I knew somebody was going to bring up the Crank Brothers wheels. Those wheels are a few years old, but I haven't run them consistently. I ran them for a while on the Ghost test bike that I had, and then I moved them on to the Devinci Spartan once I finished up the Deore XT test. They've got a good year-and-a-half of old guy who doesn't ride enough use on them. I know they have a bad reputation, but honestly, they've been flawless:
1 - Totally sealed. No rim tape to worry about. Honestly, that tire swap that you saw the end of in the videos was ridiculously easy, and they tend to hold air really, really well.
2 - Super easy maintenance. Freehub bodies swap really easily (although are reverse threaded, which it took me a while to figure out) and I've seen a wheel build done in about 5 minutes. Spokes are super easy to swap, if need be, but I've had some pretty direct hits to a spoke and none have broken on me.
3 - They're still running straight.
4 - I don't know how to say it any other way, but they feel really light.
Faults? They could be a bit wider, but the newer generations may have caught up.
It's really too bad that they wrecked their reputation with their initial launch, because I've been pretty happy with them.
I was also thinking about the hose when I watched my video. Sort of "I probably shouldn't have had my face that close to everything". But the pressure through the hose and at the wheel never got above 35 psi. I think the worst that would happen would be a hose blowing off a fitting. There should be far more worry at the presta fill valve on the bottle, which is seeing the full pressure.
March 9, 2017, 9:42 a.m. - Dave Tolnai
I knew somebody was going to bring up the Crank Brothers wheels. Those wheels are a few years old, but I haven't run them consistently. I ran them for a while on the Ghost test bike that I had, and then I moved them on to the Devinci Spartan once I finished up the Deore XT test. They've got a good year-and-a-half of old guy who doesn't ride enough use on them. I know they have a bad reputation, but honestly, they've been flawless: 1 - Totally sealed. No rim tape to worry about. Honestly, that tire swap that you saw the end of in the videos was ridiculously easy, and they tend to hold air really, really well. 2 - Super easy maintenance. Freehub bodies swap really easily (although are reverse threaded, which it took me a while to figure out) and I've seen a wheel build done in about 5 minutes. Spokes are super easy to swap, if need be, but I've had some pretty direct hits to a spoke and none have broken on me. 3 - They're still running straight. 4 - I don't know how to say it any other way, but they feel really light. Faults? They could be a bit wider, but the newer generations may have caught up. It's really too bad that they wrecked their reputation with their initial launch, because I've been pretty happy with them. I was also thinking about the hose when I watched my video. Sort of "I probably shouldn't have had my face that close to everything". But the pressure through the hose and at the wheel never got above 35 psi. I think the worst that would happen would be a hose blowing off a fitting. There should be far more worry at the presta fill valve on the bottle, which is seeing the full pressure.