Submitted by
RBowles
a Weekend Warrior
from Roanoke VA USA
Date Reviewed: October 31, 2010
Strengths: Frugal pricing. I imagine they were selected by cannondale to get my bike within a certain price range.
Weaknesses: Retrued twice in 2 months.
Bottom Line:
Good for beginners, but they don't seem to hold up well to a lot of rock gardens and small drops. I finally tacod the rear wheel off a tiny 1 foot jump.
Similar Products Used: I have the same wheels on my diamondback
Bike Setup: Cannondale Rize Four
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Submitted by
derailin_palin
a Weekend Warrior
from SF, CA
Date Reviewed: November 27, 2009
Strengths: Relatively light, reasonably tough, plenty of spokes to keep it durable. At around 2kg they climb well for a budget XC/Trail wheelset. I'm not the smoothest rider, I ram into curbs, roots, rocks etc and wheels are fine. Flex? Don't really notice it on the trails, maybe only on technical rock garden stuff where the wheel is getting side to side a lot. Par for the course in this price range, it seems.
Weaknesses: The rim does flex a bit. Last time I trued up the wheels the spoke tension was noticeably high or low in a few spots. The Formula hubs are sealed loose ball, but the rear hub adjustable cone won't stay tight, so the hub develops a bit of play/knock after a few rides and I have to tighten it up again. They get pretty rough and grindy if you don't keep them clean, but I'd rather be riding then repacking my hubs all the time so I wish they had cart bearings.
Bottom Line:
I'm a 170lb rider doing mostly XC and a bit of downhill. The biggest jump/drop I have done on these is probably not more than 2 feet and the wheels are absolutely true. I've only had to true them once over several dozen of rides. The spokes are not evenly tensioned all the way around, so I imagine that I ever get around to 6' drops the rims will taco.
For the money they are light weight great look rims with OK hubs. An AM wheelset for the same price will be 2 lbs heavier. An XC wheelset with 200g less weight will cost $200 more. If only the hubs were cartridge instead of loose ball.
Overall, these are great for XC and trail, and they will survive more aggressive riding AM unless you are doing technical freeride/DH type stuff.
Bike Setup: Sette Flite AM, 6" front/rear travel. All Mountain 1 fork.
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Submitted by
The Piper 317
a Cross Country Rider
from Quincy, MA USA
Date Reviewed: May 7, 2009
Strengths: Price
Weaknesses: Nothing yet
Bottom Line:
I am a big rider at 6'6" and well lets just say heavier then I should be. I put these wheels through the ringer yesterday and they held up quite well. As other people have said, not sure what stiffness is or rigid but these wheels performed really well yesterday.
Similar Products Used: Mavics that came with my bike
Bike Setup: 2007 Specialized FSR XC comp
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Submitted by
JMCFRISCO
a Weekend Warrior
from Frisco, TX
Date Reviewed: March 15, 2009
Strengths: Not sure yet how these will perform, as it has been raining here in Texas...trails are too soggy to ride. I had a professional wheel builder recommend these rims and also assemble them with my old hub. If you dont hear back from me, then assume these rims did the job. I paid $30 plus labor for the rear rim.
Weaknesses: beefy rim which comes with some extra weight.
Submitted by
crash
a Cross Country Rider
from North Carolina
Date Reviewed: October 28, 2008
Strengths: good set for entry into sport. relatively cheap set for discs. reasonably strong given proper maintenance. very easy to hammer back into shape in the field like a barbarian. they look cool.
Weaknesses: kinda heavy for true xc but hey who's counting. consistently needs tensioning and truing. wheels flex on tech rides, not very comforting esp if you are 200+. also had several mystery flats until i discovered a sharp manufacturing defect in seat of the rim, sanded it down and no more problems. made the mistake of hitting a dual course with these rims and bought it hard after the front wheel collapsed to form a 90 degree angle around my face.
Bottom Line:
Not a bad wheelset, great for beginners but also not the best. Like the label says xc --> can barrel through most tech rides with subsequent maintenance but not designed for much else.
Similar Products Used: only two other sets both of which were WTB and were on par with what is to be expected.
Bike Setup: generic hardtail with comp fork, discs, klicker peds, + a helmet nothing special except it's 22"
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Submitted by
Sam Hakosem
a Cross Country Rider
from Jerusalem, Israel
Date Reviewed: June 13, 2008
Strengths: OK for relaxed cross country riding.
Weaknesses: Too weak for down hillers or extreme riders. Especially if you weigh more than 200 pounds.
Bottom Line:
I purchased the B17 and the WTB speedisc wheelset in it, because the bikes are supposed to be "strong" and are characterized as "Trail/Aggressive". After some ~500 miles cross country riding, I went on my first real extreme single. Unfortunately the rim got twisted beyond repair.
Strengths: Good rim to get you rolling, i only bought becuase i ran out of money for my freeride rig i was building and needed a cheap set to get be going.
Weaknesses: well, im pretty sure if you were only xc riding they would be fine, but i am not an xc rider, so it is kind of my fault for not buying a better rim for the job. but, anyways, they are litterally like rubber on anything more than 6 feet. and on technical trails you can feel flex. The front was the first to go, i went off an 8 foot ladder bridge drop to a landing, and the rim totally tacoed and sent me over the bars and into a planterbox (it was in my buddies back yard) since i have replaced the front one with a loco wheel, it has been great. and the rear has never stayed in true for more than a ride. currently i am still using it waiting for it to break to replace it. it has about 6 flat spots, and is bent two ways. i have straightened it twice, and it is still going. the only real abuse the rear got was landing to flat off of a 5 foot kicker. overall i think these rims would be great for any xc or all mountain riding.
