these are the same premium wheels handmade in North America with our patented PBO fiber spokes and CNC machined hubs with Hadley racing cassette bodies.
I'm intrigued by the 'spokes' and claims you can't get these out of true as they don't seem to be serviceable by myself or my LBS...
Btw what was the thinking behind having a substantially smaller inner width for the carbon vs alu version (18 vs 24mm resp)? And how can a carbon wheelset be the same weight as a 6mm wider alu version? Did you need to add that much more layers of carbon to get a structurally sound hoop?
Right now it seems there is no reason to pay $450 more for the carbon version.
Carbon GXC is deeper and more aerodynamic. 32mm aero profile versus 20 mm box section so for riders doing mixed terrain( think BWR, with extended road sections) the aero benefit is a consideration. If you are purely riding offroad at speeds lower than 15mph, you are correct the GX is probably a better choice. As far as truing the wheels if they need to be, anyone can do it. We include the tools with the wheelset. Its much like truing a traditional wheel. Because PBO fiber has almost zero creep( stretch over time), it is unlikely the wheels will come out of true. Weve had some customers report 12 years of riding and never having to true their wheels.
Thanks for explaining the difference is in the hoop profile and height, I missed that.
I know you market these wheels as 'never coming out of true' but if you don't talk about how to fix potentially out of true I think a lot of folks are hesitant to jump in. Especially bike packers are going to need some convincing they can service these wheels by themselves with their current tools.
agreed, we need to address it. Like I said, shops and consumers who have done it, can tell you how easy it is. Maybe I can get some testimonials up on our site. We are quite popular in the tandem community for exactly those reasons, heavy loads on the wheels and they dont come out of true or break spokes but if they do, the spokes can be carried in a seatbag( as they can be rolled up in ball) and serviced on the road
I had a set of Spinergy wheels with the PBO spokes on a road racing bike about 15 years ago. They came stock on my Litespeed, which was one of the aluminum Litespeeds (they made Al bikes for a couple years). That was seriously one of the nicest riding bikes I’ve ever had (including several very high end steel bikes and a carbon fiber road bike). Was it the frame? It had some sort of special alloy, highly sloped top tube so I had a lot of seat post length, and carbon fiber seat stays. Or was it the wheels? I did ride that bike with other wheels sometimes and I think it was less smooth without the spinergy wheels, so I attributed some of that nice road feel to the wheels and those PBO spokes.
Here’s my question. How will those spokes hold up when rocks and other debris hit them on rough gravel routes?
Lammark wrote:I had a set of Spinergy wheels with the PBO spokes on a road racing bike about 15 years ago. They came stock on my Litespeed, which was one of the aluminum Litespeeds (they made Al bikes for a couple years). That was seriously one of the nicest riding bikes I’ve ever had (including several very high end steel bikes and a carbon fiber road bike). Was it the frame? It had some sort of special alloy, highly sloped top tube so I had a lot of seat post length, and carbon fiber seat stays. Or was it the wheels? I did ride that bike with other wheels sometimes and I think it was less smooth without the spinergy wheels, so I attributed some of that nice road feel to the wheels and those PBO spokes.
Here’s my question. How will those spokes hold up when rocks and other debris hit them on rough gravel routes?
The spokes are incredibly tough, we have seen almost zero spoke breakage over the last 20 years of producing them. The original PBO wheels were designed for MTB and Steve Larsen raced them to many National wins. We also supplied the Rocky Mountain Freeride team in the early years, Wade Simmons, Richie Schley, Thomas Vanderham. Watch what those guys do on bikes. It makes gravel riding conditions seem like riding in a velodrome.
"It makes gravel riding conditions seem like riding in a velodrome." That made me chuckle. You probably are not referring to our outdoor wooden velodromes (or our 50 year old cement one), as sometimes our gravel is smoother than those tracks (Michigan). LOL.
But hey, if the tandem crowd can use them, they should be fine on a gravel bike (kinda cool being able to store a spoke in a seat bag).
agreed about old velodromes. We had a cyclocross race that finished on the San Diego velodrome before they re surfased it a few years ago and I think that was the roughest part of the course!
The spokes are incredibly tough, we have seen almost zero spoke breakage over the last 20 years of producing them. The original PBO wheels were designed for MTB and Steve Larsen raced them to many National wins. We also supplied the Rocky Mountain Freeride team in the early years, Wade Simmons, Richie Schley, Thomas Vanderham. Watch what those guys do on bikes. It makes gravel riding conditions seem like riding in a velodrome.
Good to know about the MTB and free ride history of those spokes. I need new wheels for an on-going Lynskey build so I’ll look closer at your GX wheels.
I've got one ride in on a set of GX 650b wheels. They were built up a couple of weeks ago and I asked for them to be built up with 1 red spoke. Came out real nice. WIth only one ride on them its hard to speak to longevity but they feel very nice. Spin up quick and absorbed everything I could throw at them.
Considering another set in 700c for gravel racing which could include any type of terrain. Would the GXC's be a good choice or would they primarily be for good road conditions only? Putting this question another way, who or what type of rider is the GXC wheel aimed at? It's not lighter but it is likely stiffer. Does that translate to a less forgiving ride or do the spokes soak up the harshness leaving razor sharp handling with a side of cush?
I still have an '03 Ti Litespeed with the xaero lites that came on it. I still ride this bike regularly and they have never gone out of true. I have serviced the rear hub 3 times but that was something I could easily do myself. I now have a set of the GX 650bs on my Lynskey and have been very pleased with them.
trail wrote:I've got one ride in on a set of GX 650b wheels. They were built up a couple of weeks ago and I asked for them to be built up with 1 red spoke. Came out real nice. WIth only one ride on them its hard to speak to longevity but they feel very nice. Spin up quick and absorbed everything I could throw at them.
Considering another set in 700c for gravel racing which could include any type of terrain. Would the GXC's be a good choice or would they primarily be for good road conditions only? Putting this question another way, who or what type of rider is the GXC wheel aimed at? It's not lighter but it is likely stiffer. Does that translate to a less forgiving ride or do the spokes soak up the harshness leaving razor sharp handling with a side of cush?
GXC is aimed at "Gravel Race, Cyclocross" lightweight, aero for tires up to 40mm. That being said, we use them on all of our "gravel Plus" rides around here. Basically riding gravel bikes on MTB trails over rocks roots, down staircases etc. The wheels are bombproof. One of our local riders just finished 3rd at the Rock Cobbler in Bakersfield on a set.
It seems like the options are still pretty narrow. Are you looking to expand the inner dimensions to match available tires? I'm looking for a more aero road wheel for a 36mm tire, but 19mm inner seems too narrow. I thought for sure your aero gravel option would be wider, but no.
