XC/AM Wheelset for Under £1k
ryan_w-2
Posts: 1,162
Evening all,
I'm looking into purchasing some strong but lightweight wheels for my Yeti ASR-5C build.
So far I've 'narrowed it down' to the below:
Fulcrum Red Metal Zero XRP - £720, 1470g
DT Swiss XM 1550 Tricon - £810, 1586g
Mavic Wheels Crossmax SLR - £765, 1440g
So, what are your opinions of the above wheels (what would you choose) and are there any others you'd throw into the mix?
Cheers all,
Ryan
I'm looking into purchasing some strong but lightweight wheels for my Yeti ASR-5C build.
So far I've 'narrowed it down' to the below:
Fulcrum Red Metal Zero XRP - £720, 1470g
DT Swiss XM 1550 Tricon - £810, 1586g
Mavic Wheels Crossmax SLR - £765, 1440g
So, what are your opinions of the above wheels (what would you choose) and are there any others you'd throw into the mix?
Cheers all,
Ryan
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Comments
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My opinion is that they are all roughly £500 more than I would want to spend on a set of wheels.0
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+1 gold plated potatoI don't do smileys.
There is no secret ingredient - Kung Fu Panda
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Parktools0 -
If that's your budget then take a look at the Easton Havens (they definitely look good). Have had good reviews in the past and have performed faultlessly on my Spicy so far."I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0
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Also see:
American Classic AM - £500
Crank Bros Iodine - £650
Easton Haven - £670ish
XTR Trail - £700 ish (not quite sure why though)
The advice I had with a similar query and similar budget was to go for a custom build. You can get something just as strong, and just as light, for a fraction of the price of a "factory" build.
That said, I'm still planning on going for the American Classics
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I've seen alloy Easton Havens, £615, 1650g. They're meant to be pretty strong and the post '11 wheels have had their hub issue sorted apparently....
They do look fancy, I'll give you that!0 -
dt 240 or tune hubs, sapim cx ray spokes, stans arch ex rim circa 1500 grammes, mega light mega strong and should cost much more £600, plus spares will be easy to come by, something that cannot normally be said of so called factory wheels0
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American Classic Hubs on Stans whatever takes yer fancy rims, with crests they're lighter than SLRs and use regular spares/spokes etc & about £250 cheaper + they're not FrenchGuinness for strength0
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Spares are something to seriously think about. It may be blingy and in theory robust, but can you get the spares and does the company offer to replace bits or prefer to only replace the entire wheel? In which case warranty is essential (*cough* Crank Brothers *cough*).
Are you after or may consider tubeless also? In which case concentrate on dedicated tubeless rims. May as well at these prices.0 -
I can safely say not to go for the Iodines, look good but will ultimately fail. The Havens are too heavy and too blingy for money/me - I sold mine shortly after I bought them.
The American Classic - I hear good things about them. Now I've not had all the wheels mentioned above I'd take the American wheels - Tubeless ready and very light. Good price too for the weight.0 -
These ones?
http://www.rutlandcycling.com/34038/Ame ... n=pid34038
Really cheap for their weight (if they can take the punishment).......0 -
Ryan_W wrote:These ones?
http://www.rutlandcycling.com/34038/Ame ... n=pid34038
Really cheap for their weight (if they can take the punishment).......
Well, that's the XC lightweight set.
You want these ones if it's AM you're looking at.0 -
Hmmm, pretty light at 1546g and coming in under £500!
Would you change anything with the wheels (hubs etc), or are they pretty decent out the box?0 -
They're meant to be easy to service compared to DT hubs which require special tools.
The bearing sizes are fairly standard too. I had an issue with my rear hub pinging when applying pressure, but this was sorted within a week under warranty.
The hub flanges are larger than normal which apparently builds a stiffer wheel. I researched for quite a while and nothing came close in terms of weight/value for money.Guinness for strength0 -
Zziplex wrote:They're meant to be easy to service compared to DT hubs which require special tools.
Which DT hubs are you talking about? All the DT hubs I've ever owned were tool-free maintenance. It's one of the great things about them. Along with outstanding build quality.
