The ability to run tubeless with standard 32h hubs; Mustang Tubeless rims can be built up like traditional rims and used as tubeless if strips and valves are installed. These rims are compatible with all known tubeless tires on the market, or can be used with standard rimstrip or the sealing strip with standard tires with tubes.
Submitted by
Squash
a Cross Country Rider
from Sioux City, IA Date Reviewed: September 2, 2009
Favorite Trail:
the one I'm on.
Duration Product Used:
2 Years
Price Paid:
$55.00
Purchased At:
The shop I work at.
Strengths:
Solid construction, reasonable weight, simple tubless set up.
Weaknesses:
not pretty, the finish and weld aren't all the great to look at, but they work. Pretty is as pretty does.
Similar Products Used:
Mavic 719 w/stans conversion
Bike Setup:
Stumpjumper FSR
Bottom Line:
These rims are not pretty, but as above, pretty is as pretty does. I built these wheels personally by hand, laced the rims to a set of Hope XC hubs with DT Comp spokes and alloy nipples. Total weight was 1726g. Not bad for the price of the components. The wheel built up very nicely, they were surprisingly round out of the box and required minimal truing and run out adjustment. They've proven to be quite stiff and durable for an XC wheel. In the two years I've been riding them I've had 0 problems. Yes tires can be a bit tough to get seated, and some tires are difficult to get on the rim. But I've found that to be true with some tubed tire and rim combinations as well. Ever try to get any tire on a Sun Ryhno lite rim? I have run these wheels tubeless with the Bontrager rim strip and valves, with Maxxis Advantages, Kenda Nevegals, Continental Mountain King and Vertical Pros, and Panaracer Fire XC Pros, all kevlar beads with no problems. The bead hook of the rim is UST standard and quite agressive. It holds both UST and standard tires well. I've never had a burp or a roll off when reasonable tire pressuer is used and maintained. And I've found them to be an ideal wheel for running standard tires tubeless, even better than a "ture" UST wheel. They can be tough to get a tire evenly seated on the rim. However I've found the trick is to use a compressor, and to slowly push the pressure up to as high as 60 psi until the bead pops into place, then deflate to a sane pressure. This may have to be done two or three times to get a new never before mounted tire to seat completely. But once done the tire is securely held on the rim. I give them a 5 for value, but only a 3 for overall due to the not so nice finish. But peformance wise they are quite good. You can pay a whole lot more for rims that don't perform any better, they just look nicer.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
lextalionis
a Weekend Warrior
from Newark, DE Date Reviewed: February 17, 2009
Favorite Trail:
Iron Hill
Duration Product Used:
3 months
Purchased At:
Bike Line
Strengths:
Very Durable, Stay True
Weaknesses:
I don't really see any i had no problem mounting them at all
Similar Products Used:
Mavic, Ritchey
Bike Setup:
Haro Impulse rigid frame
Bottom Line:
They work well. I like them, never had a problem mounting tires.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Alex Watson
a Cross Country Rider
from chesapeake, va Date Reviewed: September 5, 2007
Favorite Trail:
buttermilk/northbank loop
Duration Product Used:
Less than 1 month
Strengths:
good looks, tubeless, light
Weaknesses:
none found so far
Similar Products Used:
mavic, alex, bontrager, ritchey
Bike Setup:
mt fuji pro
Bottom Line:
i just built these wheels today and i am running conti explorer pros on these rims. continentals are known for being hard to put on rims and everyone on this board is saying that these rims are impossible to work with but they are super easy, a tubeless rim is going to be naturally harder to get the tire mounted and seated. but so far these rims are super easy to work with. if anyone cant put tires on these rims they need to read up on how to mount a tubeless tire. oh yea, i have not rode on these tires yet so ill post another review on the ride.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Dan Paulson
a Cross Country Rider
from Alexandria Date Reviewed: July 29, 2006
Favorite Trail:
fountainhead (locally)
Duration Product Used:
Less than 1 month
Price Paid:
$150.00
Purchased At:
ebay
Strengths:
no-nonsense looks, tall sidewall, burly construction despite relatively light weight.
Weaknesses:
tall sidewall, ridiculously hard to mount even the most broken in kevlar tires, goofy tubeless seal.
