Tubeless road wheels review

It’s fair to say I was a bit sceptical on the road tubeless concept before I tried it. The benefits that tubeless offers to MTB riders, the ability to run tyres at low pressure without the risk of pinch flats, didn’t seem to be particularly applicable on the road. Even NZ’s roads aren’t rough enough to cause pinch flats on road tyres! Once I found out the tubeless tyre comes at a weight premium to a standard clincher (330g for the Hutchinson training tyres on the road tubeless versus apx. 280g for a light clincher/tube combo), thus mitigating any rotating weight advantage that removing a tube offered, I was even less convinced.

All of this changed pretty quickly though.

Even on my first ride on them, a 20 minute roll home, I could tell there was something about these wheels. Further riding confirmed my initial instincts.

First off, the wheels are super comfortable. Running the 25mm tyres at 90psi makes for an unbelievably comfortable riding experience. On the newly surfaced but unbelievably rough Miramar peninsular road I glided over the bumps smoothly. When using a more traditional wheel set I would find myself bumping and bouncing over the surface. When you’re doing a long ride this additional comfort is a big plus.

More impressively though, in addition to being comfortable, the lower pressure paradoxically makes the wheels easier to spin on rough surfaces. Rather than having to use energy to propel the bike forward after it lost momentum bouncing around, the bike smoothly rolls over any bumps. This energy saving was really noticeable on rough surfaces. At times I found myself deliberately riding on rough surfaces just because I could. I especially enjoyed this when riding with others who were on traditional wheels. Even on smooth tarmac the wheels rolled well, perhaps not as well as 120psi tyres but not dramatically worse. Regardless, in Wellington most of the time the road isn’t tarmac so the benefit heavily outweighs this.

The rims (and total weight) of the tubeless wheels are very light which helps these wheels spin and accelerate quickly. I was very impressed here, especially given the weight of the tyre being used. Running a softer and wider tyre also helps with grip. Something much appreciated during Wellington’s cold and wet winter. These tyres certainly felt stable in corners. Something that I can’t always say about others I use.

In addition to training, I used the wheels for a race down to the Wainui coast and back. This stretch of road is pretty rough so was a good opportunity to test the wheels. I raced with the tyres at 90psi, significantly lower than I would normally. I was a bit worried that the (lack of) pressure might be more noticeable in a race but the wheels performed admirably, rolling well and (as you would expect) smoothly on the rough surfaces. The wheels were plenty stiff enough for my 70(ish) kg frame under the accelerations, attacks and sprints that the race demanded.

Overall, despite my initial reservations I was well impressed by the wheels. So much so that I am reluctant to give them back. I would love to try them out with Hutchinson’s racing tubeless tyre which would shave another 60 grams per wheel of rotating weight off the package. Without doubt this would make them spin and accelerate better without compromising comfort.

You really should try these for yourself.

How is it so light? By thinning the diameter of the spoke at both the head, the thread, and the middle section they use less materal, and therefore less weight.

Most spokes use a 2.0mm head and most hubs are designed around this measurement. The SuperSpoke uses a 1.8mm head which will be a loose fit in almost all modern hubs. Some light weight hubs might come specially drilled for the smaller SuperSpoke which would be great, but for most hubs this is a real downside.

The center section of the SuperSpoke is 1.4mm in diamter – narrower than the Laser or Revolution which are both 1.5mm. The narrower center section will mean the spokes ‘windup’ more when being built, but this isn’t really a problem for an experienced wheel builder.

The threads of the SuperSpoke are 1.8mm (15 gauge) so will need to use 15 gauge nipples. Some other spokes like the DT Swiss SuperComp and Aero use 15g threads. Other than the weight savings there is no real benefit, but no real downside either (other than harder to find 15g nipples.) A 15g nipple is thicker and therefore theoretically stronger.

It’s very important to note that these spokes are 20% lighter and therefore 20% less-stiff than the already flexy Revolution / Laser / CX-Ray / Aerolite.

Sapim make some durability comparisons which is great except that well-built wheels with components chosen correctly for the application don’t break spokes.

So what is the purpose of these spokes? As I see it they fit well for only one type of wheel: where high spoke count is desired for durability and less susceptibility to accident damage but isn’t required for stiffness. A 32h downhill wheel with a stiff rim is a good example, or a front 32h road training wheel.

