Gravel Grinder News: Shimano Announces GRX Carbon Wheels And GRX Limited Components

Gravel Grinder News: Shimano Announces GRX Carbon Wheels And GRX Limited Components – by Guitar Ted

Shimano has chosen this week to announce new GRX level components in conjunction with the lead-up to this coming weekend’s Unbound Gravel event. These components are sure to be the highlight of the “All Things Gravel Expo” on Thursday and Friday in Emporia. They also are releasing details on the new GRX Carbon wheel set. First off, let’s take a look at the GRX Limited componentry which will be featured on ten custom built bicycles fabricated by some of the top artisans in the custom bike field.

Shimano will have a display of ten custom made gravel bikes from builders from around the world on display at the All Things Gravel expo in downtown Emporia, Kansas from June 2nd and 3rd. Shimano will have the new GRX Limited components on each of the bikes. The debut of these components in their polished silver and brushed silver finishes celebrates the past and looks to the future of gravel riding, racing, and adventure.

Note: All individual bike photography was provided to Riding Gravel by Shimano North America. The images were taken by Kevin Fickling.

*From Mariposa Cycles in Toronto, Canada.*

*From Angel Cycle Works from A Coruña, Galicia, Spain*

*From Low Bicycles, San Francisco, USA.*

*From Speedvagen, Portland, Oregon, USA*

*From English Cycles Cottage Grove, Washington, USA*

*From Mosaic Cycles, Boulder, Colorado*, *USA*

*From Enigma Bikes, Hailsham, United Kingdom*

*From Firefly Bicycles, Boston, Massachusetts, USA*

*From Seven Cycles, Watertown, Massachusetts, USA*

Shimano GRX Limited:

Shimano released GRX in 2019 and to celebrate that dedicated to gravel group, Shimano is now making available GRX limited which features the same basic specs as GRX, but in polished and brushed aluminum. This will also tie in with some PRO Discover level bars and stems to complete the look. A flat bar version will also be available as seen on the Mosaic Cycles bike above.

Shimano says that GRX Limited will only be available as a complete set through frame builders and as an aftermarket gruppo.

GRX Carbon Wheels: To top it all off, Shimano also announced GRX Carbon wheels. GRX has a wheel set available within its range now, but it is an aluminum rimmed option only. Now GRX has a proper, carbon fiber rimmed wheel set which is more in line with the current range.

GRX Carbon wheel detail. — *Now you can get a carbon rimmed option for GRX.*

The new rims are a proper 30mm outer width/25mm inner width which is right in the pocket for tires from 32mm-50mm in width. Shimano claims the wheels are meant for all-around riding, not necessarily for the ultimate lightweight, racing purposes. So, the claimed combined weight of the front and rear GRX Carbon wheel set is a nice 1461 grams.

Detail of the rim well on the new GRX Carbon wheel set

Shimano says that the rim depth is 32mm, which Shimano feels will ride better in crosswinds for riders and lend more stability. Shimano also claims that this shallow rim depth will accelerate more quickly as well.

Hubs will feature Shimano’s long standing use of cup-and-cone ball bearings. The hubs are laced with 24 spokes front and rear. The spokes are a straight pull design.

Comments: This is a much needed development for Shimano’s gravel group set. Shimano has had wheels, of course, but nothing you could count on having what we consider proper width rims at 25mm inner rim width. Even many of Shimano’s past MTB wheels have not had that wide of an internal rim width, so seeing this out of the gate from Shimano in a carbon wheel with the GRX badge is rather refreshing.

Weight is okay, especially given that this is not a pure racing wheel set, and that Shimano tends to over-design things to ward off failures. Given Shimano’s design criteria, I think the GRX Carbon wheel set makes sense for the average gravel rider who may need a wheel set to train, race, and just have fun on without worrying about the wheel being too light and fragile for everyday use.

Shimano has set the price of the GRX Carbon wheels at $1399.00 and says that they will be available this Fall.

The limited quantities of GRX Limited will be sold to Independent Bike Dealers and frame builders as complete group sets and will only be available through those channels. The group sets are sold as a complete set only and will be extremely limited in quantity.

2×11 drop bar – $1465
1×11 drop bar – $1360
1×11 flat bar – $1015

To see this and other Shimano bicycle components, see their website here: https://bike.shimano.com/en-US/home.html

Note, images and information in this post were provided by Shimano North America. The individual custom bike images were taken by Kevin Fickling. Information provided may be updated or changed at anytime.