VITTORIA Daemion All Mountain/Enduro 29″ Wheelset – The Intro: by MiMü
VITTORIA is a well renowned brand for premium roadbike tires. Now, after renaming their MTB branch, GEAX, into VITTORIA, they are also building a reputation for mountain bike tires as well. We at TNI already had several reviews on GEAX tires (as for example the Gato 2.1 TNT or the Goma 2.3 TNT), and even some VITTORIA tires on the German sister site (29×3.0 Bombolino and the Barzo 2.25 TNT – both in German only).
By offering their own wheels, VITTORIA wants to take care of this crucial interface.
But VITTORIA, being one of the pioneers regarding the tubeless technology, knows that a tire only performs at its best when there is a positive match between tire and rim – especially when riding tubeless! Therefore they started developing rims and wheelsets under the VITTORIA label … a logical, but definitely bold decision. At last year’s Interbike, the Italians surprised us first with their collection of wheels. Some are made for XC and Marathon-racing, but our wheelset, called Daemion, is the right choice when you’re into riding All-Mountain or even Enduro. Available both in 29“ and 27.5“.
Some days ago a big box arrived from Bella Italia and inside was the first VITTORIA wheelset we have to ride and review. But first let’s put out the the introductory facts and some pictures.
The graph indicates what strengths the Daemion wheels are supposed to have.
As mentioned above, VITTORIA developed the Daemion wheelset for All-Mountain and Enduro. My first impression when unboxing the wheelset was really promising. With its dead-black finish, the black spokes and nipples and the camouflage-style stickers in black-grey-white, the Daemion wheels look decent and high-class at the same time. By utilizing their own hub and rim design, the wheels sure look plenty distinguished.
Straight pull flanges and center lock rotor mounts are some of the key features of the VITTORIA hubs.
VITTORIA’s straigt-pull hubs with their curved flanges look dynamic and sturdy at the same time, two sealed bearing on the front and four on the back provide a silky smooth and play-free ride. Seems like the bearings can be changed if ever necessary.
The wheels already come with their own 6-hole rotor disc adapters – VITTORIA style.
The hubs are only poduced with Shimano’s Centerlock disc mounts. For all those who are using 6-bolt discs, VITTORIA has their own adapters. A set of two adapters are included in the package. Differing from Shimano’s or DT SWISS’ lockrings, the VITTORIA’s version is made of three pieces. Both are fixed with Shimano Hollowtech II or Campagnolo Ultratorque bottom bracket tools.
The free hub is easily pulled out and replaced if necessary – standard configuration is with Shimano style free hub, but we requested one with an XD body.
Apart from the standard configuration VITTORIA sent us our sample set with an XD freehub body, because we requested it this way. Both free hub designs have a three pawl ratchet design. Changing between freehub standards is quite easy – just slip one off and push the other one on the axle. In order to do this you don’t need any tools at all – just two minutes of time!
The hubs and rims are connected by 28 straight-pull spokes, classically laced three crossed to increase the wheel’s stiffness and durability – sounds like tough trails should have a hard time harming these wheels.
VITTORIA’s rim design, called WSR, is advertised as “Wide and Strong”. The description states a better grip in corners, a better fit than on narrow rims, and more support for the tire, so it would ride more stably. It even states a lower the rolling resitance. All this sounds rather promising, but reality seems to fall a bit short as the rim is (only) 22.3 mm wide on the inside. That should be wide enough to fit 2.4″ tires and it sure is plenty wide for an Italian rim.
Another special feature of the rims is their pronounced assymmetrical rim profile, namely 2.5 mm off center. In this way the angle and tension of the spokes should turn out more balanced between the left and right hub side. Of course the rims are tubeless-ready, but – as a pioneer regarding the tubeless technology – VITTORIA upped the ante by using a specially design bead seat which they call Speedlock. It is supposed to guarantee a bomb proof fit of the tires, even when riding at low pressures while cornering hard.
The holographic QR-Code sticker is for registering the wheels online and is rewarded by extending the wheels’ warranty period from two to three years.
Having a closer look at the rims there is this small holographic QR-code sticker catching the eye. One can scan the QR-code and register the wheelset on the VITTORIA homepage – in return Vittoria voluntarily extends your warranty period to three instead of two years. This of course only covers the appropriate use and the original owner. Any service and maintenance work ever done on the wheels is recorded online – so a second-hand buyer can be handed the history of a wheelset if requested.
Our sample wheelset came configured in 100×15 mm in front and 142×12 mm in the rear. No problem if you are riding a traditional quick release fork and frame – all necessary end caps are included. Good thinking!
VITTORIA’s homepage claims 1716 g for the complete wheelset, when weighing it came out at 1830g with the standard SHIMANO freehub and the mounted rim tape. The front wheel came in at 850g, the rear wheel at 980g. The two centerlock adapters add another 27g per piece. Changing the freehub from standard to XD saved 10g, but the X12 adapters added another 6g. All in all a full 1879 g for our ready to ride sample wheels.
The VITTORIA Daemion wheels look understated and yet have look of their own.
My personal favorite tire, a MAXXIS Ardent Exo Protection in 2.4″ width, fitted easily to the Daemion wheelset with no need to use tire levers. After about 24 hours at 2 bar pressure I measured a full 59mm of width at the knobs and 57mm at the casing. For comparison: The same tires mounted on my usual SPANK Oozy 26 (inner rim width: 21 mm) had 2mm less of carcass width. Will this by itself already lead to improved performance on the trails? We will find it out!
… mounted and ready to go …
At the moment the distribution of VITTORIA’s wheelsets is still picking up the pace so to say. Hence their wheelsets are currently distributed only in the following countries: Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, BeNeLux, the UK and of course in the USA. But – don’t worry – other countries like Germany, Austria or Switzerland are already in planning. The MSRP for the wheelset including all mentioned accessories is 665.- Euro or 699.- USD respectively.
Also … besides the Daemion wheelset VITTORIA sent us a set of their Gato 2,3 TNT All-Mountain tires – one of the first 29er trail tires – c_g has done his review back in 2012. I will switch between the VITTORIA Gato and the Maxxis Ardent and see which profile works better on the wet and muddy trails this fall with winter soon to come.
out on the trails with our SALSA Horsethief bike, where it has the opportunity to show its worth.
But for now we will focus on the trail performance of the VITTORIA Daemion 29“ wheelset – a wheelset, that doesn’t boast with technical superlatives, but could well be a solid trail performer.
MiMü
Note: Vittoria provided this review product at no charge to Twenty Nine Inches for test and review. We are not being paid, nor bribed for these reviews and we will strive to give our honest thoughts and opinions throughout.
