Cadex has launched the Max 50 WheelSystem, expanding its flagship wheel range, which features co-moulded carbon spokes and hub flanges, to include a rim that’s 10mm deeper than that of its previous top wheel, the Max 40.
The new Max 50 represents the next evolution of Cadex aero performance, according to Giant's premium component brand, combining “ultra-lightweight efficiency with exceptional stiffness and system-level aerodynamic gains. Designed as a fully integrated rim, spoke, and hub solution, the Max 50 delivers refined race-day performance that is not only measurable in the lab, but decisive on the road.”
Weighing a claimed 1,290 grams (including valve and tape), 41 grams more than the Max 40, the Max 50 WheelSystem pairs a 50mm hookless aero rim with Cadex’s Super Aero carbon spokes integrated with a thin aero hub flange that’s designed to reduce drag and improve power transfer. Its patented Dynamic Balanced Lacing (DBL) system widens the spoke bracing angle and stabilises spoke tension under load for greater transmission stiffness compared to the traditionally configured Cadex Ultra 50 wheel, its previous deepest wheel, which doesn’t have the co-moulded components and weighs 1,349 grams. DBL braces the spokes at specific leverage angles so that the ‘pushing’ and ‘pulling’ spokes work efficiently under load. It is even more effective with carbon spokes that, unlike steel spokes, cannot stretch and de-tension under load.
The inner rim width is the same as the Max 40’s at 22.4mm, and designed to be used for best results with Cadex’s new Aero Tire, which has a taller, wider shape and a new tread pattern with 64 shoulder grooves similar in layout to the Continental Aero 111s. The casing now has 240 TPI instead of the 170 of the previous version, which ought to make it roll faster as well as perform better aerodynamically. Cadex says the new tyres save 0.76 watts per wheel in wind tunnel tests while in rolling resistance testing they are 2.8 watts per wheel faster and save up to 55 grams per wheel with a weight of 220g in the 28c size and 280g in 30c.
We spoke to Jeff Schneider, Cadex’s global head of product and marketing when the original Max 40 was launched in 2024 and he told us: “I didn’t have a budget. I was basically told it doesn’t matter what it costs, it doesn’t even matter in the first five years if it doesn’t make money… they just said, make the best wheels that you can make.” The Max 40 was a considerable number of years in the making, as he explained: “The development really started in 2015; we had been working with the Sunweb team [formerly Giant-Alpecin].”
With the press release announcing the Max 50, Schneider is quoted as saying: “With the Max 50, we focused on how speed actually feels and performs in real riding conditions. By engineering the rim, spokes, and hub as a single system, we were able to reduce drag, increase efficiency, and improve responsiveness in a way riders can feel immediately – whether they’re sprinting, climbing, or attacking on rolling terrain.”
With the Max 40 Cadex supplied competitor data relating to stiffness: in its testing Cadex claimed the Max 40 showed better front and rear wheel stiffness than the Syncros Capital SL and the Lightweight Obermayer Evo. This time there’s no competitor data included for the Max 50 – though we have reached out to ask. Instead, Cadex says the Max 50 improves lateral stiffness-to-weight by 3.2% and rear-wheel transmission stiffness-to-weight by 14.3% compared to the Ultra 50.
In aerodynamic performance, the Max 50s are 2.18 watts faster than the Ultra 50s. Interestingly, with the Max 40 Schneider told us that aerodynamics was just one of the important elements, along with low weight, and not <the> most important. He talked about efficiency as the ultimate goal, which is a combination of various factors, and the Max 50s appear to continue this philosophy. He talked about efficiency as the ultimate goal, which is a combination of various factors. The press release for the Max 50 states: “Together, the Max 50 WheelSystem and Cadex Aero Tire form a complete performance system engineered for today’s racing demands – where efficiency, control, and sustained speed matter as much as outright aerodynamic gains.”
Here’s what Scheider said about weight: “It’s not so much, hey, I have the lightest wheel, but, I have the lightest wheel where it needs to be light to make it more efficient. I would rather have an insanely efficient, insanely strong, heavier hub with a lighter rim and spoke system so that the rotating weight is less for the rider to move but also makes it lively and snappier to ride.”
In overall absolute weight terms, other wheel brands have caught up and even undercut it since the Max 40 launched, so it seems that Cadex is not claiming to be the lightest, or the most aero, but perhaps the most efficient. Ideally what we need is a unit of efficiency that gives a number to the combination of aerodynamics, weight, stiffness, stability, responsiveness, vibration absorption and rolling resistance (if we’re including the tyre in the system). You can bet someone somewhere is working on it…
Specification
- Rim material: Carbon
- Rim type: Hookless
- Suggested tire size: 700x25C – 700x32C
- Rim height: 50mm
- Rim outer width: 30mm
- Rim inner width: 22.4mm
- Front hub: Cadex R3, centerlock one-piece integrated hub and spokes
- Rear hub: Cadex R3-C48, ratchet driver, centerlock, one-piece integrated hub and spokes
- Hub compatibility: Shimano / SRAM XDR / Campagnolo N3W
- Bearing: Ceramic
- Front axle: 100x12 Thru Axle
- Rear axle: 142x12 Thru Axle
- Spokes (front): Super Aero Carbon Spoke
- Lacing (front): DBL, 16H
- Spokes (rear): Super Aero carbon
- Lacing (rear): DBL, 24H
- Nipple: Integrated titanium
- Warranty Lifetime: (registered original owner)
- Incident Replacement: 5 years (registered original owner)
- Weight without valve and tape (pair): 1250g
- Weight with valve and tape (pair): 1290g
Learn more at Cadex's website.
