There's a rim maker called Korima, but
it seems they don't get much recognition lately, so
I'm going to write about why I think Korima is amazing.
Korima could be called the godfather of carbon rims.
Not only carbon rims, but they were releasing disk wheels in 1988
and baton wheels in 1990, which shows they're a real veteran brand.
Campagnolo's original Bora rims, Zippé's C416, and
Ambrosio's carbon rims are all Korima OEM products.
They're strong against buckling and heat, and back in the day,
if you wanted a trouble-free carbon rim, Korima was the only choice.
But you don't see them much anymore these days.
Maybe it's because they don't get much exposure in pro team sponsorships. What a shame...
I really like Korima rims, so I have a few. One day I got an urge to own a Korima 12
and asked my distributor about stock.
(Korima 12 refers to the 12-hole version of Korima's Aero rim.
It's discontinued now. If you want carbon spokes, there is a 12-hole version.)
It turned out that the Aero 12H was already discontinued at that point,
but they said "we might have one." Might have one?
Apparently, they'd once sold one to a shop, but that shop couldn't get the runout out—
there was wobble from the start—so it got returned. They had just that one unit.
"Just make it work for me," I said, and when the Korima 12 arrived,
I thought "how bad could it possibly be?" and the runout was fixed right away.
So this is the genuine, honest-to-goodness last Korima 12 in existence,
arriving in my hands years after discontinuation through this roundabout journey.
This type of Korima hub is unusual for a complete wheelset in that it uses
kinked spokes. And did you notice? This wheel uses inpoke radial lacing.
I'm pretty sure Korima is the only company that's made complete wheelsets
with inpoke-compatible hubs.
↑Korima switches between fine-weave 3K carbon and coarse-weave 12K carbon
depending on the model. This one's 12K. The 12K is more recent,
and it came out around the same time they discontinued the Aero 12H.
I'm pretty sure the Cosmic Carbon Ultimate rim is also made by Korima.
If this wasn't Korima, I'd almost expect them to sue—it looks that identical.
Being a spoked wheel, there's some spoke projection.
But 12H has fewer spokes than almost anything else except for the Rollapf Prima's 10H,
so you can really feel the wind channeling effect. Or rather, I should say it really deflects wind noise well.
But even with that noise-deflecting quality, it loses to the baton wheel.
The blades fit perfectly into the rim width,
so in terms of frontal projected area, it's the ultimate wheel.
But Korima's amazingness doesn't end here. More coming soon...
it seems they don't get much recognition lately, so
I'm going to write about why I think Korima is amazing.
Korima could be called the godfather of carbon rims.
Not only carbon rims, but they were releasing disk wheels in 1988
and baton wheels in 1990, which shows they're a real veteran brand.
Campagnolo's original Bora rims, Zippé's C416, and
Ambrosio's carbon rims are all Korima OEM products.
They're strong against buckling and heat, and back in the day,
if you wanted a trouble-free carbon rim, Korima was the only choice.
But you don't see them much anymore these days.
Maybe it's because they don't get much exposure in pro team sponsorships. What a shame...
I really like Korima rims, so I have a few. One day I got an urge to own a Korima 12
and asked my distributor about stock.
(Korima 12 refers to the 12-hole version of Korima's Aero rim.
It's discontinued now. If you want carbon spokes, there is a 12-hole version.)
It turned out that the Aero 12H was already discontinued at that point,
but they said "we might have one." Might have one?
Apparently, they'd once sold one to a shop, but that shop couldn't get the runout out—
there was wobble from the start—so it got returned. They had just that one unit.
"Just make it work for me," I said, and when the Korima 12 arrived,
I thought "how bad could it possibly be?" and the runout was fixed right away.
So this is the genuine, honest-to-goodness last Korima 12 in existence,
arriving in my hands years after discontinuation through this roundabout journey.
This type of Korima hub is unusual for a complete wheelset in that it uses
kinked spokes. And did you notice? This wheel uses inpoke radial lacing.
I'm pretty sure Korima is the only company that's made complete wheelsets
with inpoke-compatible hubs.
↑Korima switches between fine-weave 3K carbon and coarse-weave 12K carbon
depending on the model. This one's 12K. The 12K is more recent,
and it came out around the same time they discontinued the Aero 12H.
I'm pretty sure the Cosmic Carbon Ultimate rim is also made by Korima.
If this wasn't Korima, I'd almost expect them to sue—it looks that identical.
Being a spoked wheel, there's some spoke projection.
But 12H has fewer spokes than almost anything else except for the Rollapf Prima's 10H,
so you can really feel the wind channeling effect. Or rather, I should say it really deflects wind noise well.
But even with that noise-deflecting quality, it loses to the baton wheel.
The blades fit perfectly into the rim width,
so in terms of frontal projected area, it's the ultimate wheel.
But Korima's amazingness doesn't end here. More coming soon...