Wheelworks.co.nz, Handbuilt wheels by Tristan Thomas

I’ve been running RoadTubeless on my commuter bike for over 18 months now with great results. When I heard about the new Alpha 340 road rim from Stan’s I pulled a favour from local importer CycleTech to get a pair of early production rims.

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)