Home > Bike Types > Mountain Bike

Rip “down country” on new Race Face Next SL carbon XC mountain bike wheels

new Race Face Next SL lightweight carbon fiber mountain bike wheels for XC and trail bikes
7 Comments
Support us! Bikerumor may earn a small commission from affiliate links in this article. Learn More

Aimed at the XC racer that likes to push past the groomed singletrack, the new Race Face Next SL carbon fiber mountain bike wheels round out their lightweight race category. They’re more than just new rims, the Next SL wheelset introduces a lighter Vault front hub made specifically for this type of rider, providing a 29er-only wheelset that comes in at just 1,555g but is ready to tackle anything you’d throw a trail bike down.

new Race Face Next SL lightweight carbon fiber mountain bike wheels for XC and trail bikes

They come with Boost spacing (15×110 front, with Torque Cap conversion available, and 12×148 rear), and are built with a new 26mm wide (internal) UD carbon fiber rim. The rim has all the expected tubeless readiness with rim tape and valve stems pre-installed, and uses an offset spoke design to improve spoke bracing angles from side to side. External rim width is 31mm, and they use a shallow 21mm depth to give them a more tuned ride feel for the XC / trail bike category.

The new Vault front hub is designed specifically for 15mm thru axles (no QR compatibility), which let them pull a whopping 50g out of it. In the rear is their latest Vault hub, which has a wicked fast 3º engagement thanks to 120 points of engagement and six offset, individually sprung pawls that engage three at a time.

new Race Face Next SL lightweight carbon fiber mountain bike wheels for XC and trail bikes

Spokes are Sapim Laser, 28 per wheel, laced 3x, and all are the same length on both sides of the wheel, front and rear, making it easy to fix any broken ones with the five included spares. Retail is $1,599 for the set ($775 front, $825 rear).

They’re available now and are covered by Race Face’s 2-year Carbon Confidence no-fault guarantee. Need something bigger, wider and tougher? Check out the recently introduced R36 wheels for enduro and all-mountain riding.

RaceFace.com

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

7 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
comrad
comrad
5 years ago

Wow, first wheel release in a while that I can’t find much to whine about. Width is good, weight is okay, price makes up for the weight, hubs have great engagement, same length spokes is awesome, and a great warranty. I might have to give these a shot. These look terrific.

Seraph
Seraph
5 years ago
Reply to  comrad

Price is all right, but for the same money you can get a set of DT 350 Reserve 25s that weigh 1600g and have a lifetime warranty on the rims.

antonio boskovic
antonio boskovic
5 years ago

as a xc specific wheelset i think they should be a bit lighter, you can get alu wheelsets just under 1500gr for something like 500-600 euros
otherwise they seem like really nice 🙂

Bob
Bob
5 years ago

You can but they are not 26mm wide, more like 21mm wide.

Dinger
Dinger
5 years ago
Reply to  Bob

And I would bet on a sub-1500g 29er wheelset to be flexy and somewhat delicate, compared to these. That’s pretty light for an alloy road wheelset.

Leonardo Viana Camargos
Leonardo Viana Camargos
5 years ago

“comes in at just 1,555g” for $1600.00? Come on Bikerumor! It weighs like a boat anchor for that kind of money.

yerfdoggy
yerfdoggy
5 years ago

Remember your dog will run until he drops to be with you. He (or she) will also take crazy risks if you encourage him. It’s a dog thing. Not saying you shouldn’t take your pooch riding, but you have to think for them and not over do it.

Subscribe Now

Sign up to receive BikeRumor content direct to your inbox.