Essentia 40 bridges the gap between Corima's road offerings and its gravel-specific wheelset
(Image credit: Future)
Corima has announced its latest carbon wheelset: the Essentia 40. Corima claims this wheelset has been designed to erase the borders between road and gravel, offering a bridge between Corima's high-end road racing models and the brand's gravel-specific G30.5 wheelset. The Essentia 40 is a wheelset designed to be fast and lightweight on the road while offering stability and comfort off it.
It is a hand-built carbon fibre wheelset, and one which the brand says has been developed over a period of two years alongside gravel racers and WorldTour professionals on a variety of testing terrain.
Designed and manufactured at the Corima factory in France, the Essentia 40 is an all-road, tubeless, hookless, disc brake wheelset. Weighing in at a claimed 1,600g per pair, each wheel features a 40mm depth carbon fibre rim, 24 spokes and home-mechanic-friendly external spoke nipples. Three freehub options are available, Shimano HG, Sram XDR, and Campagnolo N3W.
With an internal rim width of 23mm and an external width of 28mm, the wheels are designed to be compatible with 28mm to 50mm tyres, enabling the switch between the best road bike tyres and wider gravel tyres if your frame has the clearance.
Like Corima’s G30.5 gravel wheelset, the Essentia 40 features a hookless rim, which Corima claims allows for lower tubeless tyre pressures and increased comfort when riding off-road. The wheels carry a maximum recommended pressure rating of 68psi for a 28mm road tyre starting point. The rims are of a new all-road design featuring 3K carbon fibre and an internal aerospace foam core which is said to absorb vibrations whilst increasing durability. Corima’s R2 spoke lacing pattern is also employed, which features the 24 j-bend spokes front and rear being grouped in pairs.
Corima has also designed a new hub for the Essentia 40. Featuring a new freehub, the French manufacturer claims it is designed specifically to meet the demands of gravel riding with the ability to handle higher torque loads. The freehub features a star ratchet engagement system, with 36 teeth each for a 10-degree angle of engagement. We don’t know the sizes yet, but Corima has also fitted oversized bearings for the hub and freehub, which it claims will help improve their durability and lifespan.
Corima's new ratchet hub internals (Image credit: Future)
The new wheelset will be priced at €1,390 / US$1,590, and will be available from the Corima website and distributors worldwide from September 22.
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Tom joined the Cyclingnews team in late 2022 as a tech writer. Despite having a degree in English Literature he has spent his entire working life in the cycling industry in one form or another. He has over 10 years of experience as a qualified mechanic, with the last five years before joining Cyclingnews being spent running an independent workshop. This means he is just as happy tinkering away in the garage as he is out on the road bike, and he isn’t afraid to pull a bike apart or get hands-on with it when testing to really see what it’s made of.
He has ridden and raced bikes from an early age up to a national level on the road and track, and has ridden and competed in most disciplines. He has a keen eye for pro-team tech and enjoys spotting new or interesting components in the wild. During his time at Cyclingnews, Tom has already interviewed some of the sport's biggest names including Mathieu van der Poel, Tadej Pogačar and Alberto Contador. He's also covered various launches from brands such as Pinarello, Ridley, Specialized and more, tackled the Roubaix Challenge sportive aboard his own rim-brake Cannondale SuperSix Evo, tested over 20 aero helmets in the wind tunnel, and has created helpful in-depth buying advice relating to countless categories from torque wrenches to winter clothing.
