Latest Custom Builds — Wheel Builds

Michael called with an unusual request - he wanted a pair of wheels to "last the rest of his life!". Just about to retire, and wanted wheels to suit his Yeti that are super reliable, and a modern width for his local rocky Canberra trails. He still rides pretty gnarly stuff, so we suggested the Project 321 hubs. He liked this idea as their Turquoise colour works well with his Yeti. They are also bombproof and have an industry leading 216 points of engagement! Not expensive either! We discussed rims for quite a while, and he agreed with our suggestion for...

Adam shot us an email after meeting one of our other customers at Thredbo bike park. He'd been having issues with two consecutive sets of factory wheelsets, and had decided he needed some tough reliable XLR8 wheels. He usually rides the rocky technical trails around Sydney, and being a heavier bloke, wanted a tough light wheelset with burly hubs. As a result we selected the Nextie Carbon Premium Enduro 27.5" rims with a 29mm internal width. A reinforced carbon 36h rear rim and a White Industries XMR hub was used. The additional 35g of weight from the spokes and the extra...

Ian phoned with a requirement to replace an ageing and unreliable front 29er wheel. He's a rider from the nearby Gold Coast, so we knew well the tracks he rode. Initially we discussed an alloy replacement for his wheel, very similar to what he had. However, Nextie carbon offerings are so well priced, the cost to upgrade to wider, stiffer and lighter carbon is not great. Together we decided that a 30mm internal width rim would be a great choice for the XC/Trail style usage he needed. Coming in at just over 500g, these rims are light for their sturdiness,...

The brief was simple, could this once ridden pair MTB hubs be reused in a pair of Gravel/Grandfondo wheels for a road bike? At XLR8 we relish these challenges. These hubs had been ridden once on a test ride, and then the wheels parked. They were a 10s hub, but we had the freehub and the hub body machined to ensure that an 11s cassette would clear (note this is not possible on all hubs*), and adapted the front 15mm thru axle front hub to 9mm quick release (using White Industries adaptors). The Hplusson THE HYDRA is an excellent choice for lightweight disc...

Alasdair wanted a stealth wheelset that would be perfect for all round off road train riding. He was specifically after reliability, with a good dose of stiffness and light weight. Wanting to migrate in the direction of wider tyres as well, we chose Nextie's Asymmetrical 38mm carbon rim. It's 32mm wide internally, dramatically increasing the air volume of tyres on the 2.3-2.5" range so that tyre pressures can be confidently dropped - for great traction, grip and taking the edge of small trail imperfections. White Industries XMR+ Boost hubs are the logical choice for simple reliability. They are an old...