# Carbon wheels from NoTubes.



## Ole (Feb 22, 2004)

NoTubes is coming out with new carbon wheels, called Valor (looks like it says Roval on the rim!).

26", 27.5" and 29".
22mm inner width, 26mm outer
280g rim weight for 29".
24h/28h spokes count, might not be same for all sizes
60% stiffer than Arch EX
A good deal of vertical compliance.
Reinforced spoke holes
BST tecnology
$1900ish
Around 100g lighter than their lightest alu wheels (Race 29 Gold rim weighs 320g , and use 32 spokes front/rear), and plenty stiffer.


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## limba (Jan 9, 2004)

Now we just have to wait for guys to buy em and try em.


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## doccoraje (Jan 12, 2004)

Any plan to change your wheelset Ole? or at least the rims, this would make it sub-kilo.


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## Ole (Feb 22, 2004)

doccoraje said:


> Any plan to change your wheelset Ole? or at least the rims, this would make it sub-kilo.


U bet! I'll replace the rims and save around 200g on my 1173g set. Will be a cool winter project for my 27.5er.


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## doccoraje (Jan 12, 2004)

Ole said:


> U bet! I'll replace the rims and save around 200g on my 1173g set. Will be a cool winter project for my 27.5er.


I haven't seen any word on $$$$


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## Ole (Feb 22, 2004)

My source said around 1900 USD.


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## Marfo (Apr 17, 2007)

ERD? Rims available separatly?


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## Ole (Feb 22, 2004)

Bikeradar has more:

Stan's NoTubes Valor Carbon Wheelset - Details, Pricing And First Ride Impressions - BikeRadar


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## edubfromktown (Sep 7, 2010)

After hearing FUD from them in person about how "I'm going to die" on LB (32 hole; that ya might just classify as all mountain maybe) carbon rims... I'll pass thanks.

Not a big fan of their 2.0/ "1.7" spokes either.


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## Ole (Feb 22, 2004)

edubfromktown said:


> After hearing FUD from them in person about how "I'm going to die" on LB (32 hole; that ya might just classify as all mountain maybe) carbon rims... I'll pass thanks.
> 
> Not a big fan of their 2.0/ "1.7" spokes either.


They have been critical of a lot of different carbon rims over the years. I remember emailing with Stan about this several years ago, and he was not happy about the quality of anything on the market. I ride LB rims myself, and they are ok, but defenitely not high end. I think the new NoTubes rims will be very high quality.

What do you mean by 2.0/"1.7" spokes? I know of no spokes that are 1.7 in either end. Do you mean SuperComp @ 2.0/1.7/1.8? Or WheelSmith DB 14 @ 2.0/1.7/2.0? They are both good spokes.


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## edubfromktown (Sep 7, 2010)

Agree, LB's are in a different class but c'mon now; Stan's has nothing for a long time and bashes most if not all available offerings... :skep:

No doubt they will be high quality; hope they offer 32h options for the jolly among us (me included).

On a stock Crest build from Stan's ~ 1 year old, the spokes measure out to 2.0 / <1.7 / 1.8 so they look to be SuperComp's. I lean a bit toward DB14's.


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## trhoppe (Sep 3, 2008)

I'm upgrading my Crests the second these are out on the market...


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## conrad (Jan 27, 2004)

I hope they have quality brgs in the hubs, my stan's xtr SS wheel set brgs are pretty low quality compared to my other wheels. (CK, Hope & White Ind)..............


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## roybatty666 (Mar 2, 2009)

Why limit their market, 32h rim only please as a loyal Stans rim customer


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## juan_speeder (May 11, 2008)

conrad said:


> I hope they have quality brgs in the hubs, my stan's xtr SS wheel set brgs are pretty low quality compared to my other wheels. (CK, Hope & White Ind)..............


XTR bearings are low quality? Do tell?


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## ryanhugh (Dec 27, 2007)

I'll be ordering these as soon as they are available. the weights are unbelievable!


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## Ole (Feb 22, 2004)

juan_speeder said:


> XTR bearings are low quality? Do tell?


Probably a typo,for ZTR. There is no such thing as an XTR SS hub.


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## BoiseBoy (Mar 1, 2006)

Rumor on the street, like their other high-end wheels, they will have a very prohibitive weight limit.

Go ahead and ride these if you weigh 110lbs or less and you enjoy pavement. Stan's offerings will typically buckle if you sneeze too hard.

I will stick with my Roval's and never have to worry!


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## BlownCivic (Sep 12, 2006)

According to one of the articles posted above, (just a paraphrase) unlike the MMX Race wheels, the carbon offerings will not have a ridiculously low rider weight limit.

On the other hand, I've been riding/racing on the ZTR Race and the MMX Podium rims for 3-4 years now, and I hover right around the max weight for them (165-180 depending on the time of year) and I've never damaged a rim. That's Test of Metal, Cheakamus Challenge, etc... type of riding.


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## chomxxo (Oct 15, 2008)

This promo video has a rider with a Lefty, so that hopefully answers my biggest concern about them.

Stan's NoTubes - ZTR Valor on Vimeo


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## SandSpur (Mar 19, 2013)

chomxxo said:


> This promo video has a rider with a Lefty, so that hopefully answers my biggest concern about them.
> 
> Stan's NoTubes - ZTR Valor on Vimeo


what concern is that?


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## chomxxo (Oct 15, 2008)

SandSpur said:


> what concern is that?


