AForce Al33 Update

Since the virtual mailman couldn't even close the virtual door on our virtual mailbox given all the virtual letters asking about AForce Al33 builds the we got yesterday, it's probably a good idea to give an update on the ol' blog.

The latest info we have puts rims in our hands in early-ish December. Yes, this is a slip from the original non-specific November delivery we originally had. No, this is not a sign of any issue. Delivery forecasts from vendors are a HEINOUS ugly morass that we're exceptionally glad not to be in the driver's seat for anymore. 

There is not a disc specific option in the first production. The finish on the ceramic rims is dark enough that I'd put them on a disc build without a second aesthetic thought, and I'm an absolute OCD princess about stuff like that (although Judd, who puts me to absolutel shame in that department, would disagree). I'd even put the ones that now have slightly less than 2000 miles of wear (lots of mountain bike riding and not as much road bike riding in the last month) on the brake tracks in a disc build. 

We'll have 20/24 and 24/28 builds. 20/24 is generally appropriate for people up to the 185-ish range from what we can tell, and 24/28 is probably good to 50 pounds over that. Hub options will be as current, with the addition of Novatec A291/F482 hubs for road and 771/772 for disc (both in black only) branded for us. 

Pricing will be broadly comparable to HED Belgium+ builds for the ceramic option. Regular machine sidewall options will be less. We haven't got precise final pricing, so that's as closely as we can estimate that.

The wind tunnel trip is still on, I just don't exactly know when it is, as we don't dictate that. Part of life trying to make a buck in this business is that you generally want and need to get a lot more done than you have the time to do. Based on experience and knowledge and riding on the wheels thus far, we're confident that they're quite good, but as it says above the door from the control room into the tunnel zone at A2 (where the testing will be done) "one good test is worth 1000 expert opinions." 

Since interest is so high, we'll be doing a pre-sale thing, slightly different to pre-orders we've done in the past. This time, we'll be accepting refundable deposits in order to let people claim a build (the first production run is far from infinite) and give us some assistance in gauging how many rims of what drilling we need to put on lockdown right away. If you'd like to receive updates on these as they become available, please sign up for them here.

And that's what we know. Happy Tuesday.

Back to blog

13 comments

Any idea on the timeframe for the first disc specific run?

Mike

Sounds great – looking forward to it!

Erik

Hi JL -We may or may not sell just rims, but they will be available as rims either through us or elsewhere. I've never built a Flo30, but I will soon. Have heard conflicting things about them but would prefer to wait until we have built one before saying anything, and even then our sample size will be small. The Al33 are considerably lighter, and the brake track treatment is totally different. Those are the hard lines of what I know at the moment.Dave

dave

Will you be selling the rims only for custom builds or just built wheelsets only? Also, how do these compare to Flo 30s if you have experience with both of them? Thanks and looking forward to these!!

JL

Chris K – Let me answer your questions in order. 1. Weight difference is nominal at most. Hub weight v disc weight, you'd have to be really concerned about 5 or 8 or 10g here and there, which we honestly just aren't 2. Your bike cares absolutely zero whether you have center lock or 6 bolt rotors. There is not future proofing to be done there 3. Total speculation, I'm probably more aware of disc brake wind tunnel stuff than most (almost all – I've been to the tunnel and tested them) and it would be a pure guess to say that one is more aero than the other. The difference between rim brake wheels and disc brake wheels is hardly huge. 4. That is a point in favor of CLD. Bitex has no relationship to Novatec. The Novatec hubs we are doing ARE in fact center lock, because we prefer it. Dave

dave

Leave a comment

Please note, comments need to be approved before they are published.