Anyone have much time on Spank Spike Evo 35AL or Race 28 Evo rims?

[0110-M-P]

I'm thinking about building up a second/new set of wheels for the 2013 Jedi with the goal of saving some weight without sacrificing to much strength. Right now I am on a Mavic EX823(rear) and EX721(front) setup laced to Hope Pro2 hubs w/ DT Swiss Competition spokes. I will be keeping these wheels as backup/mud spike wheels if I do end up building a new set.

So, I'm considering either running a Spike Evo 35 in the rear and a Spike Race 28 in the front, or just dual Evo 35's. I'm still undecided on hubs, but I will continue to run DT Competition spokes and a tubeless setup. By running dual Evo 35's, I should drop the total wheelset weight by ~120g and running an Evo 35/Race 28 setup should drop ~219g.

That nearly half a pound in rim weight is what really sparked this thought, but I haven't seen many people who have been running them yet. So anyone got any real time on either of these rims?

[General Lee]

This doesn't address your question directly, but I've been testing a complete Oozy EVO 26 wheelset on my all mtn bike, done a bit of everything from shorter DH racing to several hour shuttle runs. I purposely haven't touched them since putting them on my bike and the rims are good as new, spokes are fully tensioned and the rear wheel is maybe 1mm out of true. At 1650g a pair for the production ones I've no doubt the more burly DH options you are looking at will hold up well.

Just wrapped up a piece on the Spank rim factory actually, you should see it online some time next week and the full review of the wheels shortly to follow.

[BmxConvert]

I don't have any direct experience with the Spank rims yet, however with the experiences I've had running their bars and stems the last 2 years on all my bikes I went for it and got the Spike 28 Evo Race wheelset for my 2.5 Wetscreams and other narrower tires based on conditions as well as the Spike 35 Evo to lace to my current hubset for my everyday thrashing.

This doesn't address your question directly, but I've been testing a complete Oozy EVO 26 wheelset on my all mtn bike, done a bit of everything from shorter DH racing to several hour shuttle runs. I purposely haven't touched them since putting them on my bike and the rims are good as new, spokes are fully tensioned and the rear wheel is maybe 1mm out of true. At 1650g a pair for the production ones I've no doubt the more burly DH options you are looking at will hold up well.

Just wrapped up a piece on the Spank rim factory actually, you should see it online some time next week and the full review of the wheels shortly to follow.

The article done by Spank about the rim widths, and the upsides and downsides of wider and narrower rims was really good. Can you post a link or PM me a link when your article comes out?

[General Lee]

I don't have any direct experience with the Spank rims yet, however with the experiences I've had running their bars and stems the last 2 years on all my bikes I went for it and got the Spike 28 Evo Race wheelset for my 2.5 Wetscreams and other narrower tires based on conditions as well as the Spike 35 Evo to lace to my current hubset for my everyday thrashing.



The article done by Spank about the rim widths, and the upsides and downsides of wider and narrower rims was really good. Can you post a link or PM me a link when your article comes out?

That article on rim widths was by Mike Dutton, Spank's brand manager. The man knows his way around wheels that's for sure.

The factory tour and wheel review will be done in two parts on Vital, so you really can't miss it.

[Joz]

I am running the Spike Race28 wheelset since August 2012.
Before that I have been running a Nukeproof Generator XL/Mavic 721 wheel in the back and a Hope Pro 2 / Mavic EN521 combination up front.

Apart from saving some weight overall which is always nice, the biggest advantages of the Spank rims for me is, that they offer greater resistance to dents. 721 are great rims, but the Spanks seem to hold up just better.

With the Spank rims, I have done three races last season plus some off season hucking and so far, these wheels are turning out to be really strong.

Another point about the rims is the bead blast finish. I have been running a very old X9 derailleur and a even more worn out chain. The Ex721 soon had blank spots on the drive side from the chain slapping against the rim riding through rough terrain. The Spank rims however do not show any signs of carnage yet. It is just optics, and nothing directly functional, but anyway it's worth noting.

[EVRAC]

The article done by Spank about the rim widths, and the upsides and downsides of wider and narrower rims was really good.

That article on rim widths was by Mike Dutton, Spank's brand manager. The man knows his way around wheels that's for sure.

Can you share a link to this? Where was this posted?

[BmxConvert]

That article on rim widths was by Mike Dutton, Spank's brand manager. The man knows his way around wheels that's for sure.

The factory tour and wheel review will be done in two parts on Vital, so you really can't miss it.

I had the opportunity to meet and chat with Mike this year at Interbike. He has been very helpful in answering all of my never ending questions and helping track down the parts I've been looking for.

Can you share a link to this? Where was this posted?

It was emailed to me. I'll try to get it up here or find a proper link. It was for one of the magazines although I don't recall if it had been printed yet.

Here we go, apparently is was Bicycle Dealer Magazine: Rim width article It starts on page 10.

[0110-M-P]

Here we go, apparently is was Bicycle Dealer Magazine: Rim width article It starts on page 10.

Thanks for the link, that was a very well written article.

[0110-M-P]

Bumping this up...anyone else ridden these rims?

[Ipsec]

I've had the 35s laced to the stock Scott/Formula hubs on my Voltage for the last year, and I've been pretty happy with them.

I run them with tubes (until I get a new set of UST compatible tires), around 30-35lbs and they've suffered through everything I've thrown at them. Rear has a small dent from running too low of a pressure on a DH run and I landed off a drop onto a rock.

They seem reasonably light at 590ish grams for a fairly wide rim, and have held up well to my hackish, spray-and-pray style of riding.

I put a Race28 wheelset on my new Norco Aurum, which will be my race bike for 2013 now that I've relegated my Voltage to 6" trail bike duty. Wheelset seems very well built and finish appeared top notch. The Spoon hubs seem well built, and they are also whisper quiet (if you care about that).

I've only had 3 days of running them in the bike park and a couple local shuttle days, so I can't comment on long term durability yet. I will, however, be buying another set as backups. For the price I paid for the first set, and their claimed sub-2000 gram weight, it seems like a no-brainer.

If the Race28s hold up well enough, I may buy another set to replace the 35s on my Voltage as a lighter wheelset option.

[sbabuser]

I had a Spike 35 EVO on the back of my Jedi. With a couple layers of tape, it mounted up tubeless w/ no issues, and after a season of use the wheel was still straight and true. One of the tougher rims I've tried.

[0110-M-P]

Awesome, thanks for the info guy. Now to decide what combo of 28/35 I'm gonna do.

[Lelandjt]

I've been using Subrosa rims on my DH bike for 2 years now. I'm pretty happy with their strength/width/weight. I wish they were a little wider (maybe I'll go with the Spike next despite 50ish grams more weight) and a little more dent resistant (though the rim I dented beyond repair was SMASHED into a rock with questionable tire pressure). So, until something carbon catches my eye I'm sticking with Subrosas and Spikes. I have them tubeless with Gorilla tape and schrader valves cut from Stan's strips. Reasonably easy to mount tubeless and no leaking or burping.

[sysdev1]

i've been using spank spike evo 35al rims for about 6 months now. had them built with hope pro2 hubs and dtswiss competition spokes.

love the width. i think it adds to tire performance as i use these rims. i've used these on dh tracks, pump tracks, dj tracks, and general trail riding. i weigh about 185 lbs and so far, these rims have held up fine. wheels are still true to this day. i have nothing to complain about in terms of performance.

these rims are also beautiful - spankin beautiful! i have the blue ones.

[juanbeegas]

http://www.nsmb.com/review-spank-spike-race-28-evo-rim/