First noticed at Interbike last fall, American Classic’s All Mountain 26 Tubeless wheelset was one of the most exciting things that I saw at the show. Using 32 standard spokes to connect AC’s unique pawl/driver freehub system with a 28mm wide (25mm inside), 390g tubeless rim for a 1,55og, $850 wheelset sounded pretty awesome. Well, after a long ten months, Bill Shook and company’s fat-but-light wheels have landed: hit the jump for more photos and some specs…
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- The 23mm deep v-profiled rims get a small spacer to keep the 5g valve stems from wobbling…
- 28mm wide (~25mm inside) and tubeless ready. That valve looks a bit lost…
- 15mm thru axles seem to be the future for XC & trail use- though a 9mm QR version and kits to convert between the two are available. Separate hubs allow for 20mm thru axles. Out back, options include 135x9mm QR and 135 or 150mm thru axles.
- At first, I thought that the “Rawtype” graphics were a bit much…
- …but they do look better on a bike with tires mounted. They’re actually printed on the rim and should hold up well.
- Two WTB Mutano 2.4s: On a 19mm rim (left) and the 25mm All Mountain 26s (right). Not a huge difference, but noticeable nonetheless.
When I weighed the 15mm Thru Axle pair, they came in at 1,620g: not quite as light as advertised but within 10g of both Mavic’s 2012 Crossmax STs and Roval’s Control Trail ALs. Mounting Schwalbe Snakeskin, Geax TNT, and WTB TCS tires was easy. So far, they’ve been plenty stiff and the 6 pawl freehub has been solid and quiet. The 25mm wide rim also makes for a very comfortable and confidence-inspiring ride. Now that our local forests have reopened, I’m be piling on the miles. Stay tuned for a proper review!
marc