Similar Products Used:
Mavic
Bike Setup:
SS with constant rotation of components
Bottom Line:
These things were a pain since the day I started using them. Trying to inflate the tubeless setup was impossible without an air compressor, and once I decided to run tubes....there was an entirely different fiasco: the center well designed to keep the tubeless tire bead in place, also decided to keep the normal tire beads in place. This has made for a terrible asymmetrical mounting hassle where the tire is virtually never inflated or mounted evenly. The ultimate half-baked solution involved doubling up the rim-tape to fill in the cell well enough to allow the bead to shift to the outer wall. What an ordeal. I am swapping these the first chance I have. I would only recommend these (maybe) to people who have a compressor and are interested only in using them for tubeless.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
John
a Cross Country Rider
from SoCal Date Reviewed: November 13, 2003
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Strengths:
Tough, stays true
Similar Products Used:
Bontrager, Shimano, Mavic, etc.
Bike Setup:
Blur with 5th Element, Fox RL100, Thomsen, King, Avid, SRAM X.0
Bottom Line:
I bought a set of wheels from Dave Thomas (Speed Dream Wheels) with these rims laced to King hubs. I've put a thousand miles on them, including places like Mr. Toad's in Tahoe, Rock Creek Canyon in Bishop and Noble Canyon in San Diego.
I thought I'd true them up this past weekend, thinking I'd been neglectful because they're my first set of disc wheels. I put the front wheel on the truing stand and spun it. I kept turning the feelers in until I finally heard some rubbing. The feelers were brushing the decals! You can't get much straighter than that.
The rear needed truing in one spot where I'd hit a boulder. It took more time getting my wheels off and on my bike than it did to actually true them.
These rims work great as part of well built wheels. That may be the key to other posters problems with them. If I switch to tubeless mode, I'll stick to the Mutanoraptors and Stans, but not tubeless tires. I'd do that no matter the rim, though.
The bottom line is I've ordered another set of wheels for my wife.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Rich
a Cross Country Rider
from Long Island Date Reviewed: August 19, 2003
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Strengths:
Machined sidewalls
Weaknesses:
Weak, weak, weak. They just do NOT stay true
Similar Products Used:
OEM Rolf Sattelites
Bike Setup:
Trek 8000 hardtail. XTR, Thompson, 'Zokki Z2 front fork.
Bottom Line:
After using these rims for 6 months now, I can say that I would NOT recommend them to my worst enemy. I had these hoops laced up to CK Classics with 14/15 spokes. Im a 140 LB, strictly XC rider. The local terrain is all sandy trails without many rocks. Jumping crickets get bigger air than I do. Still, these rim just DO-NOT stay true. The rear rim went out after one mile. Had them re-trued and then did a local 40 mile ON ROAD bike tour. At one of the tour stops, I looked at the rear rim and it was a mess. They cannot stay true ON THE ROAD!!! Before you think "it was the builder", please note that I had the wheel torn down and re-built by a second builder locally and THEN had them examined by a third builder. But the problem persists.
Bottom line: these rims are garbage. Look elsewhere.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Beland
a Racer
from Modesto Date Reviewed: July 10, 2003
Favorite Trail:
Auburn, marin, anything
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Price Paid:
$55.00
Strengths:
Great all around cross country wheel.
Weaknesses:
None known.
Similar Products Used:
Mavic 3.1, crossmax
Bike Setup:
does it matter?
Bottom Line:
for all you riders who think that you know this rim; you don't. My advice to those who have trouble with putting on tires is learn to put them on! I have used pythons, karmas, explorers all on this rim and had no trouble with any of them. The big trick though is to ride regular tubed tires tubless with stans. My favorite is pythons golds. Works purfect and you save almost a pound of weight from tubless tires. All tubless tires on any tubless rim will be hard to put on but, you do not have to go that rought.
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Submitted by
Cory
a
from St. Louis, MO Date Reviewed: February 18, 2003
Favorite Trail:
the new one
Duration Product Used:
1 Year
Strengths:
These stay true well, and work for rim or disc brakes.
Weaknesses:
One reviewer below mentioned that these rims are hard to get tires on. I work in a shop, and can get pretty much any tire on without tools. These things are impossible!
Similar Products Used:
everything standard, mavic tubeless.
Bike Setup:
2002 Kona King Kikapu, Chris King Disc wheelset with these rims, Marzocchi 2003 marathon fork, raceface adn xtr.
Bottom Line:
These rims are impossible. I had michelin tubeless tires, and i thought it was them. Then i tried IRC tubeless tires. Then i tried Hutchinson. They are all impossible. These rims are worthless.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Don
a Cross Country Rider
from Mojave CA Date Reviewed: February 1, 2003
Duration Product Used:
Less than 1 month
Strengths:
Tubeless Rims, at least dont have to worry about rim cracking at nipples like crossmax.
