Submitted by
wannabfast
a Weekend Warrior
from Saratoga, CA Date Reviewed: July 20, 2008
Favorite Trail:
Demo Forest
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Price Paid:
$85.00
Purchased At:
Evolution Bike Shop
Strengths:
Light, rim width and ability to run tubeless w/out a rimstrip.
Weaknesses:
Strength dependant on build.
Similar Products Used:
DT 4.2, ZTR Flow
Bike Setup:
Stumpy 120, Talas 140, x.o and Hope
Bottom Line:
Solid product. A good wheel build is required to achieve its strength potential. I'm 185 lbs and use this rim laced to a 240s disc front hub w/ dt competition spokes. The rim is reasonably sturdy, requiring occasional truing. It worked surprising well racing at Downieville XC. Evolution did a great job.
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Submitted by
Chris
a Cross Country Rider
from Houston TX Date Reviewed: April 9, 2008
Duration Product Used:
1 Year
Price Paid:
$65.00
Purchased At:
speeddream.com
Strengths:
Light
Weaknesses:
Build quality
Similar Products Used:
Stans Olympic 29er
Bike Setup:
King ISO disc hubs. Maverick SC32 fork.
Bottom Line:
29er Rim failed at the weld and the front wheel tacoed. LBS in Austin that rebuilt wheel believes manufacturing defect, and I would tend to agree. The light/cheap/strong equation needs to balance out.
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Submitted by
Derek Boyd
a Racer
from Acworth, GA USA Date Reviewed: June 6, 2007
Favorite Trail:
Oak Mountain
Duration Product Used:
Less than 1 month
Price Paid:
$700.00
Purchased At:
Richards Bicycles
Strengths:
The ZTR 355 Rims have held up well so far as I've ridden them over some fairly abusive terrain. They are stiff, Light weight, and reasonably priced. Of course being laced to King Hubs make them that much nicer!
Weaknesses:
None
Similar Products Used:
Mavic, XTR
Bike Setup:
07 Turner Flux, Fox F100X, Sram XO, Hope Mono Mini Disc Brakes, FSA K Force Mega EXO Cranks, FSA Carbon Bars/ seatpost/ stem, King Hubs/ Headset
Bottom Line:
AWSOME Wheels for the price.
These wheels are built for racing and I weigh 155 lbs so I don't know if a heavier rider would get the same performance out of them.
The guys at Richards are great as they had the wheels built to my specs and got them to my door in 10 days. I liked the wheels so much that I bought a 2nd set a few days later.
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Submitted by
Douglas
a Cross Country Rider
from Denver Date Reviewed: June 1, 2007
Favorite Trail:
The one I'm on
Duration Product Used:
2 Years
Price Paid:
$500.00
Purchased At:
NoTubes.com
Strengths:
Light
Weaknesses:
Well not hold a tire. Flexy, goes out of true. Poor customer service,dishonest hype.
Similar Products Used:
mavic, etc.
Bike Setup:
Yeti 575..cross country
Bottom Line:
This is my second set of Stans wheels built by them. My 1st were the Olympics that blew off Conti's that they sell ruining the rims and throwing me off. I paid for their repair, no warranty as there manager swore up and down they never heard of such a thing. Second rim I ruin by total failure (blow the tire completely off), Stan himself admits they had one blow off in the shop, but no warranty still. He stated I should get the 355's due to the rocky trails around Denver and I just blew of a Swalbe 2.4 @ 30lb's air (another recommended tire) descending a singletract on this set. So, no more..Tubes go in, 40 lbs go in and Stan's word goes out. I want to keep my bones intact. If Stan states these were racing rims for the 150lb growd I get it, but he states good for all mountain which is just dangerous. These rims are over-rated and are like Russian roulate if tubeless.
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Submitted by
Rob
a Cross Country Rider
from Phoenix, az Date Reviewed: March 14, 2007
Favorite Trail:
100
Duration Product Used:
3 months
Price Paid:
$85.00
Purchased At:
Slippery Pig
Strengths:
Holds air well. Super light.
Weaknesses:
way too flexy . Wheels do not stay true
Similar Products Used:
no other tubeless 29er rims but have used Salsa Delgados
Bike Setup:
Turner Sultan as one should build a Turner
Bottom Line:
I have been riding two sets of these wheels on two different bikes. I will start with the positives: These rims are light, and hold air well. Now the negatives: I tacoed the front wheel on a flat corner in some loose sand(granted I was going too fast and crashed). Although the rim bent I will say it lost no air pressure. My other set are on a hardtail Singlespeed. after 2 rides both wheels have come out of tension when built to the stans specs on spoke tension. I have since retensioned them to a higher than reccomended tension, and they seem to be fine. Hopefully the higher tension wont cause the nipples to split the rim. I think these rims are good if you are a light rider that does not mind a flexy wheelset. I would not rcomend them on a bike intended for trail riding. I will be the first in line to try the mavic rims when they are available next year. I will give 3 value chilis( you get what you pay for. A light rim). 3 chilis overall ( they are good but not great or outstanding)
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Submitted by
Peter Muench
a Racer
from Rochester, NY USA Date Reviewed: May 18, 2006
Favorite Trail:
Albion Hills, Ontario Canada
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Price Paid:
$100.00
Purchased At:
Notubes.com
Strengths:
Strength, stability of tire
Weaknesses:
every rim is different, one rim built up very true, other rim was a little out of true (horizontal & vertical, the yellow spoke tape is a little tricky to install.
