Corsair and Atomlab - Interbike 2015
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Corsair's Kraken steel hardtail mixes old school looks with contemporary geometry and big tires in a package that could probably be best described in a single word: fun. Truth be told, I haven't ridden the Kraken yet but it sure looks like a fun rig, especially because unlike a lot of 27.5+ hardtails that are built with short-travel forks in mind, the Corsair sports a 67.5 degree head angle with a 140mm travel fork that it's designed around. The Kraken is manufactured with Columbus Zona steel tubes, and it's ready for an internally routed dropper seat post and an ISCG-mounted chain guide. The back-end is even fitted with a 12 x 142mm Syntace thru-axle.
Corsair is unsure of the Kraken's MSRP or weight at this point, but you can expect it to be priced pretty reasonably but also not that light.
A 12 x 142mm Syntace axle holds the rear wheel in place.
The drive-side of the chainstay yoke features a plate rather than a tube for more clearance.
Atomlab's new 27.5'' SL Carbon wheelset is built around the company's proven Pimplite hubs, with the rear sporting six dual-edged pawls and an intricate drive ring that provides a whopping 102 points of engagement. Yes, riders who like the sound of being chased by a few thousand angry bees (that's me) will be a fan of the noise that comes from the rear hub. The hubs aren't the story here, though, as it's the carbon fiber rims that are all-new for Atomlab. The version pictured here sports a hook-less bead, but Atomlab is still testing that design against a more traditional hooked bead rim as they say that they're not convinced that no hook really is the way forward, so we might see a slightly different version when it hits production.
The rim measures 29mm wide internally, which is in line with a lot of the new wide but not too wide rims on the market, and it's also a width that should play nice with all tires out there. Atomlab has also drilled the rim for their Torque nipples that are 6mm thick (2mm thicker than standard nipples) to improve strength but lighter than their more common brass counterpart, although they do require a T20 torx tool for pre-tensioning and 3mm wrench flats allow you to use a tool to do final tensioning.
Atomlab says that a front wheel will come in at 880 grams and a rear wheel at 990, so 1,870 grams for a set. Retail price will be around $1,600 USD for a pre-built wheelset, and the company is still thinking over whether they will offer rims on their own.
Atomlab says that a front wheel will come in at 880 grams and a rear wheel at 990, so 1,870 grams for a set. Retail price will be around $1,600 USD for a pre-built wheelset, and the company is still thinking over whether they will offer rims on their own.
The carbon rim is 29mm wide internally.
There's no shortage of pawls inside of the Pimplite 102 hub.
Red is just one of many different colour options.
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Is it really worth it to pay much much more money for an extra 3.5mm of width? I thought the point of carbon rims was to be light. The Atomlabs are lighter for how wide they are, but is the increase in price worth it? Will the 3.5mm of increased width be noticeable? I do understand that carbon is a much stiffer material than aluminum as well, but I just don't quite see the benefit of going carbon here.
Talk about burying the lede though - it has Pimplite hubs. C'mon, that's endless fodder for all kinds of fun conversation right there.
As far as hardtails go, this is about as far from a Carerra as you could possibly get.
Drilled my Spank rim for your nipples yesterday and know real size