Featured
Exclusive: Up Close… With Specialized’s Beadless Clincher
Specialized Bicycles has a new clincher wheelset (the Roval Control 29 Carbon) that lacks that one thing we all think clincher tires need—bead hooks. WTF? We went to Specialized’s headquarters to find out how that’s even possible.
All wheels
Exclusive: War of the Wheel Sizes
03.04.2013
Twenty-niners are poised to dominate the mountain bike world and they’re not alone: middle-child 650B is rolling in right behind. Is this the end of the 26-inch wheel? Not quite, but change is coming faster than you might think.
SUNringlé Launches ‘SL’ Charger and Black Flag Wheels
12.03.2012
Source: Hayes Components “Riders count on us to provide a quality wheel that can still take a beating,” said Scott Boyd, SUNringlé product manager. “Our new SL series offers race worthy wheels that are competitive in terms of weight, but also have the durability that’s expected from our brand.” The new Pro SL Charger and [...]
SRAM and RockShox Embrace 650B
04.21.2012
By Kevin Rouse Photos: Adrian Marcoux Turns out it’s really happening. Riders will soon have a third wheel size to contend with. Sure, 650B has been on the fringe for years, but now, with major component and frame manufacturers coming aboard, it appears 650B is finally ready for the spotlight. We took some time to [...]
Mavic Goes Big
04.20.2012
By Vernon Felton Last year Mavic bucked the tide when they didn’t unveil a comprehensive line of 29er wheelsets, focusing instead on revised versions of popular 26-inch models such as the CrossMax ST and SX. In fact, Mavic’s 2012 wheelset line up included just one 29er model, the C29ssmaxx. While that particular 1,755-gram wheelset was [...]
Novatec Signs Key Racers to its Wheel Program
04.07.2012
By Brice Minnigh Novatec has upped the ante with its wheel program this year, sponsoring a slew of talented gravity riders—several of whom have recently been slaying it at the Fontana Winter Series Downhill and Super D races. The crew includes gravity legends Eric Carter and Brian Lopes, along with up-and-coming standouts such as Kevin [...]
Tested: Novatec Diablo V2 Wheels
02.23.2012
My time on the Novatec Diablo wheels started innocently enough. While snooping around the Bike magazine shop I came across this wheelset that none of the staff were scheduled to test yet, from a company that I really didn’t know a whole lot about, Novatec.
Fresh: MorningStar Tools R2.O.C-Tech
12.22.2011
Professional wheelbuilders can debate the pros and cons of different lacing patterns until the end of time, but every one of them will agree that there's nothing like a perfectly true and round wheel. Morningstar Tools' R2.O.C-TECH attaches directly to Park Tool's TS-2 stand, replacing the rigid calipers with needle gauges to simultaneously show exactly how out-of-true and round a wheel is.
Bible Teaser: SRAM Rise 60 Wheels
12.16.2011
SRAM recently launched a preview video for its Rise Wheels. To find out what we thought of the wheels, check out our full review of the Rise 60 wheels in the upcoming Bible of Bike Tests issue. The Bible of Bike Tests will go on sale everywhere January 17th.
Fresh: Stan’s NoTubes ZTR Race Gold
11.16.2011
Stan's NoTubes ZTR Race Gold $950 / notubes.com If you like looking for excuses, these 1,345-gram wagon wheels are probably not for you. The ZTR Race Gold wheels were designed around being the lightest, and consequently fastest, wheel system possible. Leave the heavier UST-specific tires behind, because these were made for lighter, standard-bead tires. Oh, and you might want to lose that spare tire too, as these have a rider weight limit of 170 pounds.
Fresh: Mavic CrossMax ST
11.10.2011
Mavic has done some major renovations on its venerable ‘trail’ wheelset. The most noticeable feature is, perhaps, the quicker hub engagement—improved from 17 degrees to 7.5 degrees. The wheels are also now convertible to fit any axle standard front or rear. On top of all that, the rims lose about 20-grams apiece and have been tweaked for easier tubeless setup.
SRAM’s New Super Wheel – the Rise 60
10.13.2011
At 1,330 grams (that’s with old school QRs, front and rear), these things aren’t rockin’ a spare gram anywhere.
Interbike: Rolf Prima Ralos Mountain Bike Wheels
09.22.2011
After a long absence from the mountain bike world, Rolf Prima is back. The company, which is famous for its paired-spoke lacing patterns, rolled out its new Ralos XC/trail wheels at Interbike. These hoops will be available in both a 26-inch and 29-inch version (the Ralos6 and Ralos9 respectively). The Ralos9 wheelset, shown here, tips [...]
Easton Havoc And EA70 XCT Wheelsets
09.15.2011
The Havoc is Easton’s latest DH offering, and claims to be the lightest dedicated downhill wheelset currently on the market. At 1,870 grams, this is impressive, as the wheelset features an ultra-wide, 23-millimeter internal rim width and UST compatibility. The wheelset is designed around 150-millimeter dropout spacing, but adaptors are available for frames that utilize [...]
Gear: A-Class VXD3 Wheelset
09.08.2011
By Kevin Rouse A-Class VXD3 Wheelset – $749 aclass-wheels.com Stock and bond markets be damned—gold is where it’s at. The designers over at A-Class obviously think so at least. Well, as far as aesthetics go anyway. For their VXD3 wheelset, they chose aluminum instead to help keep weight and (at roughly $1700 an ounce for [...]
Preview: Easton Havoc UST 150
07.23.2011
At a media event during Crankworx, Easton took a group of editors to ride its new DH wheelset on the burly trails of Squamish, BC. We were all excited about the rumor of getting to see and ride the carbon downhill wheels that Easton has been working on, however Easton said that these were not [...]
First Impressions: 2012 Shimano Deore XT
06.23.2011
By: Kevin Rouse Last week the folks at Shimano took the time to herd a group of journalists around Lake Tahoe and let us get our hands on the 2012 Deore XT M780 groupset for the first time. While first impressions aren’t everything, we can definitely say we were quite pleased. In fact, nearly all [...]
Sea Otter Products: DT Swiss
04.19.2011
Words: Kevin Rouse Captions: Ryan LaBar Photos: Kevin Rouse and Ryan LaBar Video: Kevin Rouse DT Swiss came to Sea Otter with some noteworthy new product offerings in the wheel department, with their all-new XRC 950 T, a 1200-gram tubular 29er wheelset definitely garnering some attention. The wheelset uses DT Swiss’ proprietary Tricon system to [...]
Easton Haven Carbon Wheels — Part one
04.02.2010
All-mountain goes bulletproof The use of composites in bicycle manufacturing is hardly a new idea; frame builders have been utilizing bonded carbon fiber tubes since the mid-1970s, and as carbon-composite technology advanced, wheels and components were quickly embraced by the skinny-tire world. Composites also drew the attention of the weight-conscious XC crowd, but the high-impact [...]
Race Gear: Jeremiah Bishop’s Cannondale Scalpel 650-6er
04.03.2009
Words: Ryan LaBar The 650B wheel is finally getting some love. The unconventional wheel size—between a standard 26-inch wheel and the larger 29er—has been hanging around for a few years, but hasn’t received much attention. Until now. While at the US-Cup Pro XCT opener in Fontana, California, last weekend, Bikemag snatched some photos of Monavie-Cannondale [...]
The Connect
-
May 18, 2013
-
May 17, 2013
-
May 16, 2013
-
May 15, 2013
-
May 13, 2013
-
May 12, 2013
-
May 11, 2013
Instagrams - @bikemag
