The Ultimate Wheel Buyer’s Guide
Make an Upgrade That Matters
Wheels are one of the most important components on a bike and can make a big difference in how a bike rides. We know this from years of dealing with curmudgeonly bike mechanics who carefully laced and tensioned the spokes of the wheels that carried riders down the sides of mountains in the early days. Fortunately, now there are many more choices than simply going to the shop to have your wheels laced from custom parts.
What many riders don’t realize is that the factory-built wheels are not typically built by machines. Instead, they are hand-laced and tensioned by the experts who live and breathe wheel-building. These are the guys who use old spokes to stir their coffee and calibrate their spoke tension meters before they make their breakfast every morning. These are a few of our favorite wheels that we’ve been using on the trails this past year.
RIDEFAST HOTLINE 27.5
Tech info:
The Hotline is Ridefast’s burly enduro and all-mountain wheel that is available in 27.5- or 29-inch diameters and Boost spacing. The rims and hubs are hand- built with straight-pull spokes in a 3x pattern to maintain strength and stiffness. Ridefast uses a hookless carbon rim, adding to the overall strength of the wheel. The Hotlines come with a two-year warranty and ship with tubeless valves and tape installed.
On the trail:
We started the Hotlines off by racing the TDS in northern California. The TDS is home to some burly rock gardens and sloppy mud. To our surprise, the Hotlines came out of the race true and rolling smoothly, despite the harsh conditions. We rode a few enduro races and even a few days on Mammoth Mountain, pushing the Hotlines as hard as we could.
During our testing, the Hotlines stayed true and the hub bearings stayed smooth. By the end of our testing, there was plenty of visible wear and tear on the rims from rock strikes and other trail debris, but the Hotlines proved to be up to the challenge.
Rim material: Hookless carbon
Internal rim width: 30mm
Spoke count: 28-hole
Price: $1,250
Weight: 1,650 grams
SPEED TUNED EXILE 29
Internal rim width: 29mm
Spoke count: 32-hole
Price: $1,100
Weight: 1,740 grams
EASTON HEIST 24 29ER
Rim material: Aluminum
Internal rim width: 24mm
Spoke count: 28-hole
Price: $700
Weight: 1,730 grams
INDUSTRY NINE ENDURO 27.5
Rim material: Aluminum
Internal rim width: 30.5mm
Spoke count: 28-hole
Price: $865
Weight: 1,750 grams
MAVIC CROSSMAX PRO CARBON 29ER
Internal rim width: 23mm
Spoke count: 24-hole
Price: $2000
Weight: 1,510 grams
DT SWISS EX 1501 27.5
Rim material: Aluminum
Internal rim width: 30mm
Spoke count: 28-hole
Price: $1,300
SPANK OOZY TRAIL 345 BOOST 27.5
Rim material: Aluminum
Internal rim width: 30mm
Spoke count: 32-hole
Price: $650
Weight: 2,020 grams
STAN’S ARCH MK3 29ER
Tech info:
The MK3 is a wider rim for enduro racing and general burly riding. Stan’s designed the rim with an internal rim width of 26 millimeters and an external width of 29.3 millimeters. These wheels come in a 28- or 32-hole configuration and will run tires up to 2.5 inches in width. Stan’s makes the MK3 in almost every hub option, from Boost to Lefty, and they retail for $680.
On the trail:
Stan’s is now giving riders the ability to customize their wheels with rim decals and even spoke nipple colors. We did the custom process and were surprised at how straightforward it was. The MK3s went through a minor wear-in process with spoke tensions loosening. We trued the wheels after a few rides and didn’t have any issues for the remainder of our testing.
The Neo hub gave us quick engagement and rolled smoothly. The MK3s did flex some, giving our test riders a more forgiving ride than other wider rims we have ridden. Some of our test riders would have liked a slightly wider rim, but for all-round riding, this is a wheel we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend.
Rim material: Aluminum
Internal rim width: 26mm
Spoke count: 28- or 32-hole
Price: $680
Weight: 1,770 grams
REYNOLDS 27.5 TRAIL
Internal rim width: 25mm
Spoke count: 28-hole
Price: $2,500
Weight: 1,570 grams
SHIMANO XT TRAIL 27.5
Internal rim width: 27.9mm
Spoke count: 28-hole
Price: $554
Weight: 1,900 grams
SRAM ROAM 60 27.5
Tech info:
SRAM offers these in standard and Boost spacing, along with 27.5- or 29-inch diameters. When paired with RockShox forks, the Roam wheels can be adapted to use the Torque caps as well. The Roam has an asymmetrical hookless carbon rim with an internal width of 30 millimeters. These rims use 24 spokes on a set of SRAM hubs and have a retail price of $900–$1,230 per wheel.
