Interbike: Rolf Prima Race Wheels Get Fat

Rolf Prima joins the cascade of aero wheel companies with ultra-wide rims.

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Rolf has been offering deep-section rims for several years and they even recently introduced a 85mm deep wheel, but the TDF 60SL is distinctly different than all their other aero wheels. The biggest difference is the rim width. Like Hed, Zipp Enve Reynolds and others, Rolf Prima’s new wheel has an extremely wide brake track—26mm. The brake walls transition smoothly into the rim sidewalls, which maintain their width before tapering into the inner edge of the rim. That inner edge is blunt with slightly sharp corners transitioning from the sidewalls. Rolf has tested these wheels at the A2 Wind Tunnel in North Carolina and, like many other companies with very wide wheels, found that this wheel creates less drag than their deeper wheel with narrower rim.

The TDF 60SL maintains Rolf Prima’s patented paired spoke design that allows the spokes to be tensioned to an extreme degree, which Rolf’s president Brian Roddy says increases stiffness and durability. Although rim shape is the major advancement in this wheel, Rolf has every intention of sticking with their paired spoke design because, as they say, it reduces wind drag and improves ride quality and dependability. The TDF 60SL uses the same Rolf hubs found on their other wheels. It will retail for $2,199 and will be available in November.

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Written by Aaron Hersh. Follow him @triathletetech. Photos also by Aaron Hersh.