Desmond Regamaster Evo 2
Author: Kai Her - April 27th, 2024
Let’s put ourselves inside the shoes of a chef for a moment. When a recipe reaches perfection, should alterations be met? Probably, not. Right? Like pizza is good the way it is, we don’t need to add in pineapples, but sometimes, even if it seems unconventional, experimentation and revisions have to be made because it’s the key factor to innovation. So I think pineapples will not only be the uncommon topping we see on pizzas in the future.
The Desmond Wheel Co. originated from Japan in the early 1900’s. That goes to show how timeless the wheels have aged. In the year of 1995 was when the EVO was born! Such a beautiful and simple 5 spoke wheel! Do you agree?
At some time later, the wheels began further wheel production in Russia. If you have set of OG Desmond RegaMaster that is stamped “Made in Russia,” rest assured, most likely it’s authentic. Like mentioned, production was moved to Russia for a short bit before they began forging the wheel again back in motherland Japan.
A quick raw history about the wheel was its famous super low weight and impressive rigidity. Spoon Sport is all about shaving weight, so the emphasis of the Regamaster’s low weight and rigidity was parallel to Spoon. In result, the Spoon Sw388 was born, but in an anodized black coat finish. The wheel gained more popularity from the late 90’s Japanese race cars; as Japanese race circuit teams utilized the wheel on their track cars. Later, the wheel transcended to the West and it captured so much attention, even the PlayStation 1 video game: Grand Turismo 2 offered the iconic wheel on the Spoon Sport Civic.
So if something is so perfect already with a winning formula, why bother a redesign? So just leave the pizza toppings alone. It’s tough to beat a predecessor with so much history. However, with newer technology, backed up with more automotive science, alterations must be made for accommodations. Therefore, in 2017, reproduction of the Desmond Regamaster was initiated once again, but this time in a new line from the EVO, the EVO II.
I purchased my set of EVO II’s back in 2021. A few years after the reproduction have already begun. Since I was massively in love with the original Almighty Grey finish, I decided to pick my set in that finish; now not named Almighty Grey but New Almighty Grey!
My specs are 17x9.5 +38’s. Compared to the Desmond Regamaster MP’s in my tire rack, the width is just half an inch more. The EVO II is very similar to its ancestor. Not much as changed at all, and that is a huge win for me. It just makes me wonder how the wheel will evolve if the EVO III’s came out.
The EVO II’s shared similarities. Still the famous 5 spoke design with it’s super low weight of under 19 lbs is remarkable! The spokes concaves outward a few millimeters (compared to the OG’s) as it meets the hub in the center. No spacers are utilized to clear the Spoon Sport monoblocks.
With so much clearance, the wheel spins freely with no worries of it ever coming to contact to the calipers.
You can’t run a Spoon Sport pleasing wheel without Spoon accessories. Red Spoon lug nuts hit hard glued onto the New Almighty Grey color scheme.
The pictures and colors have been enhanced in Lightroom, but your eyes are not fooling you. At certain angles of how the sun reflects on the wheel, it does fashion the color into this green shade.
A side view of the S2000 next to a water fountain. I wanted to capture more photos in this setting but was soon kicked out because it was in front of a church.
The S2000 sat nice and low with the EVO II’s. Doesn’t get much better than this!
The EVO II’s are wrapped with two different pair of Falken Azenis tires. The front being RT615K+’s and the rear being RT660’s. I would like to thank Falken tires for the sponsorship again this year!
Well, that sums up my blog for this wheel. It has been my least appearance wheel to a show out of the seven sets in the garage. I debut it in Wekfest San Jose a few years back and then to Import Face Off a few months after.
After this photo session and a thorough history (http://rightman.co.jp/) Google search, I’ve learned to appreciate the wheel redesign more.
Thank you for joining me in this blog series, I am off to prepping some wings and sticks to a trip down to Fresno tomorrow for a NnovatioN BBQ and oyster fest (an event we made up filled with chowing down as much oysters as we can). Peace!
