American Classic Sprint 350 wheelset £439.99

The latest wheelset to roll down the corridors at RCUK comes from a firm long absent from the UK market. With previous difficulties resolved by new distributor Eurobike.uk.com, the full range of American Classic products is now available this side of the pond and, judging by the feel of the stuff we have seen so far, should make a fair old splash.

First up is the Sprint 350 wheelset, which, as its name implies, boasts a rim weighing a mere 350g. This alone should be enough to excite interest amongst wheel enthusiasts, since few aluminium clincher rims get near that. Furthermore, the wheels are hand-built and finished and intended for all-round use while the rear has a rear freehub design unlike anything else on the market.

In 700c format the wheels are built with 28 radial 14/15g spokes at the front and 32 laced three-cross at the rear. The front hub is AC’s Micro 58 and the rear the RD205, giving a claimed all-up weight of 1410g.

One spoke per wheel is a separate colour, white in the case of the Alphatype White version with white rim and red for the Road Wave Black. Aluminium nipples to AC founder Bill Shook’s own design ensure that nipple fatigue cannot happen. The wheels are supplied with cromoly Q/R skewers.

The real excitement surely has to be at the back, where the freehub body uses Shook’s patented six pawl cam-actuated engagement system for instant, absolutely reliable drive. The system uses a steel diaphragm cam plate to move all six steel pawls simultaneously, either to engage or freewheel. The tip of a single coil spring rides a track in the plate with 24 depressions; engaging with any of them, it turns relative to the hub. Angled slots in the plate thus move the pawls at the same time. It’s an ingenious, lightweight and very sturdy system unavailable anywhere else.

The same is true of the steel-reinforced aluminium freehub body, which won’t get indents when used with individually-mounted sprockets since the steel inserts take the pressure on the splines. The hub rides on a fat 17mm aluminium spindle with cartridge bearings adjustable for play.

Options include ceramic bearings, titanium Q/R skewers, Sapim CX-Ray spokes and a PowerTap rear hub.

Road test ride coming soon.