A new mountain bike wheel manufacturer has emerged in the Basque Country, Oquo Wheels. The brand debuts with lightweight carbon and durable aluminum wheelsets for XC, Trail and Enduro riding. Across the five new wheelsets you’ll see front and rear-specific rims with an asymmetric profile, with spoke holes drilled to the exacting angle that each spoke leaves its reinforced rim bed. Lightest of the bunch is the Oquo MP30 LTD, weighing a claimed 1,300g and retailing at 1,999 €.
Who is Oquo Wheels?
“The best bikes deserve the best wheels” is the message that Oquo is leading its marketing campaign with. As the sister company to Orbea, it doesn’t take a genius to work out what they’re implying with that. We were invited along to a tour of the Oquo Wheels factory where technicians were bench-marking Oquo Wheels against competitors’ offerings, while the wheel builders on the assembly line were busy building up new wheelsets.
With the creation of Oquo, Orbea is announcing its intention to offer ultra high-end build options – across their range of mountain bikes for now, but perhaps other categories in future. Just like its parent company, Oquo is run as a cooperative, owned in part by each of its employees who thus stand to benefit when the company performs well.
Oquo’s wheel building and testing facility is located a half hour drive away from the Orbea HQ in the Basque Country. Here, there is a small but very busy team of wheel builders assembling the new Mountain Control and Mountain Performance wheels.
Oquo use custom state-of-the-art custom-made machinery that work with the wheel builder to tension each spoke, bringing each one to the correct tension and with it, the wheel’s lateral and radial trueness within tight, pre-determined tolerances. The machinery is designed such that it will not release a wheel until the builder has trued it to within the ranges specified. Thus, a wheel that does not meet the tolerances literally can’t leave the factory.
Without further ado, let’s take closer look at the five new wheelsets available.
Oquo Mountain Performance
The Mountain Performance range from Oquo is built for XC and Trail Riding. As such, weight was very high on the list of priorities, and the engineers at Oquo have worked hard to keep it down without sacrificing impact resistance and puncture protection. You can expect future models of the Orbea Oiz and Orbea Occam to be offered with the following.
There are three wheelsets to choose from, two of which are carbon, and one of which is aluminum. All feature front- and rear-specific hookless rims designed to deal with their differing requirements. Oquo also opted to use an asymmetric rim profile in a bid to keep spoke tensions between the drive and non-drive sides equal. The result is that the spokes share the overall strain of the wheel more equally amongst their number; we are told this gives rise to a stronger, more reliable wheel.
Here are the need-to-knows.
MP30 LTD
The top-end wheelset from Oquo designed for XC racing is the MP30 LTD weighing a claimed 1,300g for a complete 29″ wheelset. This one features carbon rims, and as the name suggests, they have a 30mm internal width. Despite having the same internal width, the rim depth and profile is subtly different between the front and rear wheels to give the latter a stronger, more impact-resistant construction. The wheels are assembled around DT’s lightest hubset, the DT240 S CL, with 24 spokes on the front wheel and 28 on the rear connected to the reinforced rim bed via aluminum nipples.
- Oquo Wheelset: MP30 LTD
- Sizing Options: 29″
- Claimed Weight: 1,300g
- Rim Material: Carbon
- Internal Rim Width: 30mm
- Spokes: Sapim CX_Ray TCS
- Spoke Count: 24 Front, 28 Rear
- Hub: DT240 S CL
- Spacing: 110mm x 15mm and 12mm x 148mm
- Price: 1,999 €
MP30 Team
- Oquo Wheelset: MP30 Team
- Sizing Options: 29″
- Claimed Weight: 1,480g
- Rim Material: Carbon
- Internal Rim Width: 30mm
- Spokes: Sapim D-Sprint
- Spoke Count: 28 Front, 28 Rear
- Hub: DT350 CL
- Spacing: 110mm x 15mm and 12mm x 148mm
- Price: 1,299 €
MP28 LTD
- Oquo Wheelset: MP28 LTD
- Sizing Options: 29″
- Claimed Weight: TBC
- Rim Material: Alloy
- Internal Rim Width: 28mm
- Spokes: Sapim Race
- Spoke Count: 28 Front, 28 Rear
- Hub: DT350 CL
- Spacing: 110mm x 15mm and 12mm x 148mm
- Price: 599 €
Oquo Mountain Control
The Oquo Mountain Control line comprises two wheelsets, both designed for Trail and Enduro riding. Now, there is some cross-over there with the Trail riding intention of the lighter weight Mountain Performance wheelsets; customers are left to make up their own mind as to which suits them best, largely based on their riding style, terrain, weight, and what properties they value most in a wheelset. You can expect future models of the Orbea Occam and Orbea Rallon to be offered with the following.
To accomodate higher volume tires, the Oquo Mountain Control wheels get a wider internal rim width of 32mm; at least on the front wheel, anyway. The rear is 30mm, and in-keeping with Oquo’s desire to make the rear wheels stiffer and stronger than the front wheels, it also has a higher spoke count; 28 Sapim D-Sprint on the front, and 32 Sapim Race on the rear. All Mountain Control wheelsets are laced to 6-bolt hubs with Polyax Secure Brass nipples.
MC32 LTD
Oquo’s MC32 LTD wheelset gets an “Enduro Carbon Tuned” layup, differing from the carbon layup seen on the Mountain Performance carbon wheels in that it has medium modulus fibers that are more flexible but add more strength to the rims.
- Oquo Wheelset: MC32 LTD
- Sizing Options: 29″
- Claimed Weight: TBC
- Rim Material: Carbon
- Internal Rim Width: 32mm Front, 30mm Rear
- Spokes: Sapim D-Sprint Front, Sapim Race Rear
- Spoke Count: 28 Front, 28 Rear
- Hub: DT350 6IS
- Spacing: 110mm x 15mm and 12mm x 148mm
- Price: 1,599 €
MC32 Team
- Oquo Wheelset: MC32 Team
- Sizing Options: 29″ and 27.5″
- Claimed Weight: TBC
- Rim Material: Alloy
- Internal Rim Width: 32mm Front, 30mm Rear
- Spokes: Sapim D-Sprint Front, Sapim Race Rear
- Spoke Count: 28 Front, 28 Rear
- Hub: DT350 6IS
- Spacing: 110mm x 15mm and 12mm x 148mm
- Price: 699 €
Oquo Wheels has two distinct warranty policies on its wheelsets
Oquo Wheels will issue owners with a new wheel if it breaks due to manufacturing defects, or breaks under its intended usage conditions within a three year period. It is a gold-standard warranty policy that only a company with the utmost confidence in its QC would be able to roll out.
There is a second warranty policy, however. This one covers breakages that occur during accidents – maybe your bike fell off the roof-rack (wince) or you slammed the boot down on your lovely new carbon rim (eek). Oquo will replace the rim for free and rebuild the wheel at a subsidized price.
For complete details and pricing on the Oquo Wheels launching to day, head to the Oquo website.