...that they'll have an option for a Lefty front hub.


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## climr (Oct 25, 2005)

Your concern should be that Stan's is making it obvious they don't know much about carbon rims and bicycle wheels in general. I cannot believe he would market this rim as having more flex, like that is a good thing? Come on, carbon rims are not harsh. We've been through this already and everyone agrees, science backs it up, etc.. Now he's gonna come out and claim that because his rims flex a few thousandths of an inch more than other carbon rims they are better? Since when did more flex become a good thing? Are we supposed to believe those enve's he compares them too in the video aren't also much more stiff laterally? Unlike radial stiffness, lateral stiffness actually matters in the real world! 

These are just too far on the extreme. 280g is simply too light, not enough material in the bead to withstand rock strikes, too few spokes and too flexy. What is the point of riding carbon rims if it isn't stiffness and durability? There are better and cheaper options out there that you can actually get built how you want, will improve your bike's handling and not have some cheap chinese hub and spokes.


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## chomxxo (Oct 15, 2008)

I ultimately agree with all these arguments. Notubes has the reputation for building their light stuff to weight-weenie levels. I want light and tough, at least, if not cheap. We'll have to see, initial reviews are good.



climr said:


> Your concern should be that Stan's is making it obvious they don't know much about carbon rims and bicycle wheels in general. I cannot believe he would market this rim as having more flex, like that is a good thing? Come on, carbon rims are not harsh. We've been through this already and everyone agrees, science backs it up, etc.. Now he's gonna come out and claim that because his rims flex a few thousandths of an inch more than other carbon rims they are better? Since when did more flex become a good thing? Are we supposed to believe those enve's he compares them too in the video aren't also much more stiff laterally? Unlike radial stiffness, lateral stiffness actually matters in the real world!
> 
> These are just too far on the extreme. 280g is simply too light, not enough material in the bead to withstand rock strikes, too few spokes and too flexy. What is the point of riding carbon rims if it isn't stiffness and durability? There are better and cheaper options out there that you can actually get built how you want, will improve your bike's handling and not have some cheap chinese hub and spokes.


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## legsrburnin (Mar 25, 2007)

I spoke to Stan and the No Tubes guys at Interbike. They have no weight limit set. They only produce enough of the rims to supply the full wheelsets at the moment. The rims on their own should be available in the next 6 months or so.


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## cecald (Feb 17, 2010)

I've had a set of Stan's Arches on a Air 9 for 5 years with no issues at all. First 3 years of riding were on fairly smooth singletrack, the last 2 years on pretty much all mountain terrain - baby head rocks, hucks to flat (max 3-4 feet). I weight a solid 180 nekkid, and about 200 fully geared. Just thought I'd post my experience.

Personally looking forward to the carbon offering - especially for a lightweight build for my wife.


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## Cayenne_Pepa (Dec 18, 2007)

juan_speeder said:


> XTR bearings are low quality? Do tell?


All Shimano hubs still use loose ball bearings, including XTR.


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## chomxxo (Oct 15, 2008)

cecald said:


> I've had a set of Stan's Arches on a Air 9 for 5 years with no issues at all. First 3 years of riding were on fairly smooth singletrack, the last 2 years on pretty much all mountain terrain - baby head rocks, hucks to flat (max 3-4 feet). I weight a solid 180 nekkid, and about 200 fully geared. Just thought I'd post my experience.
> 
> Personally looking forward to the carbon offering - especially for a lightweight build for my wife.


I agree that the Arch is a solid, well-built rim. I weigh about the same as you and trust it for the rear wheel on a couple of training wheelsets. However the Crest and Race/Race Gold rims are lighter and have a weaker design than the Arch. Although I can get by with a Crest on the front, for a couple of wheel builds I've gone with the Arch because the Crest is just too flexy.

This usually manifests itself as the spokes loosening or breaking. For a race wheelset my I9 Crest build has avoided this problem. Just saying that when we're talking about a wheelset getting into the 1200-gram range, for carbon or aluminum we're not talking about an all-mountain or trail wheelset.

Hopefully with carbon fiber's greater stiffness and strength the Notubes Valor will prove to be stronger and stiffer. I warned my 145lb friend against using his Race Gold wheelset as an every-day wheelset on his Scott Scale but he didn't listen to me. With Ikon 2.2s the wheel flexed and tire rubbed so badly that he had to switch to a 2.0 rear tire.


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## packfill (Aug 22, 2005)

has anybody heard when these will be available?


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## chomxxo (Oct 15, 2008)

Bumpity bump. First carbon wheelset I've seen that (hopefully) leverages the strength to weight ratio over aluminum in a meaningful way.


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## rfxc (Oct 18, 2004)

Dang what is the hold up! Want.

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## briscoelab (Oct 27, 2006)

I heard it won't be until late spring.


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## irishpitbull (Sep 29, 2011)

I have a set on preorder. I was told end of march/ beginning of April.


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## TJay74 (Sep 26, 2012)

My shop told me when they called the 29'r will be released first, end of April time frame right now. Then the 27.5 will release end of May.

These will be a very limited run series and from the sounds of it that the higher volume dealers will get first grabs at them.

I had to make a decision so I went with another carbon wheelset for now.


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## chomxxo (Oct 15, 2008)

That's what their FB page says too. No rim-only sales this year


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## Lefty2341 (Aug 12, 2013)

Wonder what limited run series means? Maybe they are working on production quality issues.


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