Product News – Cycle Divisions Cero Wheels

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Taking on the big brands, Cycle Division is having great success with their Cero wheels which are light and well priced

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Product News – Cycle Divisions Cero Wheels

The wheels can be one of the biggest ticket price items a buyer chooses to customise his bike with and a company having a lot of success with their wheels are the Cycle Division and their Cero wheels.

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Pronounced Zero with C, the success of the Cero has been a little unexpected admitted Cycle Division’s Gareth Hewitt who helped develop and test the first wheel in the range over two years ago. “The idea was to build something that was lightweight, stiff and competitive on price so we could compete with the established big players” Gareth explained in a recent interview at the Cycle Division’s showroom just off Junction 28 of the M1.

These wheels with the big Cero labels on are popping up all over the country on the wheels of riders in sportives and races and have even been seen on the bikes of pros like Russell Downing. They have also been well received in reviews.
“We have had some great reviews like one in Cycling Weekly from former tech editor Mike Hawkins who I raced with and trust that he knows what he is doing. He gave them a 10 out of 10 in a group test against some big players”.

That critical acclaim, along with being light and at a good price point, has helped them fly out the door of the Cycle Division showroom. The Cero wheel is still a very new brand fighting for market share after having been in development for only three years and in 2015, the range has four models in clincher form only.

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They did have some tubular models in the range but with the improvement of clincher tyres across the board means that they were getting less and less demand for the tubular version. So, with the weight of clinchers becoming more in line with what you would expect from a tubular, they decided to focus on the clincher market.

It helps they have a good relationship with Cambrian UK (Continental tyre distributors in the UK) and work closely with them. It will also help customers in 2015 as the word is that the Cycle Division will be giving away a free set of Conti tyres with every set of Cero wheels. Watch this space on that one!

The Cero brand was initially launched with the AR30 wheel with a 30mm deep section aluminium clincher rim which can be used across disciplines; road, time trial, track and cyclo-cross.

The Cycle Division then developed the 24mm aluminium clincher rim based wheel (AR24), with a more entry level price point to try and hit that part of the market. A pair of these wheels is just £179 (at the time of writing) and the weight is pretty good as well at just 1545 grams when your average weight for an entry level wheel can be as much as two kilos.

The Cero AR24 hit the sweetspot of the market and was so popular it quickly sold out and Cycle Division are now waiting for the 2015 stock to come in. The original AR30 was also massively popular as well with the price point of £379 tempting many buyers to get a set of light wheels (1395 gms).

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Team testing of the wheels ensures that when the Cero wheels come to market they are thoroughly tested. This is Lizzie Holden on her way to a Silver medal in the Junior Women’s RR title at Ryedale in 2014.

“The big benefit we have with our wheels, especially the alloy ones, is the weight of them” explained Gareth who only a few years ago was racing in Premier Calendar level events on the road so knows his bikes and what makes them fast.

The Cycle Division though also have carbon wheels with two new carbon wheels for 2015; a 25mm carbon clincher (RC25) and a 45mm (RC45) wheel. “The two big changes from the one wheel we had in the range this year, is we are going for a wider profile so less of the V and more a U shape so it’s more aerodynamic and stiffer. The rim can also take a wider tyre which is more commonly used nowadays as they are proven to roll faster and be more comfortable”.

The RC45 will retail for £799 (for a pair) and the RC25 between £699 and £749. The RC25 will be around 1350 grams, so it’s a lightweight crit stroke climbing wheel while the RC45 is an aero everyday road racing wheel which weighs 1550g (front & rear) for well under a thousand pounds for a pair.

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The big bonus in the new Cero 2015 carbon wheels is a new technology in the braking surface to allow heat dissipation to prevent heat build up which you can get with carbon clinchers. This can cause warping or rims to heat up which can result in extreme cases of tyres being ‘blown’ off.

“The partner that we work with have this technology from the electronics industry that they build into the breaking surface” explained Gareth. “It’s like a very thin wire mesh which effectively helps dissipate the heat so braking improves and the heat tolerance is drastically improved as well which as far as we are aware is a first in the industry”.

Gareth has helped develop the wheels from the start. “It was my project from the off with the AR30 and then the carbon wheels which was a bit more of a challenge. The development of the latest two wheels has been a year plus in the making. I’ve been riding them in very foul whether conditions and mixed terrain. I took them to the Alps with some friends and we gave them a real testing on the descents so we were confident with the performance and reliability”.

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Giving the wheels an almighty thrashing is professional rider Russell Downing

Working hand in hand with carbon wheels are special compound brake pads as well which the Cycle Division provide with a set of wheels. “The new technology in the latest wheel sets means you don’t necessarily need to use a carbon brake pad” Gareth explained. “In fact, you can use a brake pad meant for aluminium wheels although we will still recommend and provide the carbon ones with the carbon wheels”.

“The challenge is if you puncture and someone sticks an alloy wheel in your bike and you get some alloy shards in your brake pad surface and then, when you put a carbon wheel back in, you can make a mess of them”.

Wise words from Gareth for those with carbon wheels in their bikes!”

More than just a rim
The Cero wheels are however more than just a rim. There are the spokes and hubs as well and each wheel is hand assembled to create the very special wheels bearing the Cero brand.

“We use Sapim CX-Ray spoke with internal nipples (carbon wheelsets) and our 298g Cero hub set” on three of the wheelsets” says Gareth. “The Sapim CX-Ray spoke is a top end product from one of the biggest brands in the industry and are matched with the lightweight hub with sealed bearings.”

“Building a high end wheel is about finding a rim manufacturer that can provide exactly what we want and matching it to the spokes and hubs. We’ll go through several manufacturers to find the ideal one and we’ll get prototype samples for me and the team to test them”.

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“The RST Racing team had some samples for example and had issues with the rims and so we declined to use that manufacturer. The team is a good test bed for us and the development wheels get a really good work out”.

“The CX Ray elliptical spoke provides the wheel with its tensile strength which is fantastic” says Gareth. “In 2015, the carbon rims on the RC45/RC25 wheels will also have internal nipples to increase the ‘aeroness’ of them. Despite the cost of each spoke, we don’t compromise on them as that is what gives the wheel its tension and allows it to be stiff and rigid to allow that power transfer to the road.”

Finally, not only do customers get a great set of light and value for money wheels, they also get a set of lightweight hollow cro-mo qr’s, valve extenders, carbon brake pads (for the carbon wheelsets), rim tapes and three spare Sapim CX-RAY Spokes (not the AR24which comes with DT spokes). The wheels are also 9/10/11 speed compatible for Shimano, SRAM and Campagnolo cassettes.

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