virtually eliminating any possibility of catastrophic carbon clincher failure. The new MONC caron clinchers now incorporate a strenghtened alloy element to make them extremely robust.

New Velocite carbon rim layup

The final change is with the naming and nipple drilling. All Velocite carbon rims now use external nipples and all tubular rims are now called Noir, while carbon clincher rims are called MONC. They share the same layup and technology. This also means that MONC rim costs have increased a little.

About our rim manufacturing

As you know, the company that makes our frames also makes our rims, and they are made in a small but very high tech facility in Taiwan. I will not share the specifics, or photos of this process due to this process being proprietary.

Velocite carbon rims are made using computer controlled induction heating method where the mold, and the carbon fiber are heated to the optimal temperature effectively instantaneously. This process ensures optimal resin flow and thus all on its own results in far less voids in the carbon fiber structure.

Our rims do not use a foam core but are formed using the inflatable bladder process. The difference with the process used to make our rims is that the pressure used to inflate the bladder is extremely high, and the exact pressure is also computer controlled. This is made possible through use of special molds where the top and bottom halves are secured to one another by the maximum amount of fasteners possible given the surface area. This ensures that the mold remains perfectly aligned, and closed even with extremely high pressure that the bladder, and the raw rim is inflated to. The extremely high pressure just about eliminates any possibility of void formation, whether due to trapped air, or due to volatile vapours that are formed during the curing stage.

This means that our rims are about as structurally sound as they can possibly be while being extremely light. For example our 50mm Noir tubular rim weighs just 360g and carries no rider weight limits. This makes it one of the the lightest 50mm carbon tubular rims in the world.