Posted on May 17, 2022 by Cory Benson
From the first week of this year’s Giro d’Italia, a new set of lightweight Deda Elementi RS4DB tubeless carbon wheels were in the break at the front of the peloton. The new mid-depth Deda wheels debut a new lightweight tubeless carbon rim construction, lighter aero optimized hubs, and improved internals to create a more versatile wheelset from everyday riding to Grand Tour racing…
c. Deda Elementi, Giro photos by Sprint Cycling Agency
Once the Giro actually hit the roads of Italy, Italian component maker Deda Elementi had their UCI Pro Conti Team Bardiani-CSF-Faizané racing on the new wheels, and Alessandro Tonelli put them in the Stage 5 breakaway right away. The RS4DB wheels set a new benchmark for modern lightweight road wheels, shedding 200g over Deda’s next lightest disc brake offering.
The new wheels feature a shallower 38mm aero profile for a better balance of lightweight and aerodynamic performance, with a 19mm internal (26mm external) hooked tubeless bead to work with any modern road tires, tubes, or not. The new lighter mid-profile rim features variable wall thickness, with an internal “composite stiffener” molded inside the hi-mod carbon layup to reinforce the spoke holes that allow Deda to thin the rim wall between spokes to reduce weight.
The wheels also feature all-new 7075 alloy straight-pull RS centerlock disc brake hubs with a revised shape and rifled finish to reduce airflow turbulence over the hubs for improved aerodynamics. Now 80g lighter for the hubset and spinning on ceramic bearings, they also get new faster-engaging 20T ratchet internals, putting a larger ratchet in the hub flange for improved power-transfer stiffness & durability.
The wheels are built up with 24 aero, butted spokes front & rear and feature internal nipples for better aerodynamics, and self-locking alloy nipples that promise to hold tight.
Complete Deda RS4DB wheelsets claim a weight of just 1340g with standard 12mm thru-axles.
The new tubeless-ready Deda RS4DB carbon wheels sell for 1950€ +VAT, and are available with freehubs for Shimano, Campagnolo & SRAM XDR freehub bodies. The new lightweight wheels aren’t available just yet, but should be soon from your local Deda dealer bike shop.
Cory Benson is the EU Tech Editor of Bikerumor.com.
Cory has been writing about mountain bikes, enduro, cyclocross, all-road, gravel bikes & bikepacking on and off for over 25 years, since before several of these even had names in our industry.
Prior to that (and at times, concurrently), Cory worked as an Architect specializing in environmental sustainability, a IBD bike shop designer & consultant, an independent product designer, a bike shop mechanic, and a mountain biking instructor.
Based in the Czech Republic for over 15 years, Cory spends much of his time traveling around Europe, riding bikes, and meeting directly with many of cycling’s key European product developers, industry experts & tastemakers for an in-depth review of what’s new, and what’s coming next. A technical off-road rider at heart since the 1990s, Cory’s cycling has evolved to cover everything from the wide range of riding aero road bikes on dirt roads to thrashing enduro bikes in the European bikeparks & trail centers, with plenty of XC, CX & gravel in between.
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
© Copyright 2022 Bikerumor, All Rights Reserved