e*thirteen TRS Race Carbon Wheels - Review
As the name implies, e*thirteen's TRS Race Carbon wheelset was designed with enduro racing in mind, specifically, the punishing conditions found on the Enduro World Series circuit, where competitors are required to use the same wheels for the entire race weekend. A damaged rim can dash any hopes of a spot on the podium, which is why e*thirteen spent two years experimenting with different designs before settling on a hookless rim with a 27mm internal width, which should provide plenty of support for tires 2.3” and wider.
TRS Race Carbon Details
• Size: 27.5" (29" option available)
• Intended use: all-mountain, enduro race
• Internal width: 27mm
• Rim material: carbon fiber
• 28 triple butted spokes
• Weight:1773 grams; Front: 822 grams, Rear: 951 grams (with tape and valve stems)
• MSRP: $1698 USD
• www.bythehive.com
• Size: 27.5" (29" option available)
• Intended use: all-mountain, enduro race
• Internal width: 27mm
• Rim material: carbon fiber
• 28 triple butted spokes
• Weight:1773 grams; Front: 822 grams, Rear: 951 grams (with tape and valve stems)
• MSRP: $1698 USD
• www.bythehive.com
e*thirteen's hubs use a carbon tube that's bonded to tall aluminum flanges.
The hookless carbon rim has an internal width of 27mm and comes pre-taped for easy tubeless setup.
Construction
It's no secret that wide rims are back, a resurgence spurred on by the realization that the extra width makes it possible to run lower air pressures without worrying about burping or ripping a tubeless tire off the rim. The TRS Race's internal rim width of 27mm isn't the widest on the market, but it also allows riders to run a wider range of tire widths; once internal rim dimensions reach 35mm or so certain tread profiles can becoming overly square and create odd handling on the trail.
The carbon fiber rims use a hookless sidewall profile, a design that's become an increasingly common feature. In addition to being easier to manufacture, a hookless rim provides greater impact resistance, since the carbon's thickness remains consistent from the rim bed to the outer edge of the rim. 28 triple-butted spokes are laced to e*thirteen's distinctive hubs, which use a carbon shell that's bonded to tall aluminum flanges. Those tall flanges allow for the use of shorter spokes, and improve the angle between the spokes and rim, which in theory should create a stiffer wheel. Three double-toothed pawls ratchet against the rear hub shell's 60 teeth, creating a quick 6 degrees between engagement points.
60 teeth give a quick 6 degrees between engagement points
The driver body uses three double-toothed pawls.
Performance
Tire installation with the TRS Race wheels was completely hassle-free – the tires fit snugly on the rims, but not tight enough to require any straining or cursing to get them in place, and a few pumps with a floor pump was all it took to get everything seated and sealed.
A large part of the test period was spent aboard e*thirteen's new tires that were specifically created with wide rims in mind. A full review is in the works, but so far results have been extremely promising, especially in wet conditions. There's also the fact that the tires' sidewall graphics line up with the stickers on the wheels, a small detail, but one that makes for an eye-catching setup.
e*thirteen's new tires have sidewall graphics to match their rims.
Given my continued mixed results with carbon rim durability, I was curious to see if the TRS Race wheelset could they hold up to a winter's worth of thrashing on steep, technical trails. The answer? A resounding 'yes'. The on-trail feel is excellent – there's plenty of lateral stiffness, but without any of the wooden-feeling harshness that plagues some of the other high-end offerings out there. Mounted up with 2.3" tires they provided an incredibly smooth ride, taking the edge of the high-frequency trail chatter that can lead to tired hands and forearms. I didn't hold back during my time on these wheels either, pushing them through piles of roots, slapping them into corners, plummeting off drops, and I still haven't had to touch them with a truing wrench.
When the time does come to true them, there's no need to remove the tire to get to the spokes, something that anyone who has had to dismantle a tubeless setup just to get to one nipple will appreciate. The hub engagement was quick and positive, and other than one odd 'pop' that occurred on a steep uphill, they haven't emitted any more strange noises, just the moderately loud 'click-click-click' of the pawls ratcheting body while coasting. The bearings are still spinning smoothly, and are free of any side-to-side play. I did notice a little extra drag from the seal that sits behind the freehub body after my first handful of rides, but applying a light oil around the seal's perimeter fixed this and I didn't have any further issues.
Pinkbike's Take
 | There are more options than ever when it comes to carbon wheels, but they're not all created equal. The TRS Race Carbon wheels are deserving of a spot near the head of the pack, striking an ideal balance between stiffness, weight, and on-trail feel. They're light enough to race on the weekend, and durable enough to use the other five days of the week. - Mike Kazimer |
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Member since Feb 1, 2009
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www.superstarcomponents.com/en/am-carbon-wheelset.htm
The simple truth is i just dont know how anybody can justify spending this much money on wheels when you can get a top quality set of hubs laced to a top quality rim, at a similar weight and by all accounts strength at nearly a third of the price. but obviously its yo money and yo choice
They are still specing the 30mm rims on all of their 6fattie bikes.
