[Jeremy05]

If you want aluminum wheels I would check out the industry nine trail s wheels. I have these on my chisel they are great wheels and currently on sale.

Industry Nine

Industry Nine manufactures high-end bicycle wheels, hubs, stems and headsets. Made in the USA. Customize your wheel set with Industry Nine.

industrynine.com

 

[WobbleEye]

If you want aluminum wheels I would check out the industry nine trail s wheels. I have these on my chisel they are great wheels and currently on sale.

Industry Nine

Industry Nine manufactures high-end bicycle wheels, hubs, stems and headsets. Made in the USA. Customize your wheel set with Industry Nine.

industrynine.com

These look great but I'm in Australia, so shipping these would cost a fortune, so I'm resorting to half-reasoble Chinese carbon options.

 

[WobbleEye]

I personally favor DT Swiss wheels, so no idea what you should pick there, but regular Shimano 10s/11s works with Sram 12 Speed NX and SX cassettes. You only have to remember: The smallest sproket a regular Shimano freehub body can take is 11t. As soon as its 10t or 9t it is made for another system. Maybe there was some cassette that used some trickery, to do it, but don't take my word on that.

Thanks but these are pricey - esp in Australia. As per my other reply, considering i25 carbon from Ali - not sure if links are allowed but it's these: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004907858799.html
for NX 1230, 11-50.

Also considering Alu alternatives, but I'm not sure about the GDX370 hub and wondering if these would be an improvement over Chisel's stock? https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003193675696.html

 

[JKayne]

Personally i dont trust carbon very much. Hence why i have a chisel as my light bike. Chinese carbon i trust even less. My strategy is always to wait for sales where western companies unstock stuff to make space for the next batches. So i have always replacement parts and do not overpay for slightly lighter/better stuff. The hubs of the goldix brand seem to be basically copies of DT Swiss hubs with ratchets. I don't see why it should not be fine and plenty of replacement parts for it, when u want to maintain it yourself. I don't know if the wheelset is better than the stock one. The stock one does look like low end specialized generic stuff. Never looked at it closer tho.

 

[bokiscout]

This ali rims are not upgrade but side grade at best.

If you are looking for upgrade chose some high end 30mm internal width aluminum rims around 420 grams.
Duke wheels and one Italian company makes them this light.

Never cheep out on rims, the weight savings there are more important than the weight of the hubs.

Speaking of hubs, chose dt 350 at least, or higher end (lighter with more POE) from any brand.

Check R2 bikes for reference. They have plenty of custom wheels build with lightweight aluminum rims and lightweight hubs at +- 1400 grams. This would be noticeable upgrade. Although a bit pricier but at least is not a wasted money on side grade.

 

[lloydrm]

+1 on all things chinese carbon (which makes like 97% of all carbon akaik).
I’d go with a set of dt swiss xm1700. I did that and am quite satisfied. Yeah, for the same price you can get a set of chinese wheels but some of them are not lighter so … I am not one to baby my wheels on technical descents. I like enduro-ish trails sprinkled around my rides.

 

[uppo]

Hoping for opinions in selecting a wheelset for 2022 Chisel.
Would these be suitable? Which hub would you pick?

View attachment 2121482

Thanks

What size tyres are you planning on using?
Most modern rims are now 30mm internal.
Is that an option?

 

[Taffy66]

The headset on the chisel is indeed, not great, i recently killed the bearings after a mudfest of a race, put some enduro bearings in there so we'll see how those fare next season, if not i'll just swap the full headset.

I initially wanted to get a frameset and build up, but found a good price for a complete one, ended up keeping most of the components, it's amazing how capable SLX is.
View attachment 2006297

Great looking bike. Can you recall the upper and lower model of enduro bearings you ordered in? Were they Max Hit bearings or a different product line? Cheers.

 

[lloydrm]

Lower is bearing is ENDURO BEARINGS; ACB 4545 150 SS - 1-12 STAINLESS STEEL, ANGULAR CONTACT HEADSET BEARING (34MM X 52MM X 7MM: 45X45 DEG.
Not sure about the top one. The local enduro rep gave me the wrong one.

 

[WobbleEye]

I've came across Hunt's XC Wide wheelset, it's only ~300g lighter than the stock Chisel wheelset.
Hunt XC Wide - Are these worth it the $? Not sure of the hub or the spoke or the build quality.
Would these be better than Chisel stock?

 

[Jayem]

I've now crossed carbon wheels off, came across Hunt's XC Wide wheelset, it's only $200g lighter than the stock Chisel wheelset.
Hunt XC Wide - Worth it the $? Not sure of the hub quality. Hope it's better than stock.

