Crankbrothers aims to blend compliance and stiffness with Synthesis wheels

Crankbrothers aims to blend compliance and stiffness with Synthesis wheels

The brand's Mello Bouwmeester and Jason Schiers talk about why they created Synthesis and how they should ride

We speak to Mello Bouwmeester and Jason Schiers about their Synthesis wheels

BikeRadar

Alex Evans

Although the Crankbrothers Synthesis wheels aren't anything new — they were released in Autumn 2018 — there are still a lot of questions about how and why their compliant front and stiff rear wheels work.

We caught up with the wheel's designers Mello Bouwmeester and Jason Schier at Sea Otter to discover how they reconciled their opposite views on the ideal wheel, in order to create a system that has bespoke front and rear wheels.

Tune in to hear the experts talk through the wheels' features.

Alex Evans

Senior technical editor

Alex Evans is BikeRadar and MBUK’s senior mountain bike technical editor, as well as a regular on our podcast and YouTube channels. Working for BikeRadar and MBUK for nearly 10 years, Alex has been living and breathing mountain bikes since he was nine years old. Competing in his first downhill race aged 11, he went on to race in DH world cups and other international events across Europe – and even represented Great Britain at the downhill European Championships. Before moving back to the UK when he landed a job as MBUK’s features editor, Alex lived in the French Alpine mountain biking hotspot of Morzine for eight years. There, he clocked up an enormous amount of riding – and broke more bikes than he cares to remember. Alex now calls Scotland’s famously gnarly and gruelling trails of the Tweed Valley home, which is where he tests kit and bikes. While once a gravity racer, Alex now rides to the tops of his descents and feels most at home on an enduro bike or eMTB. He’s no stranger to flat-out efforts, however, and isn’t shy about donning Lycra to ride cross-country, or even competing in the occasional road hill climb event. Although he’s retired from official competition, he loves a challenge, especially when it comes to trying to top his local Strava leaderboards – just for fun, of course.

  • Height: 178cm
  • Bike size: Large/480mm reach
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