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Stan’s NoTubes CB7 carbon rims roll onto new Arch, Crest wheels

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Following their ultralight Valor rims, the all-new Stan’s NoTubes Arch and Crest CB7 carbon mountain bike rims build in the comfort and stiffness on wider, more capable wheels. The new Arch CB7 and Crest CB7 use Stan’s RiACT layup and rim shape, their Bead Socket Technology, and low profile sidewall to create a comfortable, fast rolling and sharp handling wheelset.

The RiACT design combines a specific layup pattern with a highly impact resistant nano-polymer to build in 10mm of vertical compliance, without giving up lateral stiffness. While often times carbon rim weights are on part with alloy rim weights, the benefit is that they’re much stiffer for better handling. And done right, they can be much stronger and more impact resistant, too, which was the goal here.

Their BST bead hook and sidewall design is shaped to secure the tire even under extremely low air pressures (and Stan does like really low air pressure). The interior sidewall design is intentionally short, which lets the tire’s sidewall move more naturally and, they say, reduces pinch flats.

STAN’S ARCH CB7 CARBON RIMS

The Arch series has been Stan’s wider trail-ready wheels for years, and now they’ve got the carbon upgrade. Designed for anything up to enduro racing, the lightweight should make climbing between stages easier, too. And they’ve been testing it in EWS races, proving it’ll hold up to top-level abuse.

  • Use: Trail, All-Mountain and Enduro Racing
  • Internal Rim Width: 26 mm
  • Optimal Tire Sizes: 2.25” to 2.50”
  • Max Tire Pressure: 39psi (2.2″ tire) – 36psi (2.5″ tire)
  • Hubs: Stan’s Neo with Durasync 28-hole Front, 28-hole Rear
  • Spokes/Nipples: Sapim Race Black 2.0/1.8/2.0mm, Sapim Secure Lock Alloy Black
  • Wheel Weights and Sizes: 1720g (27.5”) / 1794g (29”)
  • Rim Weights: 450g (27.5″) / 475g (29″)
  • Max Rider Weight: 230lb (104kg)

STAN’S CREST CB7 CARBON RIMS

The lightweight Crest CB7 Series rims weigh in at a claimed 325g, making them among the lightest XC rims on the market. Available only for 29er wheels, the lightweight should offer racers the snappy acceleration they want while still being able to handle the rougher modern World Cup courses.

  • Use: Cross Country Racing
  • Internal Rim Width: 23.0 mm
  • Optimal Tire Sizes: 2.00” to 2.25”
  • Max Tire Pressure: 40psi (2.00″ tire) – 38psi (2.3″ tire)
  • Hubs: Stan’s Neo with Durasync 28-hole Front, 28-hole Rear
  • Spokes/Nipples: Sapim Force Black 2.0/1.7/1.8mm, Sapim Secure Lock Alloy Black
  • Wheel Weights and Sizes: 1,452g (29”)
  • Rim Weight: 325g
  • Max Rider Weight: 230lb (104kg)

BUILD OPTIONS & PRICING

You’ll be able to get both Arch and Crest rims separately (28 or 32 hole) or built into complete wheels (28 hole stock configurations, 28 or 32 hole custom builds). Options include Boost or standard hub widths; all the current axle standards (including SRAM Predictive Steering and Cannondale Lefty/Lefty SuperMax); Centerlock or 6-bolt disc mounts; and Shimano, SRAM XD or OneUp / Hope Minidriver freehub bodies. All stock wheels are built with easily replaceable Sapim Force J-bend spokes and nipples, laced to their latest Neo hubs with 6-pawl, 10º engagement. Those hubs get triple freehub bearings for better durability, and a CNC machined hub shell body.

courtesy Stan’s

Both Arch CB7 and Crest CB7 rims are $600 each, complete wheelsets are $1,399. All Stan’s carbon rims are covered under their two-year warranty, extended to five years once you register your purchase, which also adds lifetime crash replacement coverage.

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21 Comments
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Paul S.
Paul S.
6 years ago

The math seems off here… $600 for a rim, so they are only charging $199 for the hubs, spokes and nipples, and the build? I’d be interested in trying these out, but certainly not when they are more expensive than Ibis and Nox rims. And the value proposition against the Santa Cruz Reserve wheels with DT Hubs just doesn’t seem to be there either. Maybe the reviews will change my mind, but I’d say these should be closer to $400/rim.

