{"id":60388,"date":"2024-03-01T17:26:52","date_gmt":"2024-03-01T16:26:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/3e5a2791-fb81-4ace-8c86-762a72b1939e"},"modified":"2024-03-01T18:59:37","modified_gmt":"2024-03-01T17:59:37","slug":"uci-launches-investigation-into-hookless-road-tubeless-rims-in-the-interest-of-rider-safety","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/cyclingplus\/rss_feed\/uci-launches-investigation-into-hookless-road-tubeless-rims-in-the-interest-of-rider-safety\/","title":{"rendered":"UCI launches investigation into hookless road tubeless rims ‘in the interest of rider safety’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Investigation follows Thomas De Gendt’s crash on stage 5 of the UAE Tour <\/p>

By Jack Luke\n <\/p>

Published: Friday, 01 March 2024 at 16:26 PM<\/p>

\n\n

The UCI has issued a statement stating it is investigating “recent incidents” involving hookless rims and tubeless tyres “as a matter of urgency… in the interest of rider safety”.<\/p>

The statement follows Thomas De Gendt’s crash at the UAE Tour<\/a>, which saw his 28mm-wide Vittoria Corsa Pro TLR road tyre blow off a Zipp 353 NSW wheel, which uses hookless rims.<\/p>

The fall-out from the incident saw Adam Hansen, the head of the CPA pro cyclists’ union, take to Twitter\/X<\/a>, stating: “The @cpacycling is not happy with riders racing on Hookless system in the peloton”.<\/p>

Dan Bigham, a performance engineer at Team Ineos-Grenadiers, went as far as claiming “History will not be kind to road hookless”.<\/p>

While the cause of the crash was initially unclear, Vittoria subsequently issued a statement<\/a> saying the failure occurred due to De Gendt\u2019s front wheel impacting a rock, which caused the rim to break.<\/p>

Hookless rims<\/a> have become popular with carbon rim manufacturers in recent years. They are claimed to provide performance benefits including reduced weight, improved aerodynamics and more efficient manufacturing, with lower prices for consumers as a result. <\/p>

Compared to a rim with bead hooks (sometimes known as crochet-type rims), hookless wheels are subject to stringent pressure and width limits. <\/p>

De Gendt’s team, Lotto DSTNY, told Cyclingnews<\/a> the wheel\/tyre combination run by its riders was “100 per cent in the rules”. The combination is also officially endorsed by Zipp.<\/p>

However, the latest ETRTO and ISO standards state the minimum nominal tyre size for a 25mm internal width rim \u2013 as featured on De Gendt’s 353 NSW wheelset \u2013 is now 29mm, not 28mm. <\/p>