Saturday, August 25, 2007

The New Hoops Are Here!





Well, another piece of the Badger puzzle arrived yesterday in the form of this wheel set. I wanted originally to go all siver, but the lack of silver rims in a tubeless capable format made me change my mind to going with this combination.

All business,no fluff here. Black Stan's flow rims, DT Swiss spokes and alloy nipples in silver, and black Chris King ISO disc hubs.






I have built wheels using Chris King hubs before, but I have never owned a set until now. I've always admired their precision, inner workings, and good looks.












Angry bee sounds will be eminating from this sonic source. Aluminum free hub body keeps things light weight.

All black anodized in the "Kerkove Nation" colors.









Stan's Flow rims are wide for a good tire stance on the trail. Tubeless compatible, I will be able to also run tubes if I have to/want to. This rim will allow me to be a bit more aggresive with the Badger off road and yet is reasonably light weight, so it won't hinder me much at all on the gravel grinders.











The yellow rim strip and tubeless valve stems are all installed and ready to go. I'll be trying out some Stan's sealant with these when I get around to mounting them up with tires. That might be before the Badger is done! I am wanting to run a test of some tubeless stuff for Twenty Nine Inches yet this fall, so I may need to press this wheel set into service sooner than the Badger will get done.

The wheels were built by George Wissell at Bike 29. Bike 29 is dedicated to 29"ers all the time and this wheel set is an example of what George calls a "Royale" build. He builds each wheel by hand and being a wheel builder myself, I can say that he has done an excellent job on these wheels.

I expect that these wheels will provide miles and miles of smiles once I get them on a bike. That will probably be sooner than later! I'll chime in once I get these out on the trail and let you all know what I think.

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