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Sunday, March 22, 2009

Stan's Notubes ZTR Race wheelset

I'd rather not write a full review on one ride, so I'll give you a basic rundown with specs and initial impressions:

First, out of the box my wheelset came in at 1,180 grams. Yes, 1,180. That includes valves and rim tape. I couldn't really wrap my head around it either, so you're not alone. I got them built in standard form, with black DT Swiss spokes (I think Revolutions), red alloy nipples, and American classic hubs.

This is my first experience with American Classic disc hubs, and so far I like them. I have heard a number of stories about older models from AC having bearing trouble, but from what I understand those issues have long-since been worked out.

Back to the wheels. Out of the box they were perfectly true vertically and laterally. Not a single nipple needed to be turned which is nice. Matt has gotten me used to building wheels, so grabbing a pair out of a box was nice.

After a quick shot of air from the compressor the tire bead set in. I decided to give the Notubes The Crow a shot since I liked them some much last season on my 29er. Once the bead was a filled the tires with some Notubes sealant and was on my way.

Today's ride started out with about 20 min on the road to warm up. I was shocked on fast those wheels spun up. A hard burst of power and I was rolling down the road at 27-28mph!

Once Matt and I hit Labaugh Woods since it was the only thing that wasn't closed because of mud. We dropped in from the road and tore through the first mile or two of single track. This was my first ride offroad in months now and my training has really been lacking, so I happy to have some super light wheels and my new ride.

Matt ended up flatting just a few miles in, so our ride was cut short, but the ZTR Race wheelset held air that was put in last night without losing pressure, which is something I noticed on previous Stan's wheelsets. Left overnight, I always saw a couple PSI lost.

I'm going to be spending as much time on these wheels as possible to see how they hold up. Any light wheelset can spin up fast and impress off the bat, but how will they do after months or even a year of riding under me? My technical skills are not going to impress anyone, I hit things hard and I'm not super smooth. We'll see how they do!

1 comment:

  1. That is freakishly light. Those wheels will be great at Xterra Nationals this year. The course is almost all climbing.

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