REVIEWED: Shimano XTR Trail Wheel Set

Shimano’s all new XTR M9020 27.5″ Trail wheel set is one of the best pairs of wheels to pass through AMB‘s doors. A sound make and model that can take on the duties of a lightweight cross country wheel set and the much tougher all-mountain variety. These are a set of wheels that will certainly go the distance.

The sum of its parts

The rims are constructed from alloy and laminated in carbon to give that little extra reinforcement and minimal weight gain. Not to mention the black gloss looks sick. The M9020’s are further optimised by 28 straight pull spokes to beautifully crafted aluminium shelled Shimano hubs. The hubs use classic cup and cone bearings, which are well sealed and astoundingly smooth out on the trail. This bearing style tends to deal better with loads, and top end Shimano hubs have a reputation of “set and forget”. Not that anyone here would recommend dodging maintenance… but it’s nice to have hubs that are so well sealed you’re not replacing bearings after a long muddy ride.

Straight pull spokes and highly polished hub shells.

Shimano have cut some weight from their axle and bearing setup, saving a bit over 30g per set of XTR hubs over the last generation.

The straight pull spokes and alloy nipples might have a few people shaking their heads in regards to reliability but the wheels come built very well, and spare spokes and nipples will be available via Shimano should you manage to snap one, or sweat so much that the nipples corrode.

A 27.9mm wide rim with an internal width of 26.4mm ensures that out on the trail there is no flex to speak of, the wider profile also allows for a bigger ‘bag’ of tyre to be used and at a lower pressure to boot. As a final touch these wheels come ready for UST, are easily inflated and that means no fiddling with tape to get your tubeless wheels on the trail.

The carbon wrap adds strength, and also looks great.

Setup

The XTR trail wheel set comes ready to smash trails. They are centre lock specific, but that wasn’t a big issue as we were using the always brilliant Shimano XTR Trail brakes too. Given the UST rim profile, running Maxxis Ardent and Ikon Tubeless Ready tyres, inflation was easy. Even with a standard track pump.

The hub is compatible for Shimano 11speed. We tested a set with a QR15mm front axle and 142×12 rear, but other hub variants are available too.

Shimano turned it up to 11 with the M9000 and M9020 group.

The Ride

In a nut shell (or hubshell): lightweight and fast accelerating. We only used these on the Lapierre Zesty 827 AM that we built up, but they fitted the role perfectly. The Zesty rides lighter and more efficiently than you’d expect from a slack 160mm travel bike, given the efficiency gained from the e:i Auto suspension management. The XTR Trail wheels were a perfect match, rolling smoothly and accelerating easily.

Being a lighter wheel than you might expect for an all-mountain bike, the 1621g weight of the wheel set doesn’t mean they lack strength. While we didn’t head out to destroy them, anyone riding the Zesty didn’t hold back.

The wheels rolled true, the spokes held their tension and even at low pressures no riders experienced burping.

These are not a component you have to worry about failing you and are designed to compliment any ride or rider. Built with the precision and quality that Shimano XTR parts are known for, these wheels are a sound investment for your trail or all-mountain bike.. The only drawback is they come at a price, about $1600 for the set.

For more details, go see your local Shimano dealer.