Similar Products Used:
Crossmax SL & XL
Bike Setup:
S-Works Epic, FSA K-Force bar, stem & crank, Chris King hubs w/ ZTR rims, etc....
Bottom Line:
I selected this rim over the Olympic model due to the additional width, helping with the strength of the wheel. What I did not realize was the additional stability that this rim provided during hard cornering. The tire seems to be vectored to the ground. I use the 2.0 Kenda Karma DTC tire exclusively with this rim and have yet to have any inflation problems or burping.
The rims are laced to a set of King ISO disc hubs using a Super Comp spoke by DT Swiss. All of this is good, but the overall wheel is in the hands of the builder, I chose the Mendon Cyclesmith, Craig is one of the best wheel builders out there, and true’s them (if needed) for free the life of the wheel.
As far as strength, they are on par with X-max wheel, but with a livelier feel. Now X-max due feel stiffer on climbs due to the aluminum spokes, but that is all they have over these wheels. I have competed in 3 races so far this season, all with there share of stutter bumps, rock gardens and steep technical climbs, the wheels eat this terrain alive. Going into the corners I am much more confidant, the pro riders are on to something….
I would recommend these wheels for the weekend warrior to the most demanding racer, they will not disappoint you, if you are more free-ride orientated get the free ride version.
The bad side? Installing the yellow tape is tricky. No were in the instructions does it mention to start taping away from the valve hole, if you double the tape over the valve hole, the core seems to have trouble sealing. The valve cores could use a little better rubber seal. Once installed you should have no problems. Another problem is BOTH rims have a small chunk of aluminum floating in the rim cavity, not a big deal if I didn’t have to remove the tape to fix this, so I will live with the rattle until the season is over. Once you get going the chunks a stuck to the rim, but the slower speeds your hear it.
Bottom line, get these rims and build them to your favorite hubs and save the $300 from the cross max for buying light weight tires. Some mentioned above that the sidewalls will leak on some tires, this is very true. The next morning your tires will be flat, pump them up and go for a ride, this usually revives them and they stay inflated.
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Submitted by
Daniel
a Cross Country Rider
from Phoenix Date Reviewed: March 12, 2006
Favorite Trail:
Any
Duration Product Used:
3 months
Price Paid:
$80.00
Strengths:
Light, Strong
Weaknesses:
Doesn't work well as a tubeless tire
Similar Products Used:
Mavic Crossmax
Bike Setup:
Titus Motolite
Bottom Line:
I bought a second set of these rims for my motolite and found them to be very difficult to use as a tubeless tire. These rims will not fit many UST tires and they can't be used with the new Bontrager Jones ACX Tubless Ready tires. I also bought some Kenda Nevagals from Notubes.com only to find out they leak air from the sidewalls and don't work well even after pooring a substantual amount of Stan's solution into them. Overall, this is a very poor set of rims if you are going to use them as a tubeless rim. I wathced the Stan's videos and did the whole thing right and these rims didn't work. A very poor product if you intend on going tubeless. The only way to go is Mavic Crossmax products in my opion having used both Mavic and Stan's products. This product is unsatisfactory for the purpose it was intended to be used for.
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Submitted by
Daniel
a Cross Country Rider
from Phoenix Date Reviewed: February 28, 2006
Favorite Trail:
Any Trail
Duration Product Used:
3 months
Price Paid:
$80.00
Purchased At:
Speeddreams.com
Strengths:
Strong, light, easy to put tubeless tires on.
Weaknesses:
None so far
Similar Products Used:
Mavic 223, Crossmax XL
Bike Setup:
Titus Motolite, Spcialized Epic XTR, etc..
Bottom Line:
These are really strong and light rims. They are hold air really well, much better than my UST rims did.
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Submitted by
Evel Knievel
a Weekend Warrior
from San Juan Capo Date Reviewed: September 29, 2005
Favorite Trail:
Little Creek Mesa
Duration Product Used:
2 Years
Price Paid:
$99.00
Purchased At:
lbs
Strengths:
streghth is m better than hoped for. One minor sidewall ding when others would have buckled. The ding no-way impeads prefrmance. The easiest tire installations ever. I've done converted wheels for years til this rim came out. And this rim is easy to install with the floor pump.
Weaknesses:
A couple of grams for eylets would be fine. No failures though. Narrow enough to mount xc tires only. 2.3 max
Similar Products Used:
ust (sux)
Bike Setup:
custom job
Bottom Line:
Best rim for xc
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Submitted by
Chris
a Cross Country Rider
from Park City, UT Date Reviewed: June 6, 2005
Duration Product Used:
1 Year
Purchased At:
Notubes.com
Strengths:
light, tubeless, strong for the weight, good XC rim.
Weaknesses:
None so far
Similar Products Used:
too many to remember.
Bike Setup:
full rigid steel 29'er single speed
Bottom Line:
I had been using Stan's strips to run my geared XC bike, loved the technology and decided to go with his brand new 29'er No-Tubes rim when I built up my 29'er single speed. I've been XC racing and riding on it for over a year (2,000+ miles) and it's still running strong. I had a good wheel build at a LBS, but I was still skeptical because I'm 200 lbs., the rim is way light, no eyelets, and I ride and race hard. No major wobbles, just the occasional minor truing every month or so. No cracks around the nipple holes even without eyelets. I'm impressed. I think I'll try out his new Freeride/DH rims for my Heckler.
$ 85.00
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