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Spinergy smooths the gravel with new GX wheels & fiber spokes

spinergy GXC carbon and alloy gravel road bike wheels with PBO fiber spokes
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The new Spinergy GX and GXC wheels pair a tubeless-ready, gravel-sized rim with their PBO fiber spokes for a pair of wheels that should be able to tame the roughest washboards and potholes. Both are built with 24 spokes front and rear, and share the same hubs, but that’s about where the similarities end. The GX has a wider alloy rim and comes in two sizes, the GXC is the narrower, racier carbon rimmed model. Here’s the details…

Wait, who’s Spinergy?

If you’ve only gotten into cycling in the past decade, chances are they’re new to you. But for those of us who’ve been at it since the 90’s, we probably remember the ultralight (for the time) wheels that introduced the concept of extremely flexible yet unstretchable spokes. The idea is that the spokes are able to compress easily, helping the wheels add vertical compliance and bump absorption to the ride. But, the PBO material can’t stretch, so they should be able to build a laterally stiff wheel. I used to race them for XC many, many moons ago and, honestly, they were insanely light, but the rear hubs didn’t hold up. After a while, the brand left the cycling industry and focused on the wheelchair market and have done quite well there.

Fast forward to 2019 and they’ve made new hires from the bicycle industry to breathe new life into the cycling lineup. And they’ve launched the new GX series of wheels for the oh-so-hot gravel segment.

Shown at top of post is the carbon rimmed GXC, which has a 32mm deep rim profile, 18mm internal width and 1,500g claimed weight. While 18mm might seem on the narrow side for the category, these are intended for 28-36mm tires only, putting them on the faster, smoother side of the gravel spectrum. Retail is $1,776.

For rougher roads, or if you want to go with a 650B setup, the Spinergy GX wheels have a 20mm deep alloy rim that measures 24mm internal. Claimed weight is 1,520 grams for the 700c version, 1,480g for 650B. These are designed for 36-48mm tires. Retail is $849.

Hubs on both are thru-axle compatible and use a 6-bolt disc brake mount…they’re disc only.

The PBO (polyphenylene bensobisoxazole fiber) spokes not only add compliance, they also help to absorb vibrations. And, Spinergy says they’re half the weight of steel spokes, so the rotating mass is drastically reduced.

They use oversized nipples at the rim, so they true like a normal wheel, and the spokes are all straight pull and laced two-cross.

spinergy GXC carbon and alloy gravel road bike wheels with PBO fiber spokes

Another cool feature? You can get them with your choice of spoke colors and decals, including yellow, white, orange, red, pink, green, blue, purple, gray and black. The spoke’s color comes from a chemical-, UV- and moisture-proof coating that’s there to protect them from damage.

Spinergy.com

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Joenomad
Joenomad
4 years ago

I remember my Spinergy Spox wheels with self destructing spoke nipples and trying to get replacements from Spinergy. Are these better after 15 years of hiatus?

coffeehorse (@coffeehorse)
Reply to  Joenomad

Having no use for bike wheels any more, I can’t tell you, but if it helps at all I can give my experience with Spinergy Carbon Blades with PDO spokes, and that’s to say the rim has withstood a lot of bumps lesser wheelsets have had damage from. 100kg bloke on cobblestones, dropping off steps at full speed, getting bumped around in the back of my vehicle and the only time it’s seen any damage was to a single spoke when an idiot decided to see if it was possible to slice them open with a Stanley knife. He opened the PU coating but failed to damage any of the spoke strands, pretty impressive if you ask me. The coating looks brand new on my black spokes and a friend’s white spokes, and from what I’ve seen elsewhere the ‘colours’ are all actually tested already in the field as lasting a decent while. 5-year old green ones looked new. The Carbon Blade’s are the basis of the GXC (GX Carbon) rim and spoke set, but built as a 24″ wheelset with split axle pin instead of a through skewer, and a more traditional hub design. I’m ordering a second set only because my push rims cause my son anaphylaxis (whoo) and it was somehow easier to do it, but while there are a couple of hundred choices in rims this is the only place I’ll look. Having enjoyed and destroyed Spox back in my biking days I didn’t think I’d ever recommend Spinergy again, but I can say they’ve handled everything I’ve thrown at them, and of the 4 wheelchair backflips I’ve seen achieved, and the only wheelchair frontflip, all were done on Spinergy rims and none of them needed replacing afterward – or after the practice sessions. These things are holding up well now…. Google Aaron Fotheringham if you’d like examples of them withstanding some reasonable abuse.

Greg
Greg
4 years ago

“They use oversized nipples at the rim, so they true like a normal wheel”
Not exactly. The outer “nipple” is part of the spoke. The actual nipple is inside the rim. You hold the outer part as you turn the inner part, which means taking off the tire and untaping the rim to true a wheel.
Also, for the weight/width of the aluminum wheels, there doesn’t seem like much of a point to even offer the carbon ones. While there may be some aero benefit to the deeper rim, those spokes are anything but.

blahblahblah
blahblahblah
4 years ago
Reply to  Greg

nipples at the rim, turn clockwise/ anticlockwise to true sounds pretty exact to me

Czechmate
Czechmate
4 years ago

I’d say that most of us who’ve been at it since the 90’s remember Spinergy, above all, for their revolutionary yet ill-fated Rev-X. Brainchild of Rafael Schlanger, these were the most coveted wheels at the time. For many, they still are.

Ryan S
Ryan S
4 years ago

I had a set of Spoxx wheels in ’99 and then the first set of disc Xyclones in ’01. The hubs on both wheelsets were absolute junk, but the spoke technology was fantastic. They accelerated so quickly without all that outward mass and had a really unique ride feel. My Xyclones were so strong and stiff for an XC wheelset in those days. The only problem I ever had with the spokes was overshifting into the spokes during a muddy race, which the chain tore several of them and needed replaced. If their new wheels weren’t so expensive, I’d be tempted to give them a try again… especially with carbon rims.

coffeehorse (@coffeehorse)
Reply to  Ryan S

I had my Spox rebuilt on different hubs and they’re apparently on their 4th owner now and still going strong. My wheelchair has the Carbon Blade (GXC rim basis) and PDO spokeset and I’ve thrashed it more than I did a cross-country bike on a downhill courses in and around Coed-y-Brenin – and taken the wheelchair off steps without any issues to hub, rim or spokes. I never thought I’d say this, but I’d trust Spinergy to the tune of a couple of thousand dollars any day of the week.

Larry Falk
Larry Falk
4 years ago

On the last picture, the rim on the left looks like it has a sharp bead hook. I wouldn’t use Vittoria or Challenge cotton casing tires with them.

coffeehorse (@coffeehorse)
Reply to  Larry Falk

If it turns out to be like my Carbon Blade (looks like it from pictures) it’s a severe angle but it’s not actually sharp – it’s not going to cut cotton but only because there’s a really tight, small radius curve there.

Velo Kitty
Velo Kitty
4 years ago

> The idea is that the spokes are able to compress easily,
> helping the wheels add vertical compliance and bump
> absorption to the ride

Absolute BS. Spokes on a bicycle wheel are always in tension.

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