Weaknesses:
Sharp welds in rim, cheesy rimstrip
Similar Products Used:
Crossmax
Bike Setup:
Laced to C.K. Hubs 32 hole, Python UST Tires
Bottom Line:
These rims have poor welds in my opinion, of course braking surface is machined nicely, but inside rim the weld looks harsh, I worry about tire bead/sidewall getting ripped by it. Other than that,I can't say that I really like the rimstrip for UST but it does work, I had only minor difficulty mounting Python, much less than a tire I tried to mount on a crossmax, I used soapy water and two plastic tire levers went on with only little, just takes more technique to put on a tubeless tire. Holds air well, braking surfaces work excellent.Great value, only 4 chilis for overall because of sh!tty weld in rim.BTW King hubs laced to these rims 32hole only 40 grams heavier than crossmax,much stiffer, and wont fall apart like crossmax.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Kevin
a Racer
from Cypress, TX Date Reviewed: December 15, 2002
Duration Product Used:
3 months
Strengths:
They didn't leak air.
Weaknesses:
It is almost impossible to get tires on these rims!
Similar Products Used:
Mavic X3.1 Tubeless & Bontrager Racelite Tubeless - No problems with either of these products.
Bike Setup:
Seven "Verve" Singlespeed
Bottom Line:
These rims are now hanging in the garage as a reminder of the money I wasted on them. Long story short... it is almost impossible to put tires on these rims. Myself, and two other riding buddies bought these rims to lace up on CK hubs, and we all had EXTREME trouble mounting tires (Michelen & Serac). Due to this problem, I was worried that if I ever got a flat out on a trail, I would never been able to repair it. I sent Bontrager a very detailed letter explaining my troubles, and received no response, so now I have a good feel for their customer service... they have NONE! Bontrager - if you want you can still send me some sort of response to show that you might slightly care about your customers, or offer some sort of explanation to the problems we had with your product.
Since these rims were a waste of hard earned money & time, I want to give them a ZERO flamer - but that's not an option - so they get ONE.
To sum it up, I laced up my Chris King hubs on Mavic X3.1 rims & have had no problems (my buddies did the same, so... Mavic=3, Bontrager=0). Save yourself the frustration - buy Mavics...
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Mike
a Racer
from Tucson Date Reviewed: March 9, 2002
Duration Product Used:
Less than 1 month
Strengths:
UST rim that can be built with a standard hub
Weaknesses:
None
Similar Products Used:
Mavic Cross Max UST
Bike Setup:
Airbourne Ti Hag Single Speed with Spot 1x1 hubs, Race Face Cranks, Sid SL
Bottom Line:
I am a big fan of Tubeless tires. I've ridden my Cross Max UST for almost one year and have had absolutely zero problems. I've experimented with different tires and keep coming back to the Hutchinson Pythons. I like the tubeless system because I can run 30 - 35 PSI and get great traction and a soft ride on a hard tail. Without these tires, I would never be able to ride a hard tail. Unless you have ridden the UST, you won’t believe how much faster they roll. There is a lot of misinformation about the tubeless system. My experience has been great. I followed the instructions and use a lot of simple green soap when mounting the tires. I initially pump them up to 60 PSI so the bead seals well. They hold air and I have yet to get a flat with the Pythons. This is saying a lot since I live in the desert and have always used slime to avoid numerous flats. The tubeless tires must be self sealing. Best of all, I have NEVER had a pinch flat. I have so much confidence in these tires, that I only carry a big air on rides in case I get a slow leak. Anyway, the bottom line is I bought these rims because I wanted to ride tubeless tires on my single speed. I was told that the Bontrager had problems and would not hold air. I spoke to a factory rep and he admitted that the first rims did have an issue with the sealing strip but it had been fixed. He said they have a life time warranty and would stand behind the product. I gave them a try and I’m ecstatic. The UST are awesome for a hard tail single speed. The wheel feels stiff and true (32 spokes). I mounted the Pythons and they installed and held air without any problems. I’ve ridden these hard and so far so good. So, if you want to use your existing hubs and build up a set of tube less wheels, Bontrager offers a great alternative to the pre built wheels.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
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