TESTED: Spank Oozy Trail 395+ Wheels
Spank has been pushing the envelope for years now, supporting some of the highest level riders and racers and their in-house design team have created products that last the test of time. In the rim game Spank are relatively hard to beat, I have seen them being used the world over, from bike parks to World Cups and they seem to stand up to their name.
Words: Lachlan McKillop
Plus bikes are not a fad, they are here to stay and now with the introduction of Boost spacing onto most 29 and Plus model bikes means riders are now given the option of having almost 2 bikes in one. The Spank Oozy Trails were going to be just that, a second wheel set for my 29” Stumpjumper with Boost spacing. At 2100g they aren’t a weight weenie choice, but are aimed at the hard trail rider wanting reliability and performance.
A closer inspection
Before I get to the ride I want to take some time to talk about how these wheels are put together and why in my mechanical mind they are superior to a lot of offers on the market. Firstly these wheels run the same spoke on both sides of the wheel on the front and the back. Furthermore they even ship the wheels with 2 spare spokes, a really nice touch and one that gets a massive tick from me. The hub internals are simple yet effective utilising a 3-pawl system with removable end caps changing the freehub body is simple and easy.
The rims look top shelf in their production, no obvious weld marks and a nice colour finish. The rims are wide and come pre installed with tubeless rim strips. I set them up tubeless straight away and had zero issues in inflating. One squirt of the air compressor, pop, pop, pop and they were ready to roll. The Bead Bite system that Spank uses does live up to what it says and really seemed to stop tyre burping, I had one burp on test and it was when I was running 13 psi so more my fault then the rims.
On the trail
Taking the wheels to the trail I could tell they rolled nicely on smooth standard bearings, they aren’t the loudest freehubs on the market but they make just the right amount of noise if that makes sense. The rims are made to a high tolerance, which allows the tyre to bead really nicely to the rim minimising burping and allowing the tyres to be run at a slightly lower pressure which was fun to experiment with. I’m not a wheel abuser, I barely break anything around the wheel but at the same time I do give all my wheels a good hard nudge and am more often than not putting my wheels in the truing stand. These wheels had a solid 5 weeks of weekend riding under them, from trail riding to almost downhill runs and in that whole time there was no drop in spoke tension. The wheels must be built well in the factory, even on new bikes I find there is 1 or 2 tweaks to the spokes in the first month.
The rim wall is stiff and really does hold the larger tires well. With an internal ribbed construction the rim stiffness is increased even more and I think contributes to the wheels staying in tension after a lot of riding. External nipples are a must for easy maintenance, although one small downside is the fact the nipples are alloy and not brass. Not a big issues but one thing I did notice. Alloy are light but brass are more durable in terms of service life.
Spank has created a greatly affordable wheel set, that for many is exactly what is needed as they may be a secondary wheel set for your Boost equipped trail bike. The wheels have been built really well and have been thought about with hard riding and easy servicing in mind, with features such as the same spoke lengths and a lightweight alloy construction that won't break the bank these are going to be seen more and more on Australian trails.
Hits:
– Durable without being anchors
– Excellent build quality
– Easy servicing
Misses:
-We’d like to see brass nipples
RRP: $829
From: pushie.com.au
