The Partington R-Series 31/31 profile wheels are a completely new addition to the Australian brand's range of high-performance road wheels. Like its stablemate, the 39/44 profile Partington, the 31/31 delivers performance across the board, but given its slimmer profile and lighter weight, it excels when the road tips up - a wheel to steal the KoM.
Like the 39/44, the 31/31 is built entirely in-house at Partington's impressive production facilities in Geelong, Australia. It features the same full carbon hub as the 39/44 and the same smooth-running CeramicSpeed bearings.
Our original description for the R-Series 39/44 wheels said that looking at them up close brings the wow factor, but getting them on your bike blows your mind. And we're pleased to say that the R-Series 31/31 wheels match their stablemate wow for wow. Expect arrestingly quick acceleration, ease at speed and a confidence-enhancing stiffness that leaves you in no doubt that Partington has few challengers when it comes to real-world performance.
If you're new to Partington, one element that separates its wheels from other brands is a revolutionary spoke and hub design. Rather than connecting from rim to hub on either end, Partingon spokes go rim to rim, utilizing a unique U-shaped design, cradling around the hub. This creative approach eliminates the common pressure (and therefore failure points) of traditional wheels with uniform tension throughout the entire length of the spoke. It also allows the use of unidirectional carbon instead of common steel or alloy. Not only is this system lighter and stiffer, but it also enhances the tunability of the wheel system as a whole.
Partington's hybrid composite hub features channels for each spoke to wrap around, eschewing the traditional flange. This provides a huge surface area for the spokes and hubs to interface while reducing the overall mass and surface area.
Despite their understated appearance, the Partington's rims are equally feature-rich. Utilizing an aerospace foam center across each profile, the carbon rims are impressively strong, especially given their ludicrously low weight.
While hookless is all the rage, Partington has built the R-Series rims with a more traditional hooked bead to ensure riders can still enjoy their favorite lightweight open tubular tires, should they choose to use them. Even with those hooks, the internal channel is an impressive 21mm wide.
