Word on the Street...

If you make your rounds on the ol' interweb you might have noticed a few things last week: one at BikeReviews.com and then over at Handspun, our friends there had posted some pretty interesting stuff on their blog about us. Both on our new rim, the Major Tom, we've been pretty tight lipped about this rim but nevertheless we are super excited about it... more details to come, but for now enjoy David's write up on it:

Major Tom has landed!

08.04.2010 • Posted by: David

Never ones to be satisfied with their own success, Velocity has just released the Major Tom tubular rim- to the rejoicing of ‘cross racers everywhere. Like the Velocity A23 and the HED series of 23mm rims, the Major Tom rim brings the advantages of a 23mm rim to the tubular market. Having a 23mm wide rim allows for better tire performance, gives a larger contact surface for gluing tires, and adds strength without adding weight (432g advertised weight). Gluing wide cyclocross tubulars onto narrow rims can often be a challenge, and questioning the bond between the tire and rim is often something that enters your mind as you’re railing a corner at top speed during a race. The Major Tom not only gives a wider contact surface, but it also features a seam relief channel down the center, to help with consistent tire placement.

Additionally, Velocity listened to feedback from ‘cross racers and increased the height of the brake track to 11mm, making it easier for you to switch from your everyday wheels to your race wheels without so much messing around with your brake pad placement. Like the A23, the Major Tom shares a similar semi-aero profile that gives additional strength without adding weight.

Just in time for the season:

But don’t think that this rim is only confined to cyclocross- like the Velocity/HED 23mm predecessors, the Major Tom would help achieve better performance for road tires as well. We mounted a Vittoria Pave 24mm tire and it looked like the two were meant to be together.

Optimized:

We have a few of these rims that we’re building up for our own use right now, and we should have production wheels with Ultegra hubs and DT Swiss Competition spokes ready in the next few weeks- just in time for ‘cross season.