Cadex claims its latest wheel/tyre system, the Max 50 combines exceptional aero performance, high stiffness and ultra-light weight, with its claimed weight 1,290g including valves and tape for the 50mm deep wheelset.
It’s designed to be used with Cadex’s new Aero tyre, which has 64 slots in its tread that bear a striking resemblance to those in the Continental Aero 111 tyre.
60g lighter, 5.4% stiffer, 2.18 watts more aero
The Max 50 wheelset is the successor to Cadex’s Ultra 50 wheelset, launched in 2022, and shaves around 60g off that wheelset’s weight while increasing claimed lateral stiffness-to-weight by 3.2% for the front and 14.3% for the rear wheel.
According to Jeff Schneider, global head of product and marketing for Cadex: ‘With the Max 50, we focussed on how speed actually feels and performs in real riding conditions. By engineering the rim, spokes, and hub as a single system, we were able to reduce drag, increase efficiency, and improve responsiveness in a way riders can feel immediately.’
With the brand’s Aero tyre in 28mm width, Cadex claims a 2.18 watt advantage over its Ultra 50 wheelset.
The Max 50’s carbon hub flange is made thinner and is bonded to the spokes, as with the Syncros Capital SL wheelset. Cadex claims that the design decreases turbulence at the wheel’s centre.
But whereas the Syncros wheelset is a fully monocoque design with the spokes also fused to the rim, the Max 50’s Super Aero carbon spokes have hidden titanium nipples, allowing them to be trued.
The Max 50 uses Giant’s Dynamic Balanced Lacing, with an increased bracing angle and slight differences in spoke length and tension between leading and trailing spokes in each wheel. This is claimed to even out when riding, making for a stiffer wheel. The front wheel contains 16 and the rear 24 spokes.
Cadex claims that the integrated spokes and hubs, along with its Dynamic Balanced Lacing, deliver a 5.4% increase in the wheel’s lateral stiffness over the Ultra 50 wheelset. There’s a 48-tooth ratchet freehub in the rear wheel, with Shimano, SRAM XDR and Campagnolo N3W freehub options available, while the wheels turn on ceramic bearings.
Cadex’s rim is hookless, bucking the trend for wheelmakers to revert to hooked rims, as in the Enve SES 4.5 Pro, for example. The 22.4mm internal rim width, although not groundbreaking, is in line with the move to wider rims on newer wheelsets. Cadex says the wheelset is compatible with tyres from 25c to 32c sizing.
Cadex offers a lifetime warranty and five year incident replacement for the wheels’ original registered owner.
Matching Cadex Aero tyre
The Max 50 wheelset is launched alongside a matching new Cadex Aero tyre. This includes 64 grooves in the shoulders that are similar to those in the Continental Aero 111 front tyre, although that tyre has 48 grooves. Cadex claims they’ve been shown by its wind tunnel studies to reduce drag by 0.76 watts per wheel.
The tyre is said to be 55g lighter than its predecessor at 220g in 28c and 280g in 30c width and 2.8 watts faster overall. It has a wider, taller profile, and a new, lighter 240 TPI casing, but still includes the Race Shield puncture protection of other Cadex tyres.
Interestingly, while Continental found that its Aero 111 tyre provided the greatest aero gains when used on the front wheel, Cadex hasn’t published any data to suggest that its new Aero tyre’s performance is different front to rear.