Should I use Sram s30 wheels for Cyclocross?

egroeg79
egroeg79 Posts: 45
edited November 2012 in Amateur race
At the moment I am using a heavy, cheap wheels on my crossbike, but I have a pair of sram s30 al race wheels I use on my road bike and are around 600g lighter. My concerns for using them is if they're strong enough, as they have a low spoke count, and I have previously snapped a spoke on the rear wheel going over a small pothole.
2012-s30_al_race_wheelset-no_desc-en.jpg

I wondered if anyone has used them or simular wheels for cyclocross, and if you have any ideas/ recomendations?

Comments

  • racingcondor
    racingcondor Posts: 1,434
    I wouldn't. SRAM AL30's are the wheelset that got me into wheel building, broke two spokes very soon after getting them and another 6 months later (and I'm <70kg). In their first year they spent more time in the shop than on the bike...

    They have been completely fine since I rebuilt them with a more sensible lacing pattern on the rear (2 cross both sides rather than anything radial, Bitex hubs) and I have to admit that the rim builds very well.

    EDIT - Actually I really like the rims a lot. 450g, 30mm and build easily. If you could buy them as seperates in 20 & 24 hole versions they would be perfect.
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,321
    racingcondor wrote:
    I wouldn't. SRAM AL30's are the wheelset that got me into wheel building, broke two spokes very soon after getting them and another 6 months later (and I'm <70kg). In their first year they spent more time in the shop than on the bike...

    They have been completely fine since I rebuilt them with a more sensible lacing pattern on the rear (2 cross both sides rather than anything radial, Bitex hubs) and I have to admit that the rim builds very well.

    EDIT - Actually I really like the rims a lot. 450g, 30mm and build easily. If you could buy them as seperates in 20 & 24 hole versions they would be perfect.

    Well, I very much doubt SRAM extrude their own alloy, so they must get them from somewhere... given the weight x depth, they sound like the usual Kinlin suspects... :wink:
    I think Wynstanley bikes still sell them as Halo Mercury
    left the forum March 2023
  • racingcondor
    racingcondor Posts: 1,434
    Ugo - I suspect you're right and it's someone like Kinlin that make them (certainly they'll be outsourced to somewhere in Asia but what isn't?), but I suspect SRAM have been throwing their weight around as I haven't seen any rims of that shape on the market anywhere (not that I've trawled AliBaba).

    It's not the Mercury though as that's a standard V profile. The oddity that they have is that they're a hybrid torodial rim (i.e. torodial like a modern Zipp rim but with a flat braking surface added), essentially using the Zipp 202 shape pre firecrest (i.e. the year before SRAM bought them) but in Alu. If anyone sees them anywhere (20/24 drilling would be fantastic) though I'd love to know, they're a joy to build even with internal nipples.

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