I know the Carbons have a better hub and a carbon rim but I would never purchase another Roval product as a result of these issues. My Specialized LBS doesn't even recommend I rebuild the wheel as stock due to the hub failures they've been seeing.
The next wheel-set will weigh roughly the same as the ones above, will cost $700 and will be as follows: DT 350 hub, new DT XM481 rims (30mm internal) with TBD DT spokes. If you ride aggressively Rims are a disposable item and I can't imagine buying another factory built set let alone a $500-$700 rim.
Don't sweat it. They're shite.
Just one data point. For sure you can go less expensive (Light Bicycle rims), or lighter (Am Classic hubs, Revolution spokes).
I use 29mm internal width rims and on some tires (Muddy Mary) the profile is too square which I don't like - slower rolling and very edgy behavior looses grip if leaned over too far.
@ Mike Kazimer - what are the details behind "quad butted spokes"?
26" still rules in my 5'7" world.
Hey Midgets got to have fun too MOFOS!
29ers do make sense though for certain situations.
Next time I hear someone cursing I know what it is for. "Having trouble fitting your rubber, mate?"
So much agreement.
Roval Fattie SL, 1,530g, 30mm wide (internal), and $1,150 is par for the course.
Hey Midgets got to have fun too MOFOS!
Thereby, if you're not a pro racer aiming to get on that podium at the World Cup races you ride, but you're just a dude who rides for his passion for bikes and not to win, you must be really stupid to buy a new wheel set, new tyres, new fork and new frame, just for that less than 0,5% advantage. That is a very expensive joke for nearly no gains. Individual things that will make more difference on your lap times are: tyre pressure, tyre choice, geometry, stiffness, suspension settings, tyre width, brake power for last moment braking, etc.
Yes, I call it 650b 27". Why? Because it's not the middle size that the industry claims it to be and that the name makes it sound like. It is exactly 25mm / 1" bigger than 26", and nearly 2" smaller than 29". Thereby 27" is the accurate term that shows how big the wheel actually is, without all the marketing BS around it.
PS: I understand it if people go 27.5" if they buy a new complete, since there's hardly any choice of 26" completes anymore. But to spend thousands of euros purely to switch to that new wheel size doesn't make any sense.
Also 26" will never die: it will become niche. Street-, skatepark-, dirt jump- and slopestyle bikes need the short chain stays that 26" has to offer, as well as smaller wheels are easier to throw around. This is why 26" will stay the standard with freestyle and freeride mountainbiking.
When you consider they're $1000 less than a pair of Enve wheels, that seems pretty reasonable for a high-quality carbon wheelset.
I'm not gonna buy em, as I don't have a problem with my current wheels/alloy wheels in general. If I was in the market for a proper high-end set though, these would be top of my list.
I'm curious how you've arrived at the conclusion that all this stuff is "overpriced" though. Expensive, yes, but overpriced... perhaps not. Do you have any idea of the R&D and production costs involved in creating this kind of product? It's crazy high. I don't know how many pairs of these wheels they'll have to sell before they start making any money on em, but I bet it's in the thousands (if not tens of thousands)
Top end stuff is always expensive. Always has been, and always will be. It's not in everyone's price-range (including my own) but there's no reason to be pissy about it. Ferraris are expensive, and most people can't afford them either... Clearly there's a market for this stuff though, and plenty of people see the value in it, otherwise they wouldn't bother making any!
RD surely costs a fortune.
But only having spent that on RD does not by default mean the resulted product is great.
In my experience e13 wheelsets are not worth 30% of the asking price.
I have the TRS plus alu enduro version. The hubs are a piece of poor design and manufacturing.
The rear is heavy as hell. Sealing is poor. Rear develops play very easy, and I cannot get rid of the play entirely.
Front hub drags very much. Rear hub is very very loud.
No issues however with the rims. But a wheelset is to be judged as a whole.
e13 wheels do simply not bring the quality or reliability of other similarly priced sets.
Yes I agree customer service may be good (had some parts replaced for free), but I would any day, for less money, have a set running on DT hubs+any strong alu rim.
Wow, you are way off the mark.
Find me the Chinese catalogue which shows the wheel that E13 have allegedly taken "off the shelf" and I will eat my hat.
Fwiw, I've had e13 wheels before (trs alloy) which were ace, and I would gladly buy from them again.
We get it, you're an ethirteen fanboy... move on. Waste your money if you want but discerning consumers are smart enough to not be sold on labels alone.
Lighter too.
I got the two most different width rims I could lay my hands on. One 19mm internal, one 30mm. I fitted the biggest tyre I could lay my hands on to both (a 2.5" Schwalbe Muddy Mary I had kicking about in the garage) I used the same tyre on both rims to rule out manufacturing deviations, and both times pumped it up to as near as dammit 40psi. Total difference in width at the widest point on the tyre? about 2mm wider on the bigger rim. This confused the crap out of me until I worked it out. the circumference of a circle is 3.14 x the diameter. Add 6mm to the circumference, and according to my maths you add 1.9mm to the diameter. This backed up my measuring almost perfectly. So there you go. Rim width has basically no effect on tyre profile unless you go for something crazy like 40mm internal.