TESTED: Syntace W-Series MX wheels

From the first look at these wheels you could tell they were solid, upon further inspection the build was super tight and nicely tensioned and used triple butted spokes for extra strength and stiffness. The hub engagement sounded super solid and after a quick look inside the system looked well thought-out and strong (very similar to a certain Swiss brand). The weight and build impressed me to say the least and I was keen to see how such a lightweight aluminium wheel was going to perform on the trail.

The rims and their story

The idea was to have the full range of widths and diameters available in one wheel set model so the customer can choose the diametre and rim width to suit their needs. This posed several problems as the wide rims they were going for had never been made by any of the rim manufacturers that make aluminium rims. Making such wide rims with the profile and wall thicknesses that Syntace wanted with some wall thicknesses very thin, others somewhat meatier, was difficult. The wide rims from other manufacturers just buckled when bending and the surface had waves. Syntace was turned doen by the first handful of rim manufacturers that they approached until they finally found one that was willing to work with them to develop new manufacturing methods to make wide rims up to 40mm width with their desired profile. So they spent about a year working on a new manufacturing process that finally yielded the profiles and target weight they wanted. The surface was shot peened, which improves fatigue cracking resistance, crack development in general, and provides a very hard scratch resistant surface. It is an expensive treatment that most rim manufacturers do not use. The result is a stiff, strong rim which stays very true even if the rim hook gets a ding through sharp hit impact.    

From the start of the test the wheels sounded great, with a huge amount of engagement points, a loud noise and a stiff wheel I knew these were going to perform well. But I was worried a little about the weight, were they going to encounter a big ding? Were they going to stay in true?

My first ride on the wheels was a rough one, a 2 hour ride with 12kms of descending. With the weight of the wheels in my mind at the start of the ride after a few rocky sections it was gone. The wheels were very strong after copping a lot of heavy hits. This is testament to the rim design and profile and also the build. After my first ride the wheels were still perfectly straight and no dings were visible. These are a strong wheel and there’s no two ways about it.

The hub internals on these are beautifully machined and look similar to Dt-Swiss offerings. The hubs seem relatively easy to service with a few basic tools and knowledge of hubs. The most striking part of the internals are the seals on the hub, making the internals perform well in all conditions that I managed to throw at them.

The hubs are machined and made in Germany as they could not find any of the usual Taiwanese hub manufacturers to make the hubs to their specifications. After trying several manufactuerers in the prototype stage, they gave up and took the hub manufacturing back to Germany where they had full control of the manufacturing process. The result is a hubset with very respectable 115g for the front(20mm compatible front hub as tested 149g) and 245g for the rear with flanges angled to the spokes, a super durable and fast engaging freewheel mechanism and, as with all Syntace products, a 10 year warranty. The hubs are available alone for $895.

Wider rims are becoming more and more popular in the market and it’s something I like to see. The Syntace rims are 35mm wide themselves and are great to add more stiffness to any tubeless set-up that is installed on the bike. The rim profile is also not harsh on tires under hard compression, although I had a tubeless set up and didn’t have to worry about pinch flats it is a good selling point for the tube riders out there. The rims come in 24″, 26″, 650b and 29″ and widths: 25, 30, 35 and 40mm, and you can mix and match front and rear as you like.

I was really impressed with the wheels to be honest, being a rider who usually has a lot of issues with denting or ruining wheels these held up excellently. I did not expect a wheel at that weight to still be straight after testing. These are a great wheel for XC to enduro riders, but probably not downhillers.  A specific rim strip for tubeless (not the Stan’s tape installed) would be a good change to the setup, and brass nipples would be better for the build as well, especially for anyone near salt water

Hits:

– Beautifully deisgned hubs

– A solid rim and great build

Misses:

– none

Price: $1295 – no matter what rim/hub choice

From: EightyOneSpices