Sam
Sam
6 years ago
Reply to  Paul S.

Especially since their $100 aluminum rims are so good too

BasilFawlty
BasilFawlty
6 years ago
Reply to  Paul S.

AND since their $100 aluminum rims are lighter!?

intramural
6 years ago
Reply to  BasilFawlty

Except that they aren’t….

Tom
Tom
6 years ago

they are clearly incentivizing customers to buy complete wheels. I’d be leery of alloy nipples, I don’t even use those in my light weight road wheels.
Those who want to roll their own will likely go elsewhere unless the new rim is a quantum technical leap.

JTrain91
JTrain91
6 years ago
Reply to  Tom

They don’t even sell complete hubs direct from their website, only parts, wheelsets, and rims.

Frank
Frank
6 years ago
Reply to  Tom

You’re leery of alloy nipples?? I’ve been running alloy nipples on all my mountain wheels for 20 years. It’s pretty much a normal thing. I can’t think of a single nipple failure that wasn’t due to me ham-fisting it, which brass nipples are susceptible to as well.

Sam
Sam
6 years ago
Reply to  Frank

Salt is really the main alloy nipple killer

bikemark
bikemark
6 years ago
Reply to  Sam

That + sealant + spoke prep + the 1.8mm spokes that Stan’s likes to use for their factory built wheels = a wheel that’s pretty much done for once you start breaking spokes.

vvilll
6 years ago
Reply to  Sam

Yeah, recently had a nipple shear out of the rim on an Iron Cross wheel (built by Stan’s). Guessing it was salt damage, but yeah, no more Stan’s built wheels for me. The Al rims are fine for their weight/price – though they’re a little fragile.

JTrain91
JTrain91
6 years ago

The weight of these wheelsets for internal width and price makes them wholly noncompetitive in my mind, especially compared to what can be done with Lightbicycle’s RM29C07. At least they got rid of BST, finally.

TheKaiser
6 years ago
Reply to  JTrain91

What makes you think they got rid of BST? The article says “Their BST bead hook and sidewall design is shaped to secure the tire even under extremely low air pressures (and Stan does like really low air pressure). The interior sidewall design is intentionally short, which lets the tire’s sidewall move more naturally and, they say, reduces pinch flats.”

On a related note, curious to hear why you dislike BST. Tough tire fitting due to large diameter bead shelf? Something else?

JTrain91
JTrain91
6 years ago
Reply to  TheKaiser

I missed that in the article but was hopeful it was gone when the schematic and images didn’t show much in the way of a hook bead like their alloy rims.

I dislike BST because I think it’s a bunch of hooey now that virtually every serious carbon wheel manufacturer has shown that it’s unnecessary. My understanding of hook beads in carbon rims is that material is machined away from an originally thicker sidewall. That doesn’t give me a good feeling about the durability of the sidewall with rock strikes. It seems to me that Stan’s is afraid to ditch BST on carbon wheels because it might impact their alloy wheel marketing, where it may or may not be necessary.

On an unrelated note, I’ve never seen another wheel lose spoke tension when a tire was mounted after a build quite like Stan’s. You build the rim up slowly to max tension, and once you mount the tire you lose 18-30% of tension. Should I now increase tension and risk bottoming my threads? What does that do to the rim as I swap between different tires with different BSDs? They’ve never been able to give a straight answer on why it happens or how to correct for the loss.

CornerCanyonRider
CornerCanyonRider
6 years ago

10 degree engagement hubs? No thanks.

bob
bob
6 years ago

Off topic, what knee pads are those?

jake
jake
6 years ago
Reply to  bob
bob
bob
6 years ago
Reply to  jake

Thanks

Motarded450
Motarded450
6 years ago
Reply to  bob

iXS

bob
bob
6 years ago
Reply to  Motarded450

Thanks

Dfi
Dfi
6 years ago

Neo hubs with 6 pawls (Neo ultimate), according to their website have a 5 degrees engagement (72 points of contact). The Neo hubs with 4 pawls have 10 degrees engagement. So, do those new wheelsets have a new redesign hub ?

Bob Nunnink
Bob Nunnink
6 years ago
Reply to  Dfi

The Neo freehubs were updated last April to the Durasync and Speedsync freehub. Both now have 6 pawls. https://www.notubes.com/technology/neo-durasync-speedsync

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