The CrankBrothers booth at Sea Otter Classic was buzzing about their new Cobalt cross-country wheelset. Except for the colorblind, people will instantly recognize the anodized cobalt blue rim on the trail. In April the Cobalt goes into limited production and then ramps up to full production in May and June. If you are not an XC hamster, CrankBrothers is releasing an all-mountain version with the same hub, but with a beefier rim and orange in color to match their other all mountain products. Look for the all-mountain version to start shipping during the summer.

But the good stuff is what you can’t see. CrankBrothers is especially proud of the rear hub . Where most hubs are 17mm in width, the Cobalt rear hub is built around a hollow 24mm axle. The oversized hub contains 2 pairs of sealed cartridge bearings and pawls that engage with only 6 degrees of rotation. That is really fast engagement when turning the pedals and getting over the technical portions of a trail. Plus, these hubs are built to be reliable and long lasting. The link will take you to CrankBrothers’ product page for the Cobalt wheelset. Suggested retail for the Cobalt XC wheelset is $1,000.

For those who don’t need the big bling of the Cobalt, you can purchase the snappy skewers separately. The “split qr” quick release skewer is designed to have the clamping force of a gorilla without requiring the strength of a WWF wrestler to close and open the skewer. The split design makes it way easier to open and close the skewer.

Hopping into the adjustable height seatpost market is CrankBrothers’ Joplin. Two versions are available. One with a cable and remote switch for mounting on the handlebar and a second version with a lever underneath the saddle that eliminates the cable.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 20th, 2008 at 11:14 am and is filed under Expo Coverage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.