Rolf Prima gets rad with new Black Rock carbon MTB wheels

I’ve never been a fan of paired spoke wheels but have zero actual or factual reason as to why. Just not my thing. I am a much heavier rider and actually looked at their tandem wheels (yes I’m that big) and had a very long discussion with them. What I learned is that with this design one broken spoke would indeed have a bigger impact on the wheel but the chance for breakage is no more than any other wheel.

After destroying wheels on a regular basis I gave up trying to fit off the shelf wheels into my needs. I found some great wheel builders, became educated on what make a great wheel, read a ton, practiced a ton, bought the right tools, and started building my own 17 years ago. I had some awful results the first couple years and that was using the supposed “best parts”. For 15 years and counting I have had great results regardless of the parts. I build regularly for myself and others. About 30+ sets a year. The #1 part of a good wheel is the quality of build not the parts. I’m built like an NFL lineman and rode a set of Stans Crest Rims (the original) laced 32h 3X to hope hubs with 2.0/1.7/2.0 wheelsmith spokes for 5 years and sold them with the confidence they were still good to go. They are still rolling today. I raced them all 5 years, trail rode them, and quite honestly abused them regularly and my friend is still riding them regularly. I was surprised by that particular wheelset’s performance and longevity but the point was clear; At more than 100lbs above the rider weight limit, a seemingly inadequate collection of parts will do just fine when executed properly.

I have built wheels with $1000 carbon rims and $23 aluminum “junk”, 18 hole, 40 hole, stupid light, and bomber tough and to date have had no more “garbage” parts come back through my stand for a repair than anything else. I would imagine I’m middle of the pack in terms of knowledge, expertise, and experience. Basically I doubt I am qualified to make an assertion on much, if anything, but to slam a manufacturer based on a design is pretty ignorant unless you have extensive experience with, understanding of, and proper knowledge of the product and more specifically the design.

I’ve owned two sets of Rolfs and borrowed another two. First set I owned was on a tandem, sure enough. We beat them up and they rolled true to the day I sold the bike. Second set is on a CX/gravel/winter training bike. 2 years, no trouble, strong and true and they feel fast and frankly look pretty cool. My experience is pretty much in line with the track record I’ve heard reported by other owners – solid. So, however you feel about paired spokes, the wheels are good. It’s really a price/weight/aesthetics judgement whether you buy them or not. One can def. build something lighter and cheaper from parts online if so desired.

Some facts:
All of the components in this wheel are custom designed and manufactured specifically for this build (not quite true; nipples, rim tape and valve are off the shelf).
This wheel model has been thoroughly tested in our test lab in Eugene, Oregon proving that it not only far exceeds the requirements of ISO 4210 but also exceeds our own internal benchmarks.
Tests included:
Accelerated fatigue testing; 30 hours at 47 mph with 150 lbf load running over a 3/8 bump 18 times a second.
Spoke bed pull through testing exceeding 700 lbf with no damage to the rim or spokes (this particular wheel is still in service).
Impact durability testing surviving 240% of the frontal impact energy requirement used to test bicycle frames. No damage.
The effect of breaking a spoke in a paired spoke wheel is no different than a traditional wheel. The degree to which it goes out of true is a function of spoke count, not spoke pattern. Break a spoke on this wheel and you can ride it home. The spokes are standard J-bend type and can be replaced at your LBS.
I know this because I am the design and test engineer at Rolf Prima. We put a lot of work into every wheel model we produce before we can put our name on it.