Downhill is going through another weightweenie phase at the moment so I expect there will be some demand here, especially with very stiff rims like the carbon fiber Edge Composites.

For most other wheels a reduction in spoke weight isn’t really necessary: If the reduction in lateral stiffness is acceptable then weight can be reduced through the use of fewer spokes. Since aerodynamic drag is tied closely to the number of spokes it makes sense (especially on a road wheel) to go this route. The round-section SuperSpoke will also not be as aerodynamic as the bladed CX-Ray / Aerolite.

It’s great to see some development in spokes and more options are always better! This is a specialist spoke and will have a narrow range of applications but it’s great to see Sapim pushing forward.

On with the macro:

The new shifters are super cool with the light weight barrel adjusters and textured thumb paddle, and the new brakes are the best looking Shimano brake since XTR cantilevers.

I’ll get some close-up pics if there is any interest?

I have found that when taking small (less than 1/2mm) cuts that the spoke ends can jam the shear and stop the spring from returning correctly. Luckily the Morizumi is such a well thought-out design that the shear is easy to dismantle and clean.

In the photos you can see the silver steel shear and the small spoke ends which have caused it to jam.

XTR M980 low-clamp double-chainring front derailleur and M981 high mount triple ring derailleur. Not as light as XX but at least they’ll fit on the bike without the shocks air-can hitting the clamp at 3/4 travel…

The Alpha 340 uses the same Bead Socket Technology (“BSD”) as Stan’s mountain bike rims and is designed to be used with RoadTubeless tyres, but like the mtb version any normal clincher tire and inner tube will work.  RoadTubeless tyres are similar to UST montain bike tires:  they’re airtight and have a very strong bead which resists blowing off the rim.  To run tubeless on a road bike you must use a RoadTubeless tire – unlike on the mountain bike where most standard tires will hold air with some sealant – because of the much higher pressures involved.

The two Alpha 340 rims I received weigh 360g and 363g with 6 decals on each rim…a little more than the claimed 340 grams but still very light.

These rims will be built up to a pair of white DT Swiss 240s hubs as a demo pair for Wheelworks customers so if you’re interested in trying RoadTubeless drop me a line. I’ll update this page with a bit more info about wheel stiffness once the wheels are built but this will be a few days as I’ve got a queue of customer wheels to build first.

Rim width (at the top of the brake track): 20.35mm

Rim depth: 22.40mm

ERD: 593mm (claimed 591mm)

These calcs will work with disc or non-disc hubs – remember that all Rohloffs are 32 hole and to be laced 2x both sides.

If you’re using spokes available in 2mm increments then round up to the next size, ie: if the chart suggests 261mm then round up to 262mm.

I’ve found that DT Swiss nipples work the best for the high exit angle caused by the Rohloffs large flanges and I generally avoid DT Swiss rims as I’ve found the eyelets restrict the rotation of the spoke nipple.

Rohloffs seem a bit intimidating to build at first but once you’ve done a few they’re actually very easy – the symmetrical flanges and large distance between spoke holes makes them easy to lace and the flange spacing builds into a pretty stiff rear wheel.

The front hub weighs 162g, the rear 250g – in total that’s lighter than a pair of DT Swiss 240s 6-bolt hubs for about half the price!

All front hubs are pretty straight forward and there is generally little to go wrong:  two bearings held on an axle.  The rear hub is the important one – a poor quality freehub mechanism spells the death of a rear hub.  The Stan’s design is quite straight forward – there is a large 15mm diameter axle running end-to-end supporting the freehub body and hub shell.  Each endcap is removable and the hub can be disaembled with two 5mm allen keys and one 10mm.  Once the driveside endcap is removed the freehub body pulls straight off the axle.

The freehub is a fairly standard 3-pawl system and each pawl has it’s own spring.  There wasn’t much grease in the freehub, probably so it sounds loud in the showroom, but I’ll add a bit of oil to keep things running smoothly.  The freehub is sealed using a tapered contact seal – I’ve never seen one of these used for this purpose before.

All the parts are replaceable and the Stan’s importer has promised to keep all small parts available which is great news should anything go wrong or get damaged.

The included quick release levers are good quality, reasonable weight, and have a secure, positive feel.

All up I’m impressed.  Durability has yet to be tested in local conditions but guys in the USA have been using these hubs for a while now with no problems.