My focus is to build you the best set of wheels you’ve ever owned, and to do that, let’s start with the best parts.
You don’t need the most expensive parts available to get great wheels, but there are a few brands and products that I trust and always recommend.
Information specific to gravel bike wheels can be found here.
Hubs
When it comes to hubs, I believe they’re the heart of your wheels and need to be reliable, easy to live with and provide many years of faithful service.
Hope hubs
They are mid-range in price but I’ve found them to look great, work great and last really well. They have standard size sealed cartridge bearings which won’t damage the hub shell if they wear out. They’re super-easy to maintain and you can remove the freebody with no tools for cleaning and lubrication. They’re available in QR, thru-axle and BOOST, with Shimano and SRAM xD freebody options. Choose between black, silver, blue, red, purple and orange anodized colours to match your style.
Hope make the Pro4 mountain bike hubs, RS4 road hubs and RS4 CL centrelock hubs for gravel bikes and disc brake road bikes.
DT Swiss hubs
Another fantastic option is DT Swiss hubs. These come in a few variations, covering the spectrum of axle standards and free-body requirements – in any colour you like, as long as it’s black. The DT Swiss 350 hubs come in at a price similar to the Hope hubs, while the 240S models are more expensive, but lighter.
DT Swiss hubs make use of a ratchet drive system which is upgradeable to improve the engagement rate.
In both the 240 and 350 ranges of hubs, you can get MTB, road and centrelock versions, in both j-bend and straight-pull spoke options.
Aivee hubs
These hubs are machined in France and I import them directly from the manufacturer.
The hubs are available in road, MTB and disc brake road models, and come in various models to suit budget or weight targets.
They’re available in black, red, blue, orange and silver, in almost any spoke-count, axle and freebody configuration.
I often also use hubs from brands like Novatec, Shimano and Deed components, depending on your requirements and local stock availability.
Rims
When choosing rims, it’s important to choose the right ones for your bike and riding style. No less important is to make sure they’re properly tubeless-ready. If they’re not, you’ll be frustrated and will not have a good experience. More about that here.
I supply rims from various brands, in aluminium and carbon, in a range of sizes, widths and weights – depending on the rider, his or her bike, their budget, taste and personal preference.
I source most rims locally, but do import Nextie rims from China for the bulk of my carbon rimmed wheelsets.
Carbon options:
Carbon rims are lighter than their alloy counterparts, which improves handling and acceleration. They’re also nice and stiff, meaning that they’ll feel more responsive.
From the perspective of a wheel builder, I prefer carbon rims, as they start out life in a perfect state. Flat and round and uniform. This makes my life a lot easier.
I am more than happy to build you wheel with your choice of rims, but there are a couple I use most commonly.
Nextie
I import Nextie rims, directly from the factory in China. These are typically more affordable than big name brand options but are really good quality and have a superb warranty and crash replacement policy. Read more about them here.
South Industries
South Industries manufacture premium quality rims in Capetown. Their style is understated and their rims are light and strong – perfect for any mountain biker. If you’re keen to support local manufacturing, you won’t mind paying a premium for these rims.
Aluminium options:
Most aluminium rims cost between R1000 and R1950 per rim, depending on the brand, model and size.
This is half to a third less than carbon rims, but built well, they’re stil an excellent choice for most cyclists.
Spank rims
Spank makes rims for mountain bikes, especially trail, enduro and downhill, in 26″, 27.5″ and 29″ sizes – and in a variety of colours.
WTB rims
WTB offers a great range at affordable prices to suit many riders, from the super-light KOM to the indestructible Frequency Team models, in widths from 19mm to 45mm internal.
Stan’s NoTubes rims
The new Mk4 rims from Stans are all-new and sport an off-set spoke bed for a stronger wheel build.
The Crest is for XC and gravel riding, the Arch is an aggressive XC / Trail rim, and the Flow is for all-mountain and enduro riding.
These rims come with a 3 year warranty.
Raceface rims
The last brand I’ll mention is RaceFace. They also have a super range, between 24 and 40mm wide, for almost any mountain biking application.
Their most interesting models have an assymmetric design, with offset spoke holes. This allows the use of equal length spokes on each side of the wheel and make the overall structure a bit stronger.
DT Swiss rims
DT Swiss has a full range of rims to suit almost any kind if riding, from disc-brake road to enduro, as well as e-bikes and gravel bikes.
Spokes and nipples
I always recommend using stainless steel (black or silver) double butted spokes and brass nipples (especially in carbon rims).
I use spokes from Pillar, WTB, DT Swiss and Wheelsmith – depending on stock availability and requirements. They’re all pretty much the same with regards to quality, so I do consider them interchangeable.
For most MTB wheels I use 2.0-1.8-2.0mm double butted spokes, in either j-bend or straight-pull, depending on your chosen hubs.
For road wheels, I’ll either use the same as above, or bladed spokes, which are a little lighter, just as strong and look great.
I use brass nipples for all builds unless you insist otherwise. Alloy nipples are subject to failure due to galvanic corrosion, especially in carbon rims, so I don’t believe the slight weight benefit is worth the sacrifice in reliability.