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Sneak Peek: All-New Stan’s NoTubes Grail Gravel Road Bike Rims

Written by Tyler Benedict
16 Comments
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stans notubes grail gravel road bike rims and wheels sneak peek

Last year, as GT was developing their new Grade gravel road bike (more on the bike coming soon), they went to Stan’s NoTubes for a high end, tubeless rim to go on the top models.

The result is the new NoTubes Grail gravel road bike rim. Technically, it’s just a wider, disc-specific road rim, but it’s built durable enough to handle off pavement escapades. Rim profile is wider than their current offerings in that category, namely the Iron Cross, and it can handle a heck of a lot more pressure.

Width is a hair over 20mm internal, and just over 24mm external with a nice rounded profile. They’ll offer it in 24, 28 and 32 hole drillings and as complete wheels in Team and Comp specs. The bead can hold up to about 125psi, making it perfectly capable as a wide road bike rim for things like the Hutchinson Fusion and Sector, etc. Look for more tech details this week, and a few more pics are after the break…

stans notubes grail gravel road bike rims and wheels sneak peek

stans notubes grail gravel road bike rims and wheels sneak peek

Retail will be $105 for the rim, and Team and Comp wheels are $695 and $645 respectively. Main differences are 24/28 lacing and stainless bearings on Team and 32/32 lacing and standard steel bearings on Comp.

NoTubes.com
Tyler Benedict
11,282 articles

Tyler Benedict is the Founder of Bikerumor.com, where he’s been writing about the latest bikes, components, and cycling technology for almost two decades. Prior to that, Tyler launched and built multiple sports nutrition brands and consumer goods companies, mostly as an excuse to travel and ride in new places.

Based in North Carolina, Tyler also loves the Vanlife & family adventure travel and is always on the lookout for the next shiny new part and off-grid adventure.

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16 Comments
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Colin
Colin
10 years ago

that’s cool, but where are my vaporware carbon wheels?

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RC
RC
10 years ago

I am in the market for disc cross/gravel/road wheels, what is the eta on these and how do they compare to a set of 29er crests that cost $100 less?

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Larry Falk
Larry Falk
10 years ago

$105 – That’s a price too good to be true? Interestingly, the tire in the pictures is a Continental (which is a company that doesn’t offer a road tubeless tire(s)).

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nightfend
nightfend
10 years ago

For those racing tubeless in cross this year, this rim sounds ideal.

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Mark
Mark
10 years ago

So…….Is Stan’s making this rim to work specifically with Hutchinson UST Road Tubeless tires? If so, that is a major departure from their past product history. If they did not use UST dimensions, then I would be surprised if a Hutchinson UST road tubeless would even fit onto this rim. Non-tubeless tires has always been Stan’s focus, so this is a bit confusing.

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wheelz
wheelz
10 years ago

These rims are exactly what I’ve been looking for! Finally. Now hopefully some more options for larger road-tubeless gravel/adventure tires will appear.

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Brad
Brad
10 years ago

But will they crack at the spoke holes? and who still uses ust?

Im interested in the rims… just not sure they are better than the hed belgium c2 plus

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muf
muf
10 years ago

given how the other rims are id rather go with the pacenti rims.. cheap yet better, hmm.

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MaxBiaggi
MaxBiaggi
10 years ago

Interesting times for those like me who don’t care at all with race bikes, but do commute for working and ride for pleasure. With the forthcoming Diverge from Spesh i plan to change my old TriCross. At last, some practical road bikes, with real brakes (i mean when wet), real tyres ( i mean tubeless), some comfort but with efficiency. Just add an eccentric bottom bracket, a Gates belt drive and a Alfine Shimano and Go!

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mudrock
mudrock
10 years ago

RC – Crests are 1mm wider internally, and are rated to only 55psi in narrower width tires (down to 1.5 in), but I have 38mm commuter tires on them right now pumped up to 70psi with no problem.

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craigsj
craigsj
10 years ago

“Crests are 1mm wider internally, and are rated to only 55psi in narrower width tires (down to 1.5 in),…”

This only applies with tubeless. With tubes higher pressures are fine. I also use Crests for commuting with 38mm tires. I’ve set them up tubeless but don’t really see the value. Going forward I’ll return to tubes for that.

I also don’t get the point of these when Crests/Arches already exist.

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TheKaiser
TheKaiser
10 years ago

@Mark,

To my knowledge, Stan has never advocated conversion of non-tubeless road tires to tubeless use. This is the opposite of his stance on MTB tires, so you are 100% correct in regard to the mountain arena, but not road.

As I recall, he has actually sold road tubeless kits using Hutchinson Road Tubeless tires for use on his Alpha road rims.

The distinction is due to the higher pressures required on road bikes, which can stretch a standard kevlar bead enough to cause a blowout. This is why Hutchinson uses Carbon beads on the Tubeless model tires. The lower pressures used on MTBs generally don’t cause this problem, so kevlar is fine.

Having said all of that, I am curious about how oversized the bead seat diameter is on these rims. As you point out, getting a UST tire on a Stan’s MTB rim can be difficult as the rims are oversized in order to get a non tubeless tire to seal adequately. I am curious if he does/does not do this on the road rims since they appear to be intended for true Road Tubeless use.

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Alan
Alan
10 years ago

@craigsJ and others comparing these to existing rims. While you can run higher pressures in your existing stans rims it is a bad idea.
While the bead might hold, the rim is not intended to hold the pressure and will eventually crack. As a race mechanic for cross teams I’ve seen this quite often.

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bikermark
bikermark
10 years ago

What’s the saying — strong, cheap, light — pick any two? Um, weight?

@Brad: the C2 Plus is nice rim but only available in 28 & 32 hole. It’s also 150 bucks.

@muf: apples/oranges here. The Grail is disc specific; the SL23 is rim brake. I also love the SL23 a little less every time I have to mount tires. I shouldn’t have to throw a tire in the clothes dryer for 5 minutes just so I can get it mounted on an SL23 without breaking tire lever or getting a blood blister.

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bikersteve
bikersteve
10 years ago

how deep is the grail? any aero numbers?

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Dustin @ Southern Wheelworks
Dustin @ Southern Wheelworks
10 years ago

@bikermark – the SL23’s are available in an all-black finish now for disc use. They actually still have the machined brake track, so you could still use them with rim brakes as well, but the finish will wear off of course.

re: using the Stan’s MTB rims with tubes and high pressure – I don’t recommend it. I’ve blown tires off rims before with tubes and not that much pressure.

These look good IMO. Will be interesting to see all the final details.

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