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
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.
- How does mountain bike wheel size really affect performance?
- We’ve designed the mountain bike of the future
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.
Authors
Alex started racing downhill at the tender age of 11, later going on to compete internationally representing the UK. At 19, he moved to the Alps to pursue a career as a bike bum clocking up moon-mileage riding the famous tracks in and around Morzine, France. In that time, he broke more bikes than he can remember. Alex then moved back to the UK when he landed a job working for Mountain Biking UK as their Features Editor — BikeRadar's sister title — as their features editor. Since working for MBUK, Alex's focus has moved to towards bike tech and he now wants to find out what bikes and components represent the best value for money regardless of discipline. Alex's current fleet includes his trusty commuter bike, a 2017 Marin Gestalt 3, his long term Orange Stage 6 RS enduro bike, a used and abused 2015 GT Sanction Pro, a Scott Voltage YZ dirt jump bike and a Deluxe Pro 2 BMX.
