Reynolds RZR 92 Carbon Road Wheelset Tubular

If you've been looking for the fastest wheel on the planet, you've found it. The Reynolds RZR 92 boasts the lowest drag values, the highest levels of stability and handling, and the lowest weight of any 80mm wheel on the market. In fact, compared to its closest 80mm rival, paired with a rear disc wheel, the RZR 92 saves 20 watts translating to a roughly 23 second advantage over the length of an Ironman course. Now, we're going to be forward the complexity of the RZR design is deep, but we'll walk through it together. To start, we need to understand the prevalent ideology in aerodynamic wheel design, and to do so, we need to understand drag. What is it Simply put, it's the restraining force that acts on the wheel when its direction of motion is counter to the free stream of airflow. Now, airflow near the surface of a wheel is turbulent by nature, and when it comes close to the rim surface, it becomes a turbulent boundary layer. This is the start of two kinds of drag, skin friction and pressure drag. Currently, wheel makers are attempting to harness the turbulent layer, reattaching it at the rear section of the rim. The reasoning behind this is that the system reduces pressure drag, but in return, the wheel sees gains in skin friction. However, this is viewed as a positive trade off, as skin friction has around a ten fold lower drag value than pressure drag. To maximize this turbulent system, we've been seeing engineers create a constant, rounded edge at the spoke face. For those attempting it, it's been viewed as a leap forward in design. However, Reynolds finds it to be counterintuitive. We'll explain. You see, the science of aerodynamics has developed almost as a case of supply and demand. As aviation technology develops, engineers are forced to develop more efficient airfoil designs, and these designs take the shape of what's called a NACA profile think of a stretched out tear drop shape. In recent years, though, some wheel designers have started t...