Latest Custom Builds — Wheel Builds

Andy is a known bike trasher. He rides hard, and often. After smashing quite a few wheels that came as original equipment on his bikes, he asked us to build some solid Trail wheels for an upcoming race in Canada. Knowing how he rides, we suggested the super reliable Spank Oozy Trail 350 rims. They are lightish, super stiff, look great and robust. Not expensive either. DT Swiss 350 hubs are a wise choice too. Easy to get parts for, and a reasonable weight, once upgraded to the 54t freehub ratchet system, they are a solid workhorse. Sapim Race spokes...

A mate of Colin's (Joe, actually) suggested he talk to us about some new wheels to replace some Fulcrums he'd started to wear out. Colin's Fulcrums were starting to break spokes after about 15,000km. Not great mileage, but about what you would expect. Colin needed some wheels for an upcoming trip to climb the Cols of Europe, and reliability and weight (and some added aero) were important. He was also keen to ensure more mileage from this set of hoops. The XLR8 Rouleur Mk4 is the latest generation of alloy "all round" road rims from XLR8. Made in Taiwan from...

Madi had been riding a set of ENVE carbon MTB wheels for some time, but always struggled to get tyres on and off. The final straw was a crack that appeared in one. It was time for some new rims. She approached us to rebuild her DT Swiss 240 hubs onto some wide, reliable and light 26" rims. Being lightweight (but still loving the tougher downhill tracks) we knew that the Syntace MX series of rims would be perfect for her. The Syntace W35 MX rims are 30mm internally, but impressively light. The finish is fantastic as well, with the Satin bead...

Josh emailed us looking for a new rear wheel for his trusty XC bike. He's been rocking 26 inch wheels up until now, and can't see the benefit of moving onto the bigger wheel sizes. He specifically races XC and ride Trails around Canberra, and sought our advice about a perfromance wheelset that was not too expensive, but offered a perfromance upgrade on his current wheels. After putting some quotes together, he realised the options we were suggesting enabled him to get a pair of wheels, and stay within his budget. Winner! We selected the Alexrims SPRK 2.1 rims as they...

Andy is a great repeat customer. He's had a few pairs of our hoops and got in contact one morning requiring a new rear wheel ASAP. We scoured the XLR8 labs and found a few choice parts in order to put together a reliable and race worth wheel, that he could pick up at the end of the day, but that would also not break the bank! The tried and true Alex SX44 29er rim was laced to the silver Deore XT Centrelock hub (oversized alloy axle) with Sapim Race spokes and brass nipples. We also converted the wheel to...