FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, Germany (BRAIN) — Stan's NoTubes may have stopped production of its old rubber rim strips, but the New York company is alive and well and moving forward with new wheel designs and other products, which it showed at Eurobike last week.
Chris Currie, Stan's creative director, said that after a BRAIN article last week about the end of rim strip production, the company received "a surprisingly high volume of 'are you going out of business'-style communications."
Far from it, Currie said. The rim strips were used to convert pre-tubeless-ready rims, made often many years ago by several rim manufacturers, to tubeless use. The market for the strips has dried up, so Stan's is converting the production space and staff that previously was used for the strips to new projects. Currie said Stan's sealant production and sales are at an all-time high.
At Eurobike, Stan's introduced the new Flow CB7 and Baron CB7 carbon rims and wheelsets, which feature a new asymmetric version of Stan’s patented Bead Socket Technology tuneless rim design. The new shape was developed in partnership with Ibis Cycles.
Asymmetric rims with offset drilling allow for more balanced spoke tension and a stronger overall wheel, but asymmetric rims have previously made rim tape placement and proper sealing more difficult. Stan's and Ibis took advantage of the added width of rims like the Flow CB7 (29 mm internal width) and Baron CB7 (35 mm internal width) to come up with a shape that eliminated those problems.
"Another practical challenge to designing an asymmetric tubeless rim is the need to synchronize the motion of the tire beads during inflation, so that both snap into place at the same time to create a reliable tubeless seal, even if one side of the tire has to travel further than the other," the company said. "Working together, Stan’s and Ibis did extensive testing and refining until the final rim shape was perfected. Tire installation, inflation and removal are now as quick and easy on asymmetric BST rims as they are on Stan’s conventional symmetric rims."
The Flow CB7 is a lightweight carbon trail rim. The rim has added layup process to increase strength while keeping weight to 420 grams for the 27.5-inch rim and 455 grams for the 29-inch model. The 29 mm inner width of the Flow CB7 is optimized for 2.35 to 2.6 tires.
The Baron CB7 has similar features and a 35 mm internal width for even wider tires. Despite being 6 mm wider than the Flow CB7, the new Baron CB7 shares the exact weight. The company said the increased air volume of 2.5-inch and similar larger tires offer more protection for the rim, allowing the weight of the Baron CB7 to be kept as low as possible.
Wheelsets with the new rims are built in Stan’s New York headquarters with replacement parts readily available directly. The Flow CB7 and Baron CB7 wheels include Stan’s newest Neo hub with Durasync 6-pawl freehub with 10-degree engagement and triple freehub bearings that better distribute axle load. Neo hubs shells are CNC-machined and roll on low-friction centerless ground axles. The wheels are built with Sapim spokes and Secure Lock nipples, Sapim J-bend spokes. The wheelsets are available in both 27.5-inch and 29-inch sizes to fit every common axle style. They weigh 1,674 grams and 1,761 grams, respectively.
Baron CB7 rims and wheelsets are available now. Flow CB7 rims and wheelsets will be available in November. More information: notubes.com.
