Last post was about nutrition and what it takes for me to get through my training days as well as Belgian Waffle Ride. Now we are going to move on to the fun stuff which is the actual machine that will get me to the finish of every Power Gauntlet race I have planned for this year as well as the training rides leading up to each race. For me, hands down the items that have concerned me the most on the bike are the wheels and tires as these are the main components which have to work flawlessly to get me from start to finish. Today we discuss wheels.
So many bicycles come complete with carbon fiber wheels from the factory including the 2019 Giant Revolt Advanced 1. So why would I change the wheels for a different set of carbon fiber wheels. Well the answer to this can be found in the hub and the spoke technology of Spinergy wheels. The hubs are manufactured by Hadley which in my experience have been used when building wheels for football players so I know they are virtually bomb proof. The spokes feature PBO technology which in easy terms means that unless you cut them with scissors they are not going to break which also leads to less truing of the wheels as the spoke tension does not fluctuate from getting hit by objects. Put these two things together and essentially you have a wheel that will keep spinning for miles and miles of smiles.
For more than a year I have been riding on a set of prototype carbon fiber gravel wheels and a set of GX aluminum gravel wheels both from Spinergy. The goal was to try everything I could to break the rims or spokes or hubs and after more than a year I can saw I threw everything I could at both sets of wheels and nothing happened. In fact when I had my new 2020 Giant Revolt Advanced 2 custom built the aluminum wheels were installed then swapped for the prototype carbon fiber wheels to prepare for Rock Cobbler and the service technician was amazed that both sets of wheels were true and asked when was the last time I trued them which I answered “Never, that is how they came from the factory” much to his amazement. The best story of putting the prototype carbon fiber wheels through hell was at Gravelstoke Great Western Reroute 2019 where there is a nasty rocky downhill section and I essentially hit everything in my path and heard a few loud hits from rocks but when I came to a stop at the bottom nothing was wrong. Similar story earlier this year while out on the Spinergy PBO Ride through Penasquitos Canyon with the GX aluminum wheels in the cobble area where I went through the nasty rocks bouncing around and hearing loud pings and at the end of the ride nothing was wrong and the wheels did not need to be trued.
Prototype carbon fiber gravel wheels on the left. GXC gravel wheels with bladed spokes on the right.
Feel free to reach out to me with any additional questions or if you are interested in getting your own set of Spinergy wheels. The colored spokes can be custom designed in your own pattern as well as the color of the wheel decals. They also offer road and MTB wheels which I have not personally used however I have heard the XC wheels are just as awesome as the gravel wheels.
3 different gravel wheels to help you get dirty. Which one will you choose – or maybe get 2 sets for different tires?
