Mountain Bike Wheels

Welcome to my huge picture!  We're about to start selling mountain bike wheels up in here.  The FSW29.  You can't rush these things.  We needed to test the bejeesus out of everything in order to be sure. 

The options for mountain bike wheels haven't seemed as wide open as they are for road bikes.  In road bike wheels, you can basically get whatever in the world you want.  Mountain bikes not so much.  When you look at how big the road market is, and the fact that road wheels are basically road wheels, it makes sense.  Mountain biking is a smaller, fragmented market.  There are three sizes (26", 29", and 650b), and basically three grades of rugged (cross country, all mountain, and downhill), plus 15 and 20 TA, 142x12, etc.  So it's really not a surprise that the options seem a bit thinner.  We're here to help.

The FSW29s are based on Velocity Blunt SL rims, Sapim spokes, and Novatec 711SB/712SB hubs.  There are 28/2x and 32/3x build options.  We recommend the 28 build, with Sapim Laser spokes, for people about 175 and lower, and for people who want a lighter wheel set for a race day wheel set.  The 32 build uses Sapim Race spokes for a bit of extra ruggedness and will be a great everyday set for most situations.  The 28/2x set rolls up at around 1550 grams, while the 32/3x goes a shade north of 1600.

As with our other wheels, we'll be offering Chris King and White Industries hubs as premium options.  For those of you using 15mm thru on the front, both King and White cover that.  

The Blunts have set up tubeless easily and securely with every tire I've tried (which so far consists of Maxxis Cross Mark, Specialized Fast Trak S-Works, and Geax Saguaro).  A floor pump, a Stan's strip and a bunch of soapy water have done it for me thus far. 

I know that there are a bunch of you who are already thinking "but what about carbon rims," and we're not there yet.  There's been some promising noises from our rim supplier, but it's not ready to go.  As it is, I'm pretty well overjoyed with how the FSW29s work.  They feel great, they're light, and they're sort of shockingly bomb proof.  I biffed it in a turn on Saturday, one of those catch your front wheel and fold over it deals, and my friend who was following me said "dammit, I hate that turn, it's taken out more people and taco'd more wheels than I can even count.  How screwed up is your wheel?"  None screwed up was the fortunate answer.  None at all. 

Hubs are the bit we're waiting for, and they should be arriving within the fortnight.  We'll have them live in the store soon.