Budget wheels
Mountain Bike Rider|June 2023
New wheels are one of the shrewdest upgrades; we take five great-value models out for a spin
Budget wheels

New wheels offer some of the greatest potential performance gains of any upgrade. Along with the other crucial part of the system – tyres – wheels drastically affect how your bike accelerates, changes direction, and also influence the speed it rolls along a trail.

The basic ingredients of a wheel are an extruded alloy or moulded carbon rim (usually 29in or 27.5in diameter), laced to a central hub (110x15mm at the front and 148x12mm at the rear) by tensioned steel spokes. Spokes can be different gauges (thicknesses) to give differing ride characteristics, and are often butted to save weight. The hub usually runs on sealed cartridge bearings and the freehub is normally modular in case you want to run a different cassette. All told, they’re a vital ingredient in your bike’s efficiency. Different products and designs have different strengths and weaknesses on the trail, the most important of which relate to acceleration, compliance or comfort, and strength.

Individual rim designs resist damage in different ways, and hub flange design, spoke choice (and quantity) and even the way the wheel is laced all affect durability. Which means that a set of wheels can make or break your ride on ride feel alone, and not just if they fail catastrophically – something that’s thankfully rare these days but can still happen.

Esta historia es de la edición June 2023 de Mountain Bike Rider.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

Esta historia es de la edición June 2023 de Mountain Bike Rider.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

MÁS HISTORIAS DE MOUNTAIN BIKE RIDERVer todo
Best places to ride with your kids
Mountain Bike Rider

Best places to ride with your kids

Five top venues to keep the nippers entertained this summer

time-read
3 minutos  |
August 2023
CANNONDALE MOTERRA NEO CARBON 2
Mountain Bike Rider

CANNONDALE MOTERRA NEO CARBON 2

It’s got more suspension tunes than a Hitchcock movie, but will this Moterra thrill us or chill us?

time-read
5 minutos  |
September 2023
100% GLENDALE GLASSES
Mountain Bike Rider

100% GLENDALE GLASSES

When it comes to eyewear, having a large lens not only offers a lot more protection from trail splatter, it puts the frames further out from your field of view, allowing you to focus on the terrain in front of you. The Glendale is absolutely vast, and actually has a lens size akin to a full downhill goggle, so you literally can’t see the top or sides of the frame.

time-read
1 min  |
September 2023
DMR STAGE 2 MTB RAIL SADDLE
Mountain Bike Rider

DMR STAGE 2 MTB RAIL SADDLE

DMR's new Stage 2 MTB Rail is one of those new/old products. The shape and construction are identical to the existing Oi Oi saddle, but the company has wrapped it in a new skin and added some harder-wearing reinforcement to the edges. It's also toned down the lairy graphics; this saddle only comes in plain black.

time-read
1 min  |
September 2023
STRAIGHT TORQUING - GUY KESTEVEN
Mountain Bike Rider

STRAIGHT TORQUING - GUY KESTEVEN

Has tech taken the hard work and fun out of mountain biking, or should we embrace evolution and roll with it?

time-read
3 minutos  |
September 2023
STORM FORCE
Mountain Bike Rider

STORM FORCE

Manon Carpenter may have retired from downhill competition, but her new role as a trail advocate is achieving results far beyond the race track

time-read
8 minutos  |
September 2023
SWEAT AND SLATE
Mountain Bike Rider

SWEAT AND SLATE

We ride 140 miles through Snowdonia on Cycling UK's newest and gnarliest long-distance trail

time-read
9 minutos  |
September 2023
HEAD SPACE
Mountain Bike Rider

HEAD SPACE

New guidance reveals how to spot concussion, and how best to treat it

time-read
4 minutos  |
September 2023
LATE SUMMER LOVIN'
Mountain Bike Rider

LATE SUMMER LOVIN'

Classic UK holiday hotspots that really shine when the crowds have gone

time-read
2 minutos  |
September 2023
HOT STUFF
Mountain Bike Rider

HOT STUFF

WHAT WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT THIS MONTH

time-read
3 minutos  |
September 2023