Our “Trial by Mud” continued this past week, culminating with some badass cyclocross racing this weekend here in Portland. There are a whole bunch more HiFi wheelsets out there now — covering most of the categories, too, which is awesome.
HiFi riders will, undoubtedly, have bad results along the way — but this weekend came up all roses across the board. Aaron Coker started things right, winning yet another Clydesdale Cross Crusade race at Barton Park on Sunday — proving both the durability and performance of the MixMaster aluminum tubulars. No mean feat for a lightweight, 1400g wheelset. Other highlights included Aaron Even claiming ninth place in the Masters C race, Devin Bailly snagging 15th in Masters B, Aunika Miranda piloting her Extended Play 39mm carbon tubulars to third place in the Junior Girls, and Erin Lolich battling her way to third in the Women’s C race.
On Saturday, HiFi’s own Brian Gerow (second in the SSCX race) and Josh Liberles (second in the Elite race) represented well at the super-muddy and exceedingly difficult Fazio Farms Part Deux race put on by our Team Ironclad buddies. And Ironclad’s recently upgraded Robbie Carver took a hard-fought fourth place in the Elites after flatting late in the last lap.
Product Updates
Cyclocross racing, and fall/winter riding in inclement conditions are great proving grounds. We’ve quickly accumulated a ton of miles and ride and race days on our products, and both our carbon and aluminum rims have been holding up great. So far there’s been one bent rim due to an impact — and that’s out of about 20 wheelsets being raced every weekend.
Our Fidelity hubs have been performing really well thus far, too. We’re glad for the recent spate of mud — nothing will accelerate bearing failure more than soupy conditions, and if there’s a problem with longevity, we want to know about it and fix it. Count on us for transparency and doing the work to make a product that will perform and last.
More to Come
Stay tuned for a recap of the tremendous season that the Raleigh-HiFi team based in Seattle has put together thus far. And our wheels are spinning their way out of the Northwest too — don’t be surprised to see some irresistible hoops laying down tracks on roads and trails coast to coast soon.