The second half of my season was spent entirely on Spank's Subrosa rim. I laced them to a set of Saint hubs and mounted the wheels on a Giant Faith for some bike park, DH style shredding to see if they would hold up...
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Review by David Peacock
This summer I put in time on a few different sets of rims, including the classic Mavic 823, a stock Sun MTX31 and the Spank Subrosa. This review will be dedicated to the final product listed, Spanks 520 gram offering, the Subrosa. The Subrosa is marketed towards the rider who partakes in light freeride and all mountain epics, but I decided to push these particular golden hoops a little out of their comfort zone and use them on my bike park steed. Lets just say that, in my opinion, if a force of nature that insists so persistently that I obey, I probably should. As a result, I find myself going downhill more often than not when on my bike. And so, my term on the rims was spent pounding through rock gardens and attempting to avoid the inevitable "jank" that jumping causes.
Remember to click on the photos for hi-res...
Spank's Ooh-Bah technology essentially means that the tube-well is inverted, which Spank claims increases rigidity of the rim.
I am going to offer my honest thoughts on the Subrosa; some may find that refreshing, some may so eloquently label it bull****, but regardless of the general perception my thoughts remain true. Moving on, this set of Subrosas has been on my bike since early August (the 3rd, to be precise), and I have received two flat tires over that period. Incidentally, the first of these occurred the very first day after I proudly mounted my set of gold 26 rims on my gold-accented Giant Faith. Yes, very fly. Immediately, I had my reservations. While riding In Deep in Whistler, I became stuck behind a less vitesse-possessed rider and ended up rolling through a rocky section on a bad line. The flat led to a very long walk down the mountain, so needless to say my tool-less self was less than impressed. After changing the tube, all the while wishing the prices of the Bike and Bean weren't otherworldly, my experience on the Subrosa took a turn for the better. Tires mount easily and come off without much pain, most rubber (Minions, Nevegals, High Rollers) could be exchanged by hand, which makes life easier, and boosts ones self esteem, if nothing else.
The Subrosa, as previously mentioned, caters specifically to the all mountain market, but as Ive found out fair equally well when used for DH. As a testament to this, Spank rider Remi Gauvin picked up a National Championship on his set of Subrosas; while I was far from picking up podiums of that scale, when paired up with Saint hubs I was at least emboldened, and numerous overshot transitions re-affirmed my faith in the rim. At 520 grams, they are 70 grams lighter than Mavics EX 721, which I have used for similar riding to less avail. The rims have stayed true throughout the duration of their use, with minor tweaking of the spokes from time to time, and have yet to obtain any flat spots. Previously, I have had a series of terrible experiences in the Whistler Bike Park with wheels essentially coming undone at random. While you may cry negligence, my approach to maintenance remained the same with the Subrosas set it and forget it.
Believe it or not, both the rim and myself survived this foray into the dirt jumping realm...
One very nice feature that I found pleasing, being a bit egotistical and aesthetically inclined, is the variety of colors that are available. The rim comes in black, white, green, gold and chocolate. I opted for the gold, which garnered many covetous stares from other riders (and their girlfriends) but seriously, the gold was a nice touch, although in dusty conditions it did tend to become more of a matte gold.
In concluding this review I will leave you with my ultimate thought of the rim, that for 59$ US, or 79$ in the case of the gold option, it is an absolute steal. This particular set of Subrosas endured a lot, and was receptive to the abuse. Pushing it outside of the marketing label was an interesting test of its mettle, so to speak, and it proved worthy of everything I could muster.
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