Latest Custom Builds — Hope

Neil is a very frequent flyer here at XLR8 Wheels. We've built some cool wheels for him (and there are more to come). That's the greatest compliment we can get - repeat business from astute customers. Always working on a new bike project, he got in contact with a plan to have some Hope RS4 road hubs built onto some DT Swiss R500 rims. We agreed, both solid component choices. Neil also likes the fact that the hubs are easily convertible to 12mm thru axles if he ever needs to do so in the future. As is often the case,...

Matt loves his Commencal hardtail. He's riding it all the time, but what he does not like is the lower spec hubs in the OEM wheelset. Particularly the 30 degrees engagement of the freehub. That's a lot of "dead pedalling" when he really wants to get the power down. We rebuilt his rear wheel with a Hope Pro4 Boost rear hub. He now only needs to rotate the freehub by 8.2 degrees to pick up the power. A significant improvement, with added hub reliability and quality from Hope as well. We used Sapim leader plain gauge spokes on the rear driveside, and...

We built a pair of Hope hubs on Spank rims for a mate of Nick’s and he was so impressed he came to us for advice. He advised us of a history of smashing wheels on Sydney’s Upper North Shore - trails we at XLR8 know well. Hope Pro4 hubs and Spank Spike rims are logical choices. Both are not the lightest product out there, but they are good value and super tough! Sapim Race spokes and brass nipples are all that is required to keep the front wheel together, laced in an uber reliable 3x pattern. On the rear...

Matt is an old friend from way back. He's an avid singlespeeder and very very handy down hill. He was keen to build some new XC wheels for his old singlespeed and came to us for this, his fourth set of XLR8 wheels. Matt likes the Light Bicycle product and selected their 27mm wide 29er rim, that comes in at a scant 360g! On his supplied Hope hubs we used plain gauge Sapim Leader spokes on the rear wheel (to ensure optimum stiffness - he rides hard) and double butted Sapim Race spokes on the front - both in no frills...

Ted was keen for some new hoops and approached us for advice on wheels to replace the alloy Roval 29er wheels on his 2017 Specialized Enduro. He was specifically after a wider rim and had a weight target in mind. He rides technical and rocky trails, and had smashed up his Rovals, so reliability was paramount. Following some discussions, we suggested a Nextie Carbon rim build with silver Sapim Race spokes and brass nipples. The silver spokes always look classy and help to recover some of the additional cost of going carbon - not that the additional cost over premium alloy...