Twenty Nine Inches has recieved a set of Easton’s newest XC-One single speed specific 29″er wheels to review and test. These wheels feature Easton’s own hubs and rims which are unique and and are laced with 24 spokes each.
The rear hub is a cassette stlye hub and comes with Easton’s own red anodized lockring and spacers in black. Nice! The wheels we recieved were also ready to go out of the box with rim tape installed and a set of Easton skewers ready to attach these to your single speed device. Got a track end and need more grip on the drop out? have no fear! Easton even supplies a solid aluminum axle with bolts that you can swap out for the QR axle. We didn’t bust the hub open to try the swap, but we understand that it isn’t all that hard to accomplish. Of course, if you have any doubts about tackling this, go directly to your local bike shop mechanic!
Our pair weighed in at 1700 grams on our scale. The claimed weight is 1695 grams. Hmm….pretty close, we’ll call it a wash there. The rims are a bit on the narrow side at 23.5mm wide on the outside. These are definitely disc brake only rims and the hubs support the six bolt standard. In other techy bits, these wheels roll on oversize U.S. precision bearings. The pre-load is said to be “self adjusting” which is claimed will eliminate “wheel wobble”. These wheels are not tubeless compatible. The spoking pattern is 3 cross and the spokes are Sapim models. The nipples are all alloy with the exception of the drive side on the rear wheel which are brass.
I got these over to Captain Bob to have him install them on the Soul Cycles Dillinger and here are his initial thoughts on them:
Twenty Nine Inches recently took delivery of the new Easton XC One 29 wheels. Single speed specific. They are a very nice looking wheelset as you can see by the pictures. Pretty stealth looking too, with the hubs, spokes, nipples and rims all being black. The finish on the rims are a more of a hammered texture than most. Almost a satin look. They actually look like they will resist scratching a bit better. I will try to get a better macro picture and if I can capture the detail I will get it posted for you. It is more like what you see on handlebars and stems. I like it. Another unique feature is that where the spokes cross each other they do not actually touch. The one spoke crosses behind instead of over the other spoke. The Easton skewers are pretty agressive, so I will make sure to takes notes on how well they hold the wheels in place.
The race tires we were expecting to put on these wheels didn’t show up in time for the trip to Minnesota that I took with G-Ted. So, I mounted up the Schwalbe Racing Ralph 2.4’s. I had been running these most of the summer on the Soul Cycles Dillinger. Besides, running the same tires right away gives me a better idea of the differences I would notice when swapping wheels.
We rode some pretty sweet singletrack while up in Minnesota and I am pretty pleased at how they performed thus far. However, I would like to get a few more rides in before I make too many comments.
Stay tuned as I will report back very soon. Those “race” tires we have been waiting for are now in and sitting in the G-Ted lab just waiting to be thrashed. By Me! I can’t wait!
Captain Bob
Thanks Captain! I actually got to ride the wheels when we switched over for a bit up there in Minnesota. thought the hubs were so smooth and I seemed to be able to detect that I could coast faster and longer than on the wheels I was riding just before. The engagement seemed fine. The freehub was nominally quiet, no issues there. I thought that the wheels were smooth feeling as well, but not whippy or flexy in a bad way. Climbing felt sorted, and hard corners felt confidence inspiring. weird for such a narrow rim and low spoke count, but there it is!
As Captain Bob says,we need more trail time before we really get a handle on these wheels so stay tuned!
sweet!
any word on availability, and of course, price?
looking forward to the full report!
ok, forget I said that – just found them online for $799 SRP at Cambria Bike.
What is the count on the hub engagement 18, 24,…?
Im trying to decide between these and stans 355s with AC hubs do you think the Eatons will be stiffer for the little weight penalty?
twostep: I’ll have to get Captain Bob to answer that hub engagement question for you, but I will venture a guess and say something in regards to the second question.
In my opinion, the Easton’s would be a more predictable, better feeling wheelset under an aggressive rider. In my experience, Stan’s 355’s are softer and a bit flexy. (Of course, the individual wheel builder will influence this to a great degree)
The Easton’s are “springy”. I know they are not really 100% rigid laterally, but they don’t give me the “heebie-jeebies” in corners that some wheels do when they wobble or flex all of a sudden. The give, but in a very predictable, nice feeling manner. It’s hard to convey what Captain Bob and I feel, but they ride like no other wheel set I have ridden, and yes- I like them.
Hey Ted/Bob…
Great review. I actually read this review series before ordering the wheels. Picked them up the other night from my local shop, threw them on…and the bike looks great. I’ve not yet taken the spacers off…& installed a cog yet. I’ve not been able to determine whether or not the freehub body is aluminum or steel…according to the interwebnz and/or owners manual. So, what do you suggest as far as cog manufacturer…is there a preferred make over the others? Sorry for the likely lame question…as I am a newbie to singlespeed MTB nerdery. (i’m a total road & fixed gear nerd)
@RocketRuss: I like the Surly cogs for dead reliability, but I have used Endless cogs and Misfit cogs with great success and they are very light. (Of course, they do not last as long either. 😉 )
My new favorite cogs are the Homebrewed Components cogs which come in various anodized colors, styles, and even in titanium. http://www.homebrewedcomponents.com/store.php
Does Easton supply the solid axle conversion as aftermarket?
How does the swap-out work?
@Matt: I never swapped out axles, but unless you are comfortable wrenching on bicycle stuff, I’d recommend taking it to a shop to swap over. It gets a bit involved for mechanical neophytes. The axle did come with the wheel set, by the way. I would imagine one could contact Easton for an axle conversion kit if you need one for an Easton wheel.