And this is a bit of a concern:

 

[jonkenny100]

Chiming in to introduce myself and see if there is still any love for the Chisel HT

So, I spent most of my childhood BMX riding, later hardtail MTB. Now in my 50s, I bought a Sirrus X 4.0 about a year ago (after a 15 year break from cycling) and am now in the process of getting a Specialized Chisel Comp Hardtail in Med (great deals to be had on 2023 spec and waiting for Cycle2Work approval), intended use will be XC and flow trail riding. I did enough of the 20 foot woodland jump thing/going home covered in blood every evening as a kid on my BMX and I can't afford the recovery time these days. So I'm into less risky MTB stuff now.

I did a test fit the other day and the silver/spectraflair medium frame is pretty much in the Goldilocks zone, I'm 173cm tall with a 78.5cm inseam

Targeting sub 10kg/22lbs on the Chisel (slow build project):

Upgrades purchased so far:
SID SL Ultimate, 100mm
BikeYoke Divine SL dropper, 125mm
WTB Volt ti
CB Stamp 7 flats
Planned upgrades throughout 2025:
Roval Control Carbon 29s (if they ever go on sale again), with DT Swiss 350s and tubeless Mezcal 2.25 rear and Barzo 2.35 front, tubeless with rear insert
Sram GX carbon crank set and GX mech derailleur (deciding on length, 165 or 170, with 34t ring), XX1 10t-52t cassette.
Sram Level Ultimate 2 piston brake set
Roval carbon mini-rise bars and Roval carbon stem (may go to 60mm from 70mm)

All of that should get me to ball park 9.5-10kg

As you may have guessed I'm a tinkerer and an upgrade addict. I'm looking to build the perfect lightweight XC uber weapon for non-competitive, smell the roses type, epic days out in the country and maybe a bit of light shredding at my local bike park (if it ever re-opens, Aston Hill in Buckinghamshire UK)...

 

[lloydrm]

Looks to me like you have a great plan. Only thing I would suggest is getting shimano breaks instead of sram. Bleeding mineral oil is so much simpler and environmentally superior that I don't have to be pedantic about their performance at stopping the bike.

 

[jonkenny100]

Looks to me like you have a great plan. Only thing I would suggest is getting shimano breaks instead of sram. Bleeding mineral oil is so much simpler and environmentally superior that I don't have to be pedantic about their performance at stopping the bike.

Great tip, which I hadn't given much thought to. There are lots of other options to consider, e.g. Magura, which is also an oil based system. I plan on running a dropper lever and a fork lock out lever, so part of the attraction to staying with Sram is the matchmaker clamp system. I think the brakes will be much further down the line, so plenty of time to fully research, thanks for highlighting this (I do want to do my own servicing and maintenance).

 

[wornout]

Jon
Have a look at CLARKS Race Series CRS C2 brakes on fleabay. Fifty quid a set and a great lightweight option. They work surprisingly well and have been very reliable over the last year.
Look forward to seeing your build. I'm going a similar direction, but with rigid forks

Great tip, which I hadn't given much thought to. There are lots of other options to consider, e.g. Magura, which is also an oil based system. I plan on running a dropper lever and a fork lock out lever, so part of the attraction to staying with Sram is the matchmaker clamp system. I think the brakes will be much further down the line, so plenty of time to fully research, thanks for highlighting this (I do want to do my own servicing and maintenance).

 

[WobbleEye]

Apologies if I sound on repeat, but I'm now considering the Race Face Turbine SL Alu wheelset - would these be a worthwhile upgrade from the stock? Some estimate the stock wheelset weighs about 2kg, while SL's are 1.64kg and apparently have a decent hub...

 

[lloydrm]

IMO anything durable is a good upgrade. If you need the weight to make it durable then don’t go light. If you value light more than durability then I have nothing to say

 

[WobbleEye]

IMO anything durable is a good upgrade. If you need the weight to make it durable then don’t go light. If you value light more than durability then I have nothing to say

These are meant to be for XC / trail, I'm 75kg - don't see a point getting tractor wheels...
Just wanted to know if these would be an improvement over stock.

 

[jonkenny100]

These are meant to be for XC / trail, I'm 75kg - don't see a point getting tractor wheels...
Just wanted to know if these would be an improvement over stock.

I'd say 1.6kg for an xc trail wheelset is pretty respectable. I'm now even looking at aluminium options. Although I may just keep the stock wheels until I can find a set of any of the following at a decent price:
DT Swiss XRC 1200
Roval Control Carbon
Reserve Carbon XC 28
Crankbrothers Synthesis Carbon XC
Hunt Proven XC
I may even look at building a set, DT Swiss 180 hubs would be nice.
Yes expensive, but the ride quality, engagement, acceleration, etc. would be top draw

 

[jonkenny100]

Jon
Have a look at CLARKS Race Series CRS C2 brakes on fleabay. Fifty quid a set and a great lightweight option. They work surprisingly well and have been very reliable over the last year.
Look forward to seeing your build. I'm going a similar direction, but with rigid forks

I will, decided I'm going to bide my time with the build, I've gone for the Comp over the base model, so (although not top end), I can live with the components until I'm fully ready to upgrade.