Riders from the team have been spotted using a new lightweight Princeton Alta rim and Tactic hub combination
Geraint Thomas and other Ineos riders at the Tour of Spain(Image credit: Tim De Waele)
Ineos Grenadiers riders have been spotted riding a new lightweight wheelset at the Vuelta A España which started on Saturday. Images of Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal caught our eye at the stage 3 summit finish which was won by Remco Evenepoel.
We couldn't help but notice the grey hubs on both rider's shallow carbon wheels which didn't appear to be their usual Dura-Ace numbers. After a little research can confirm they are the Tactic Racing TR01 hubs, which retail for a cool £1,000 per pair.
Mention Ineos Grenadiers, and Team Sky before them, and you can't help but think of the marginal gains philosophy that has been used to almost transform professional cycling. Naturally, this extends to equipment and it looks like the team wanted to shed some weight for what promises to be a very hilly Vuelta this year.
We covered Ineos Grenadiers using the rather special Lightweight wheels at the Tour de France on their rim brake equipped Pinarello's back in 2019. It's no secret that disc brake-equipped bikes are now a little heavier than their rim-braked predecessors for various reasons, but one area that is still guaranteed to shed some weight is the wheel department. Ineos Grenadiers are clearly interested in making some gains in this area for the race's hillier stages.
Egan Bernal riding the Princeton Alta rims built onto Tactic TR011 hubs. Note what we think is the transponder mounted behind his fork leg which is perhaps for an extra aero benefit (Image credit: Tim De Waele)
Weight savings over Dura-Ace
This year we have pretty much seen the team only racing on Dura-Ace wheelsets. The Dura-Ace R9270 range is split into C36, C50 and C60 options. The model numbers refer to the rim depths of the wheels.
We have seen Ineos riders using Princeton wheels before for road races and time trials and on the track for Filippo Ganna's hour-record bike. We spotted them using Princeton wheels back in 2021 before the Tour where riders used the Peak 4550 wheels which featured a striking sinusoidal - or wavy - rim profile.
The team appears to have gone all out in the search for lightweight at this year's Vuleta, however, and have paired the Princeton Alta 3532 rim with the Tactic TR01 hubs. A combination we haven't seen before in competition. It's an expensive pairing with the team's spec coming in at $3,950 on the Princeton website, which offers several different hub options.
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We reached out to Princeton for some more info and understand the rim and hub set combination creates a 1,143-gram wheelset, comfortably putting it into the ballpark for the best lightweight wheelsets. Given the lightest and shallowest Dura-Ace options are the 36mm C36 in a tubeless version, and come in at a claimed 1,350 grams, the replacement produces a tidy 207-gram saving.
Princeton told us the wheels are a combination of the lightest rim and disc brake hubset they offer and will likely be used for climbing stages only. Princeton also told us the Blur TT disc wheels also use specially manufactured Tactic hub shells and Tactic internals.
The £1000 Tactic Racing TR01 hubs come in either 24 or 28 straight pull spoke counts (Image credit: Tactic Racing)
Who are Tactic?
If you haven't heard of them before, Tactic Racing is actually an offshoot of Princeton Carbonworks and represents the brand's own foray into hub manufacturing, though you can spec a range of hubs with your Princeton rims.
The Tactic hubs are some of the very lightest disc brake hubs around weighing in at a claimed 215 grams per set, 64 grams for the front hub and 151 grams for the rear. Manufactured in Germany from aerospace-grade aluminium alloy, the hubs are available in either 24 or 28-spoke configurations and have no rider weight limit, something you don't always see with hyperlight components.
According to the Tactic website, the hubs use ABEC 7 ceramic bearings with Tungsten Disulfide low friction coating which is something the brand says the hubs have in common with the Mars Rover. Some of the £1,000 retail price may be explained by the manufacturing process with the hubs apparently taking a combined three hours to machine on a five-axis CNC mill.
The rear hub drive is taken care of by what Tactic calls the ConicalFace Gear which is also manufactured from aluminium. If you are familiar with other drive ring engagement systems such as DT Swiss, it's along similar lines visually but uses a 45-tooth conical-shaped ring which Tactic says has the largest engagement surface area and the ability to self-centre based on the concentric nature of the cones. Tactic also claims that the aluminium - not steel - drive rings will not experience any accelerated wear thanks to their conical design.
The Tactic ConicalFace Gear freehub body mechanism uses aluminum drive rings (Image credit: Tactic Racing)
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.
