International wheel producer Vittoria released a new range of bicycle race wheels that are built from graphene-enhanced composite materials. The new wheels (called Qurano) are the best wheels offered by Vittoria, and they say these are the fastest wheels in the world - all thanks to graphene.
The company explains that adding graphene to their carbon-fiber matrix built wheel rim improved the material properties by 10-30%. The graphene reduces temperature build-up, it increases spoke-hole strength and improves the lateral stiffness. Vittoria tells us that even though the Qurano wheels outperform their previous carbon-fiber wheels, they are priced the same.
Vittoria are now shipping the Qurano wheels in 10 countries, with 10 more to follow in 2015. They also plan more graphene-enhanced products in 2015.
Vittoria uses graphene materials produced by Italy's Directa Plus. Directa developed their own exfoliation process (which they call G+) that can be used to produce super-expanded graphite, pristine GNPs, water-dispersed GNPs and fine nanographite powder (all of them marketed under the G+ brand). In 2014, the company inaugurated its 30-ton graphene plant in Lomazzo, Como.