Submitted by
Carl
a Weekend Warrior
from Colorado Springs, CO, USA
Date Reviewed: January 5, 2003
Strengths: Light, smooth, strong, good looking, low/easy maintanence, simple design. Price! $75.00 brand new, never used, including skewers.
Weaknesses: weakness? Pinned rim instead of welded...if you can call that a weakness.
Bottom Line:
I've been very impressed with these wheels. They are the same weight as my previous custom built lightweight big money wheels (4.2lbs for the pair with skewers), but somehow ride smoother and quieter. Maybe it's the lower spoke count, or radial lacing?
I'm a big guy (200lbs) and they have not needed truing yet. They also don't seem any more flexy than other wheels I've ridden in the past 10 years. They are certainly NOT a huckster/big air wheelset, but for general trail riding, or epic adventures they are perfect.
For a guy like me, who finds happiness in long (2-8 hour) rides and feeling the "flow" of the trail, these are the best wheels I've ever riden. If you can still find them..buy them.
Favorite Trail: Waldo, It's got it all! Too short? Ride more loops.
Duration Product Used: Less than 1 month
Price Paid:
$75.00
Purchased At: ebay/aardvarkcycles.com
Similar Products Used: Bontragers, and assorted custom hand built wheels.
Bike Setup: Santa Cruz Superlight (best bike of all time). Coil sprung front and rear. Ritchey post/stem, carbon bars, X-Vert fork, Icon cranks, 12/28rear 22/32/44 front, Gripshift, Avid V-brakes, 2.25 IRC Backcountry tires. The ultimate 27.5 lb 4" f/r travel trail bike!
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Submitted by
Jerry
a Cross Country Rider
from Brentwood Ca. USA
Date Reviewed: June 15, 2001
Strengths: Look great....grease guard is cool.......nice and light
Weaknesses: .....radial laced.....makes for a light wheel but makes for a weak one....when taking corners I can tell the flex is there....sideload just isn't there like a standard (strong) 3 lace
Bottom Line:
These wheels are nice and light....I've had a serious problem with them going out of true.....the front especially...it seems like after every other ride theres a loose spoke in it...man it's a drag....my mechanics are like" what the hell are you doing with it?".....man I'm just an XC rider...i don't trash my gear I try and take care of it....smooth for me is more important than bombin'...so theres no reason they should be going out of whack like that....I'm not sure if the problem is in the wheel as it might be in the build...I've had mixed advice....mabe i'll have them rebuilt and see what happens.....the bottom line is WTB makes a great product.....the price is right....if you want a cheap light wheelset....these are them.....I'll post again after I get the m bad boys rebuilt......peace out and God bless
Similar Products Used: ...replaced my CR-18/LX hub wheels....never had a problem with those though
Bike Setup: 99' RM oxygen Race (Astrid),Chris King headset,Race face lo rise and sys-stem,Z4 up front....thomson seatpost w/ selle italia gel flight titanium saddle, and time atac alium pedals
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Submitted by
RobInfo
a Cross Country Rider
from Downingtown, Pa
Date Reviewed: October 23, 2000
Strengths: Wrks flawless, looks cool, very durable.
Weaknesses: none soo far
Bottom Line:
This is an update from my previous post. These wheels have been awesome, I have not had to true them yet! The greasegard is ok, it's a little messy, I imagine that if you ride wet conditions alot, it would be valuable. Excellent durability for such a light wheelset, and of course, an excellent build job.
Similar Products Used: XT/mavic 217 (rim cracked), LX/BX3 (hub siezed).
Bike Setup: Rocky Mountain Element Race
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Submitted by
Andre
a Cross Country Rider
from San Luis Obispo, CA USA
Date Reviewed: October 19, 2000
Strengths: Looks nice, has nice decals, and comes with assembly for wheel disk brakes.
Weaknesses: **Read below.**
Bottom Line:
This wheel has the looks, but not the guts. It came with my brand new GT full suspension bike and bent itself side-ways and top-to-bottom when I was riding down a steep hill. The front suspension (Judy XC) may have been too soft and leaned over so much at this little bump, the wheel bent, front brakes locked up (Shimano V-brakes) against the inner wall of the rims (they moved there as the wheel bent so much that invited them into itself), and I just flew over the bike. Fortunately, I didn't break anything (my body that is); but wrecked my shirt and had to go to the health center on my college campus to get first aid (couldn't reach my back to clean up).
I only recommend this wheel for people riding on roads, and easy marked trails. Anything else and it won't handle well.
Submitted by
Anthony
a Cross Country Rider
from Krooklyn, NY
Date Reviewed: May 15, 2000
Strengths: Really light, eylets, new brake surface, grese guard, of course
Weaknesses: none yet
Bottom Line:
I picked these up at airbomb for $140, and they are the new 2000 stuff, silver rims & spokes. The rims now have eylets. Pretty nice and smooth for bonded (not welded) rims. The seals seem OK, but not great. A complaint is that the hubs didn't seem well packed out of the box. That's WTB's job, not the builders. The wheels seem stiff & the wheels stay straight. To previous posters complaining about the radial laced front, the current sale wheelset is 3x front and back, and is mighty stiff, even w/ my 14/15 DB spokes. As for Airbomb, Luke is my man for helping me out and getting me the wheels in time. Don't waste $$$ on Bontrager red/blues (yeah, there are sill some out there)
Similar Products Used: bontragerred/blues on xt's ritchey rocks on lx's front x221 on real
Bike Setup: Catamount MFS, Sid front & rear, XT
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Submitted by
Chris
a Cross Country Rider
from Massachusetts
Date Reviewed: April 10, 2000
Strengths: grease guard, weight, looks
Weaknesses: Front radial lacing
Bottom Line:
I too purchased these wheels at airbomb for a great price. I weigh in at around 185 and ride in the rocky northeast and found myself tightening some very loose spokes after my fourth ride (especially in the front). I've since made the decision to never buy a radial laced wheel again. No fault of the product, just my own lack of gracefulness. Anyway, LIGHT, cool looks, WTB reliablity and an awesome price sums it up. And as a bonus, the guys at airbomb are the best guys to deal with in all of bicycle e-retail.
Got these wheels from airbomb. When they arrived I thought the box only had a front wheel in it (it felt that light). So far they have been awesome. The only problem I've had is really my problem, learning to trust the 28 hole radial front. On the first few rocky descents at French Creek, I couldn't help but think about that baby folding on me. Nothing of the sort happened. After a bunch of rides with the worst I could throw at them, they are holding up fine. I had airbomb lace up a 25mm rear for a little more beef (I wiegh 180 and hit a lot of stuff). With my red salsa skewers the all black hubs (with the little read greaseguard o-ring), spokes and rims look schweet.
Submitted by
Kevin
a Weekend Warrior
from Collegeville
Date Reviewed: January 19, 2000
Strengths: Relatively easy maintenance. Available in black (rims,spokes,hubs). Light! Seem pretty strong.
Weaknesses: Silver nipples (with black rims and spokes)? Radial laced front wheel.
Bottom Line:
I got these wheels through airbomb. They are light(Front-165g, Rear-320g)! The rims are WTBs strong laserbeams and are paired with greasegaurd momentum hubs. I don't like the fact that the front wheel is radial laced as I am not a light rider. Also, for some reason, they used silver nipples which look funky with all-black wheel. Other than that the wheels kick! They have held up so far which does say a lot...
I use these wheels for training. They get a bit more abuse than my race wheels but have stoodup well. Have not had any truing problems and I'm over 200 lbs. Good economical wheelset for rec riding. Hub has the grease guard system and it works great.
