With the surge in popularity of adventure and gravel bikes we’ve seen an increase in the availability of wheels tailored towards dealing with rough stuffing, and the latest comes from US firm Crank Brothers with its new Zinc 3.
It’s the company’s first foray into the road, cyclocross, gravel and adventure bike market, but it has a background in mountain bike wheel design so expectations are that these new wheels should be up to the task of dealing with gravel roads.
What really sets the Zinc 3 wheels apart from their rivals is the same unique spoke lacing pattern they’ve been using on their mountain bike wheels for many years. Called “twinpair spoke technology,” the two-piece spokes thread together at the midpoint and gives the wheels their utterly unique appearance.
The thinking behind it is to pull weight away from the rim and put it closer to the centre of the wheel, which is claims provides lower rotational inertia, faster acceleration and greater wheel strength.
– 20 of the best 2017 road bike wheels — reduce bike weight or get aero gains with new hoops
Wide rims are a good thing when using wide tyres, with 30 to 40mm common on adventure bikes. The Zinc 3 rims measure 25.5mm on the outside and 21mm on the inside.
They’re a disc-only wheelset as befits the adventure bike market, and the rims are tubeless-ready as well. Due to the unique spoke design, the rims aren’t drilled so there’s no need for tubeless rim tape, and it also means the rims are stronger according to the company’s claims. It also means spokes can be replaced without having to remove the tyre.
The hubs are compatible with most current quick release and thru-axle bikes, with replaceable end caps. Weight is a claimed 1,645g and the ship with a two year warranty. We don’t have a UK price yet but in dollars they cost $750.
10 thoughts on “Crank Brothers launch new Zinc 3 gravel, cyclocross and adventure wheelset”
The rim design certainly
The rim design certainly doesn’t look like it reduces weight. Seems interesting but misguided.
Great
@DrDog How is the rim design misguided?
I don’t mean to hasty in
I don’t mean to hasty in judging these but without a doubt CB wheels have some of the worst bearings I have come across and the spokes don’t seem to last too long either. Had a customer who went through 7 sets of their bearings in one UK winter (MTB though)
I’ve often been tempted by CB
I’ve often been tempted by CB mtb wheels, there are always good offers available online and I like the way they look. However, I’ve never come across anybody who has anything good to say about them.
@Paulbox while we did have
@Paulbox while we did have some bearing issues on our first generation of wheels 10 years ago, we are now on our fourth generation of wheels and those issues are long since solved.
Such poor repairability is
Such poor repairability is not suitable for ‘adventures’ and negates marginal inetia benefits.
can’t imagine it would be
can’t imagine it would be much fun trying to find a replacement spoke out in the middle of nowhere
japes wrote:
Absolutely! The reviews / owners’ comments on the similar wheel sets aren’t great, plus the weight shown doesn’t strike me as particularly impressive. Seems CB had one hit with the egg beaters, and little thereafter.
There is a reason these seems
There is a reason these seems to crop up at 75% off on CRC…They’re Flexible, Heavy and Unreliable.
The best functioning, floating, and engaging pedals I’ve ever owned were CB egg beaters but life is just too short to be replacing bearings and re greasing every two or three weeks.
Rotational Inertia
@DrDog the design distributes the mass closer to the hub, reducing rotational inertia. The effect is faster acceleration and decelteration than a traditional wheel design at the same weight.