Chris King has a new all-road wheelset, with the ARD44 adding to the marque’s recently introduced range of gravel and mountain bike wheels made from a recyclable thermoplastic material.
Chris King claims the carbon footprint of the ARD44’s rims is 30 per cent lower than a standard epoxy-based carbon rim.
Whereas the prepreg strips used for standard carbon rims need to be kept refrigerated, which uses energy, the FusionFiber material used for the ARD44 rims is stable at room temperature.
It was developed by US-based CSS Composites and Chris King says it took around 18 months of R&D to perfect the rim design.
There’s significant harmful waste generated by epoxy-based rim manufacture, according to Chris King, while FusionFiber rim production is fully automated and results in zero waste. The rim also takes around a third as much heating time to cure as a conventional carbon rim.
Chris King claims its nylon-carbon composite rims are quieter, more impact resistant and fully recyclable. Chris King
Instead of using epoxy as the matrix to hold the carbon fibres, FusionFiber has a nylon matrix.Among the advantages of its rim material, Chris King says nylon is less brittle than epoxy, so it’s less likely to crack under stress.Its flexibility means the rim is stronger and more comfortable than epoxy. Chris King’s tests show its ARD44 rims can withstand up to 275 per cent of the UCI standard for impact resistance and a spoke pull force of over 950lb.The wheelset has a lifetime warranty, but FusionFiber is also recyclable and […]
Continue reading the original article at: www.bikeradar.com