White Out!

No, not the office product that has a variety of alternative uses (according to most office based TV shows), but these;



KinLin XR-300 White rims, built on DT Swiss 240s hubs and Aerolite spokes, with DT Swiss Red nipples tying them all together.

Weight: 670gm front, 804gm Rear.

New anodized colors added to the range, Gold and Red.

Available in XR-270 (20, 24, 28, 32h) and XR-300 (20, 24, 28h).

We are the only company in the US to import and distribute these colors of KinLin rims, and now stock over 100 SKU's!

Blue and Pink coming soon...watch this space!

New Shipment

The second of our planned shipments has now arrived, giving us a wider selection of Red XR-270's and also XR-300's. New to the table are Gold XR-270's and XR-300's also.

Mountain bikes aren't forgotten, with the introduction of the ADHN in a non machined form for lower cost 29er disc wheels paired with DT Swiss 370 hubs.

Our KinLin stocks are now the biggest and have the widest variety available anywhere in the world, so whatever your needs or desires, we've got that!

New Shipment

We are rather proud of our association with Kinlin. From humble beginnings to over a thousand pounds per shipment, growing the range on offer and the stock levels available. As a result, we now have 98 SKU's and over 3,500 rims in stock. Our last shipment alone was over 800 pieces (1,119.950lbs), and our May shipment is over 1,700 pieces!

New items now on stock include XR-270 and XR-300 in White (powder coat), XR-270 in Red (anodized), and the Monster XD-280 28mm wide 29er rim! Dirt jumping on a 29er, anyone? Bueller?

Pictures will follow, and don't forget to ask for Kinlin rims (and complete wheels on DT Swiss hubs) at your LBS.

New rim shipment!

While we have been quiet in posting recently, it's only due to the show season and daily work activities taking their toll. To show how busy it has been, here are pictures of our latest KinLin 560 piece rim shipment, which finally give us the only stocks in North America of the XR-200 in polished silver (28, 32h). We think these look great for neo retro builds (being more of a classic box section rim shape) and make a nice change from the regular polished black finish so prevalent today.




Mountain bike rims also join the crowd, the XD-230 and XD-280 are available in both 26" and 29er flavors, with the option of black or white finishes.






A rim designed for daily use (commuting, training) at 510gm, the ADHN is the only KinLin rim we offer with eyelets. 24mm wide, it's perfect for Vittoria Open Pave and other 24-28c tires. Great for those cold winter days full of snow melt and runoff (even here in normally sunny SoCal it's been snowing!).




Finally, we started stocking the shallower 24mm deep 455gm XR-240 rim, which is available in 20, 24, 28, 32h (700c) and 20, 24h in 650c. This rim is only available in polished black. We will also be offering this rim in our comprehensive prebuilt range of wheelsets.



Some new items and product lines are being released for 2009, stay tuned for some exciting news!

Wheels of the Week.

As Monday was a holiday, there wasn't a set nominated or considered. Come back next week!

Wheels of the Week

Actually two pair, as they couldn't be split, kind of non identical twins.

Both used Dutch M5 hubs, fitted with Phil Wood and Co bearings. Front hub is the SP version, with the flanged rear. Why? The rear SP version isn't available yet (plus read further), and while both M5 front hubs share the same weight limit (there isn't one), the SP version just looks more robust, and the top hat inserts to carry the spoke heads has a lot more material behind it. We have never heard of problems with either, but prefer to err on the side of caution. Corporate preference is towards straight pull spokes also on front wheels due to the way the stresses work, so that's another reason. It's cleaner and stiffer. Rear hubs undergo different dynamic stresses, so the way a flanged hub works is actually an advantage here. We tested this using a mixture of machinery and on the bike use, and have found the results to be consistent. The difference is small however, and wouldn't prevent us building SP rear hubs under certain conditions.

Spokes are Sapim CX-Ray. They are nice spokes, available in SP form for the front from stock, and work well with the M5 hubs (no surprise, as they come from just over the border in Belgium). Nipples are 3/16" internal aluminum.

Rims on set #1 are KinLin XR-200, their 22mm deep box section Niobium alloy model. We have these drilled for internal nipples especially for this wheelset.

Rims on set #2 are KinLin XR-270, their 27mm deep aero section Niobium alloy model. Again drilled for internal nipples, they are a rim we use a lot of.

Weight for set #1 with 24/28 spokes is 1246gm/pr. Lighter than many carbon options of "climbing" style carbon rim clinchers without the high cost associated with carbon rims.

Weight for set #2 with 20/24 spokes is 1350gm/pr. These are a great "do anything" road wheelset. Century rides, racing, even Cross. They have some aerodynamic advantage without the weight penalties normally associated in mid-deep section clincher wheels, and aren't a problem to handle in cross winds.

Both sets get our vote for contenders as wheels of the year...