On the trail:
The hookless rims are pretty easy to seat tires onto and have a very loud, assuring pop. We spent plenty of time on the Roams on everything from groomed jump trails to gnarly enduro terrain. The wide, 30-millimeter rim gave our 2.35-inch-wide tires a robust profile that improved the footprint of the tire on the trail, ensuring better traction.
Our test riders were amazed at how stiff the Roams were, but they did have a little compliance, so they didn’t make the ride too harsh. Over the course of our testing the Roams proved to be sturdy. They did not need to be trued, and we didn’t experience any broken spokes. The stock SRAM hubs offered us quick engagement and rolled quickly, giving our test riders a good level of efficiency.
Rim material: Hookless carbon
Internal rim width: 30mm
Spoke count: 24-hole
Price: $900–$1230
Weight: 1,625 grams
WTB CI31 27.5
Tech info:
The Ci31 was developed as a do-it-all rim that leans heavily towards all-mountain and enduro. This carbon rim has an internal diameter of 31 millimeters and is built in 27.5- and 29-inch diameters. WTB offers the Ci31 as a rim only, so for testing we had our rims laced up on a pair of White Industries XMR hubs. The XMR hubs are Boost compatible and use a titanium freehub body. The Ci31 rims retail for $600 apiece and can be found online or at your local shop.
On the trail:
We mounted our hoops up with a 2.3 Breakout rear tire and 2.5 Convict in the front. Given the robust rim, we wouldn’t run anything narrower than a 2.3 tire. First-ride impressions proved it was an incredibly stiff wheel that was very responsive when pushed hard out of the saddle. The 31-millimeter rim gave the 2.5-inch front tire a generous footprint and plenty of traction through various types of terrain.
The White Industries hubs gave us instant engagement, and the rear hub rolled with an assuring hum. A couple of our test riders felt that the Ci31 was a little too stiff on rougher terrain, but most of our riders preferred the extra stiffness. The Ci31s stayed true during our testing, and the XMR hub bearings stayed snug.
Rim material: Carbon
Internal rim width: 31mm
Spoke count: 32-hole
Price: $600 (rim only)
Weight: 455 grams (rim only)
BOYD KANUGA 27.5
Rim material: Aluminum
Internal rim width: 25mm
Spoke count: 28- or 32-hole
Weight: 400 grams (rim)
Price: $750
FULCRUM RED PASSION 3 29ER
Rim material: Aluminum
Internal rim width: 21mm
Spoke count: 28-hole
Price: $575
Weight: 1,500 grams
ENVE M60 HV 27.5
Rim material: Carbon
Internal rim width: 26mm
Spoke count: 32-hole
Price: $2,800
Weight: 1,560 grams
BONTRAGER KOVEE XXX BOOST 29ER
Tech info:
The Kovees don’t waste any time with technologies of the past. Bontrager designed these wheels with only Boost spacing
laced up on DT Swiss 240 hubs. The inner rim width measures 29 millimeters, with a very sturdy 34-millimeter external width to increase the tire footprint and traction with lower tire pressures. The rims use Bontrager’s OCLV carbon to keep the wheel responsive but compliant as well.
On the trail:
Out of the box the Kovees look more like a burly trail or enduro wheel with the 34-millimeter carbon rim. We ran a pair of Maxxis Ikon 29×2.2-inch tires for the duration of our testing. This width complemented the rim shape very well, giving our test riders plenty of traction with various tire pressures. At first our test riders were surprised at how responsive the wheels were. Out of the saddle the rims were stiff, and the DT Swiss hubs rolled with little to no friction. During the course of our testing the wheels stayed true and required no maintenance.
Some of our test riders thought the rims might be a little too wide for any tires narrower than 2.2 inches. After a few rides with a set of 2.1 WTB Nano tires, we found that even the slightly skinnier tires felt comfortable on the beefier rims. If the XXX version is a little too steep price-wise, Bontrager does offer the Kovee Pro at a greatly reduced price.
Rim material: OCLV carbon
Internal rim width: 29mm
Spoke count: 28-hole
Price: $1,050–$1,200
Weight: 1,550 grams
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