The only thing which has put me off pulling the trigger on the AC AM wheels so far is the complete and utter lack of reviews. And I don't just mean UK reviews, I mean globally. Nobody at all has reviewed the 2011/2012 AM wheelset it seems. And you can't go off the earlier incarnations because the old AM wheelsets were much heavier.
I take reviews with a pinch of salt of course, but it'd be nice to at least have some opinions from people that have tested them properly before spunking £500 up the wall on an unknown entity.0 -
Gotta admit, I'm with Mojo_666... "strong and light" needn't cost £700.0
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Me too - that comment split my sides.0
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Why?M_rift04 wrote:I can safely say not to go for the Iodines, look good but will ultimately fail.0 -
I know mine are the cobolt ones, but they are incedibly stiff and i cant see how they will fail?Cat With No Tail wrote:0 -
Thats like saying all Orange 5's crack???ilovedirt wrote:
I have a few Crank Bro's items and its lovely stuff, and the wheels are built amazingly well, ok i'll give you the Joplin, but even thats not as bad as people would have you believe.0 -
Got Iodines that came with the bike. Straight off the rim was bust. Warranty case and was a bit of hassle. Next the rear hub is catching somewhere when free wheeling (though could be the cassette screws catching on it but I don't have this problem with the same cassette on a cheap Formula hub). Also found removing the cassette pulls the hub assembly apart which makes me wonder if it's easy for dirt to get in there. I've read they need frequent servicing, so maybe the ease of it pulling apart is a good thing
Since getting them I started reading reviews on Iodines... Oh dear!! Really do have a lot of seriously bad reviews.
Most people consider any Crank Brother stuff to be nice expensive bling, and they do look nice, but the quality is dodgy in places.
That said if the wheels manage to keep going now and I can solve the catching hub, then I'm happy enough. A little disappointed at the ease of rim dings, as found a few. Was an ex-demo bike, but still, Iodines are supposedly indestructible and my cheap rims I had before has done all kinds including a little DH and not a ding on them at all.
If anything breaks though once it's out of warranty, I understand it's a nightmare to get parts. Can't just get a regular spoke, and from what I hear you have to buy a full wheel to get some bits as they don't do separate parts.0 -
thats interesting, god knows how they managed to ding the rims, there mentally strong?0
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deadkenny - What model iodines are they (2 or 3?) and what year ?
If they're 2011 wheels, where did you see the reviews, I honestly can't find any. And It'd be interesting to know if they solved the issue with the poor rear hubs on the earlier models.
It sounds a little like I'm being a fanboi here, that's honestly not the case. I just don't think opinions on a product should necessarily be based on previous models. I do however agree that the with most crank bros stuff (and indeed a lot of their rivals), you pay a premium because it looks pimp!0 -
Thats like my...........oh hang on wrong section.Cat With No Tail wrote:you pay a premium because it looks pimp!
Half the love of MTB for me is the look and the use of certain materials, Mechanically they may not be the best, but if they look good it helps but I like Carbon, it may not be the best but i like the look of it, just like i like anodised parts, it has no use but its purdy 
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Not certain on the model but it was a 2011 ex-demo bike AFAIK, built earlier last year I think and guess the wheels were the same year or maybe 2010. Black/Gold Iodines, not the same as the normal black/gold online, these have gold hubs, gold nipples, black spokes. Ltd Edition apparently.
Reviews, just googled Crank Brothers Iodine Review and similar. MTBR comes up top but not sure what model that is, but the reviews on there seem to be harsh on a lot of things, but they don't come out well there. Though to be fair it's a dozen or so reviews and not all are bad. BR comes up second, poor review. Other than that, just had gone through various forums and came across a fair amount of negative opinions and all repeatedly the same. In the main that they look nice but hubs had problems and needed frequent servicing and repair or fell apart and the rims dent easily. But what models they are, I don't know.
I don't want to knock them really as obviously I own a pair and I do really like the look of them, just started off badly and my confidence that they're robust stuff has been knocked. Opinions on other CB kit seems similar about dubious robustness. Sure, latest models may fix the problems but I wouldn't buy them until there's good experience and opinion that they have been fixed. If there are no reviews then either they're good or people have learnt their lesson and decided not to buy CB.0