Bottom Line:
Great if you just want to get out and ride with disc brakes for cheap, dont expect to do anything over 6 feet with out damaging the wheels. but the price is right
Weaknesses: Constant need of truing, and had grommet for one spoke tear out after just 2-3 weeks of bendi.., I mean, riding. The spoke was not near being taught. No offense- these are OE on a bike I bought just to upgrade, but these suck.
Bottom Line:
Upgrade or you will be browsing the Public Library under '...You and your Nipples'.
Strengths: cool looking, only quality, easy to tryue, held up ok under 250# load thus far
Weaknesses: a bit heavy, coarse edges, coarse hubs
Bottom Line:
what do you expect on a stock bike at a $600 price point?
Exactly what these are: a good step above Wal-Mart quality, but still coarse machine-built wheels. looks very cool, all black, cool stickers. wheels were a bit out of true new (what cheap new wheels aren't) but were easy to true and have held up fine since then (2mo frequent use).
Only odd thing on mine was a few mystery flats, looked like snakebite, but after the last one, i found several rough edges on the INSIDE of the rim which were wearing through the tube! odd. a bit of sandpaper fixed it.
WTB used to be an offbeat, hi-quality brand. Unfortunate but true: they're now a mainstream, lo to mid-quality brand trading on their image and name recognition.
if you need a new set of wheels don't pay over $100 for a pair of these. That said, they're quite workable.
Submitted by
ramilcp
a Weekend Warrior
from Whittier, CA
Date Reviewed: March 12, 2006
Strengths: Strong, smooth, and dependable.
Weaknesses: Heavy.
Bottom Line:
These are my first disc only wheelset and for the price I paid for them, they've been great. I haven't had to true them since building the bike and putting it through its paces. They are on the heavy side, but for my heavy frame, it suits me just fine.
Strengths: I have done 20000km on this wheelset only damage, 2 spokes, freebody replacement, new balls and grease. I bought them second hand!! Last forever if u treat them right
Bike Setup: Yeti Kokopelli with XTR,XT,Easton EA70,Fox 100 RLT,Chris King,Avid,Blackspire,Sram, WTB saddle,tires and wheels.
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Submitted by
Gary Artis
a Cross Country Rider
from Woodland Hills, CA
Date Reviewed: December 31, 2005
Strengths: Relatively inexpensive and durable.
Weaknesses: Rear hub failed right out of the box.
Bottom Line:
After hundreds of hours of heavy use in all conditions, these wheels are about the only original parts remining on a bike that cost less than $600. After properly lubricating and adjusting the hubs, and properly truing and tensioning, these wheels have been great. Though a little heavier than I would prefer, I plan to use them until they wear out.
Submitted by
Bill
a Cross Country Rider
from North Carolina
Date Reviewed: May 22, 2005
Strengths: Very durable XC wheel. Strong if built right. Great for the price.
Weaknesses: A little heavy, but not for their price.
Bottom Line:
These wheels will handle very aggressive cross country riding for a long time. If you are doing "drops" on these wheels, you need either need to really know what you're doing or get a freeride wheel made to be abused. These are, like the name says, XC wheels. Having two sets and logging two years on them, I can say they will handle the miles on the trail. Do yourself a favor and buy them from a bike shop so you are sure they are built/tensioned right. If you order a bike online and pull it out of the box and ride it, don't be surprised when you taco a wheel. You can buy an $800 set of wheels,and if their not built/tensioned right,trash them on your first ride. Bottom Line: use common sense/proper maintenance and these wheels will go for years
Strengths: they are easy to straighten out in the field (by jumping on them)!
Weaknesses: they bend and twist to easily.
Bottom Line:
just not strong enough. I know that they arent flash and expensive but they should be able to handle a 75kg rider off a 3ft drop without buckling to an unrideable state (twice)?! Broke my wrist too.I am confident that stronger rims\wheels wouldnt have given way and sent me flying! Maybe good for entry level work. Wtb is running a pimp my ride competition. Next time i screw that wheel ill send in before and after photos for my entry.
Submitted by
Greg
a Cross Country Rider
from Berkeley, CA
Date Reviewed: March 13, 2005
Strengths: They look okay
Weaknesses: Please read below
Bottom Line:
These wheels are a disgrace to mountian biking. After reading the reviews on this site, I decided to get a pair as semi-disposable wheels. After 20, maybe 25 miles, the cassette body dismantled itself from the hub. What more can I really say? I blew up a new rear wheel after 25 cross country miles on a full suspension bike, and I weight 180lbs. I will try to send these back to WTB, and hopefully amend my report, but do yourself a favor and do not buy these wheels.
I'm new to the game and just got back from my 4th "serious" ride. I've got a Marin hardtail with WTB SpeedDisc Pro XC wheels, and my rear wheel is already bent bigtime. Are these n Read More »
just want your opinion on these. my buddy had em on his stock jamis durango. he said that they were not very strong. i am also looking at a jamis durango so im wondering if they ar Read More »
