‘Wider’ certainly seems to be a theme at this year’s Sea Otter Classic. Rims are getting wider, tyres are getting wider and bikes are getting wider to accommodate them. Praxis works, the only other company to bring you forged chainrings (apart from Shimano – unless there are any other takers?) is extending its expertise into wheelsets later this year.
Praxis C32 wheels
Praxis is launching its C32 wheels, which, as the name suggests are 32mm wide – though that’s the internal measurement and not the external. The rim is 100% developed by the Santa Cruz-based company, but laced with a Praxis-branded DT Swiss 350 hub to keep the wheels reliable and spares easier to find.
Praxis AL24
As you’d expect, there’s an alloy version too – this is the AL24 (again 24mm internal width) – and there will be a set of ‘cross wheels too.
Praxis Lyft Carbon Cranks
Praxis is assembling its Lyft Cranks now. Hollow carbon and featuring a 30mm axle, the cranks weight 454g including a 30T ring. They’ll come in 170 or 175mm and should be out around July. Of interest to British riders is that the bearing tension collar is alloy and not plastic and the cinch bolt is a 2.5mm Allen bolt, rather than the easier to round off 2mm found on other cranks.
Wave Tooth technology
Rather than running a thick/thin chainring, Praxis is using the Wave Tooth technology that MRP introduced recently. It relies on full height teeth that are offset from each other, rather than thicker or thinner. The teeth are biased alternately toward the front and rear of the chainring, and so hold on to the chain without needing thinner teeth that might wear quicker. (There also seems to be some politics involved too, but it’s a good solution)
The new T47 ‘standard’
Developed by Chris King and Argonaut cycles, this is a larger bottom bracket shell for bikes – similar to the press-fit BB dimensions at the moment, but get this, it’s threaded. This is intended to stop the creak of press-fit bearings in the shell of a bike. It also allows for wider BB spindles, like Praxis 30mm one. Praxis says it was already developing a similar system, but when it heard about the King one, they adopted the same dimensions to save (further) grief. It’ll be interesting to see how the uptake is out there.
And finally, Praxis has a diminutive chain guide that fits ISCG05 and comes in a 26-32T version or a 26-38T version. It’ll flip out of the way too if you need to swap rings or whatever – and it only weighs 38g
