Latest Custom Builds

Elite riders are no stranger to XLR8. Listed as repeat customers are plenty of Ironman competitors, an ex-German National Champ, National level road and MTB racers, and over the last few years a very vocal Aussie MTB racer. She's ridden both MTB Marathon XC Worlds and more recently UCI MTB Worlds in Cairns. She's been riding our hoops for several years now, quietly. Not like her really, but I suppose that's what happens when you are sponsored by a multinational bike company! Driven in all aspects of her busy life, she has a "take no prisoners" riding style, and recently cracked...

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...

Dan has been riding his Zerode Taniwha (Māori pronunciation: "tanifa") on 26" wheels for some time now, and felt the need to move up to 27.5". The bike is quite special, utilising a centralised 12 spd pinion gearbox that offers a very large spread of gears beyond today's 1x systems. A special Singlespeed rear wheel is required (as there is no rear derailleur). Dan wanted a bombproof hub, that is Singlespeed specific, with instant engagement, and silent. It's not easy to find all those things in a hub, but Project321 offered everything he needed, just not in s Singlespeed version. Yet. We contacted Project321...

Ricky asked what would be a good all alloy round rim to use his DT Swiss 240s hubs on - considering he weighs 95kgs. The hubs were 20h front and 24h rear, so in order to preserve stiffness and reliability, a sturdier deeper section rim is required. The Kinlin XC279 was an obvious choice. It's 23mm wide, 28mm deep, and tough as nails.

Jeff is restoring a late 80s Shogun Alpine touring bike. He planning on using it for what it is intended, and needed our help to build the right wheels - tough, lightish, and smart. We favour the Alexrims DM21 and (it's slightly slimmer brother) the DM18 for builds like this. These rims are very tough, have a nice box section profile and build very stiff wheels. Both are reasonably wide (23mm and 19mm respectively) so work well with modern touring and training tyre widths (28c or more). They are both eyeleted for strength, and (for a wheelbuilder) are an absolute...