Spank Spike Race28 Wheelset Review
Spank Spike Race28 Wheelset overview:
• Intended use: all-mountain, freeride, downhill
• 26"
• Adaptors available for most axle standards - 15mm, 20mm or QR front; 135mm, 12x142 or 150mm rear
• Colors: black/white, blue, red
• Weight: 2010 grams (actual) with 12x142 adaptor
• MSRP: $499 USD
Spank offers several different component lineups designed to suit various styles of riding. Their Spike series is intended for everything from light freeriding to downhill racing or bike park usage, and includes handlebars, stems, rims and pedals, along with the wheelset tested here. For the Race28 wheelset, Spank uses a traditional three cross pattern to lace their Spike Race28 EVO rims to 32 hole Spoon hubs. The wheels are hand built and trued in Taiwan (a small card is included with the wheel builder's signature) using Sandvik triple butted spokes and brass nipples.
The Details
Rims
The Spike Race28 EVO rims are constructed from a 6000 series aluminum alloy Spank calls Dynamal, which was chosen for its balance of high strength and light weight, the elements needed for a modern mountain bike rim. Spank's rims are joined using a sleeve that is pressed in and then bonded with an epoxy for added assurance against separation. The rims measure 23mm wide internally and 28mm externally, with a total height of 19mm. Instead of dipping down in the center where the spoke holes are like many rims do, the rim has a wave shaped profile that creates a raised center rib. This raised portion, part of Spank's patented OooBah rim profile, is designed to provide additional bracing for the rim's sidewalls, preventing them from collapsing in under heavy loads. The rims also have a pronounced bead hook to prevent tires from rolling off the rim, even when riders run low pressures. We tested these wheels with tubes, but Spank does sell tubeless rim tape for riders who wish to run a tubeless setup.
Hubs
The Race28 EVO's front hub comes set up for a 20mm thru axle, and the rear is available set up for 10x135 or 12x150 spacing, with adaptors available separately for riders who wish to run a 15mm front thru axle or a 12x142 rear. Both hubs use common sized Japanese sealed cartridge bearings – two 6804 bearings in the front hub, and four 6902 bearings in the rear. The steel freehub body uses a three pawl system that engages with the 27 points inside the hub shell. In order to reduce weight, the number of splines on the outside of the freehub body has been reduced, and rather than having splines along the entire circumference of the freehub body there are only three splined sections for the cassette to slide onto. Constructing the freeehub out of steel also makes cassette removal easier, with there being a greatly reduced chance of the cassette digging in and mating with the freehub's splines.
Performance
Our set of Race28 wheels have made the rounds over the last few months, seeing action on everything from hardtails to downhill bikes. They've withstood the rigors we put them through amazingly well – besides a couple minor adjustments on the truing stand, there's been no need for any other maintenance. The wider rim profile was a good match for 2.3" and 2.5" tires, giving them plenty of room to spread out and work to their full potential. No matter what bike it was on, the Race28 wheelset never called attention to itself, which isn't a bad thing - it simply means that the wheels did what they were supposed to without any strange performance quirks. We didn't notice any undue wheel flex, even during hard cornering and harsh g-outs, and the rims remained dent free despite months of sending them off jumps and bashing them through roots and rocks. Even after countless rides in wet, muddy conditions, the bearings are still spinning smoothly and have yet to develop any side to side play. There was no funny business from the freehub body either – even in colder temperatures, which is when pawls can sometimes get sticky and slip, there were no issues.
Pinkbike's take:
 | Don't let the word 'Race' in the name of these wheels fool you into thinking this is a fragile, handle-with-care wheelset. The Race28 is a workhorse, a blue collar pair of wheels that can easily handle aggressive riding in the worst weather conditions. Plus, the use of standard J-bend spokes and a traditional three cross lacing pattern means that if you ever break a spoke it won't be too hard to find a replacement, which can come in handy should a roadtrip take you to a remote location with limited access to specialty parts. For the gram counters, the Race28 falls into sort of a middle ground depending on what they are used for - they weigh in on the lighter side of the scale for a DH wheelset, and on the stouter side of things for all-mountain wheels. However, we wouldn't say they're too heavy for all-mountain riding, especially for riders that tend to be tough on wheels - a few extra grams is worth the peace of mind that comes with not needing to worry about tacoing a wheel. We were impressed with the performance of these wheels, and the reasonable price makes them even more appealing. With bike parks beginning to open up and race season getting underway, this could be a solid choice for the rider looking to upgrade their stock wheelset without breaking the bank. - Mike Kazimer |
www.spank-ind.com
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96 Comments
Finally a real review on a real, no BS/marketing product. I've been saving up for some rims/28race wheelset..they definitely need WAY MORE attention for the durability, performance, and quality of their stuff. All I hear is great things. It's pretty hard to believe for the amount of gram's they're, how durable + solid they are. Can't forget, they look sexy as well with all their color combos/etc.
What I heard from one of their employees + to point things out:
2,000g's is decent but it's also super easy to use a lighter hub to get the weight significantly down. Spoon hubs are very solid but obviously weigh a bit more. Also, we all know Flow/Flow EX's are super light, but they're definitely not super durable rims. Versus Flow EX (or older Flow's), I heard these 28Races will outlast them many many times over but with only about a 10g increase in weight per rim, personally that's almost hard to believe with only 10g+. Also, from what I heard (one of the Spank guys doing internal testing) that the 28Race rim did surpass the ultimate yield strength of a FR600 rim (and many others) but -100g in weight which is once again crazy, hopefully it's true... Obviously no real test has come out, but then again, everyone i've met says they're super solid and durable over the many other popular rims.
Random note: Santa Cruz bikes uses 6069 alloy which resembles very closely to the values of Dynamal alloy..so it's very plausible and not full marketing BS like some other companies do so often...
If you can't afford the 28races or want a tad bit more width, Spank makes an AM line called "Subrosa 30" EVO (newer version), which is 520g's (20g's+ over 28race) per rim and tested/raced by some WC people before 28race fully came out and handles DH easily and holds up well. To read more on that, google it, you'll see a guy who rode Whistler (I believe) and tested out the Subrosa EVO's and abused them quite well, but they held up great. Price difference (depending), can be $20-$30 per rim. So not bad for only 20g's extra and 2mm of width.
Spank 28Race Rim = 500g // $80.00~$92.00 (28Race Wheelsets go for ~$380.00 (Amazon) - $450.00 (PB Buy/Sell)
w/ Hope Pro II Evo Hubs F/R.150mm = 1870-1890g
Spank Subrosa EVO = 520g // $60.00-$75.00
Stan's Flow EX = 490g // $90.00
DT Swiss FR600 = 600g // ~$100.00
Supra D (Azonic Outlaw?) = 588g // ~$82.00
Supra BH (Azonic Outlaw?) = 612g // ~$50.00
Mavic 729 = 675g // ~$100.00
Enve DH Rim = 475g // ~$999.00
Of course the rims above have different widths, so each to their own..but it's just apparent by comparing price-to-weight ratio, durability, and practicality of 28Races, no other rim is really on Spank's level.
Also I'd like to say that they are a nice wheelset but not as durable as they could be, I could live with the dents it's just the pinned joint I can't get past.
The Mavics are a hard alloy and have double steel eyelets. They are durable but when they dent they crack and the eyelets don't stop the cracking either. All my 729s cracked at the dents and spoke holes eventually (1 year) but were still a great rim. Still ride them with cracks though.
The Spank 35 rims are softer alloy. They did dent but because of the OooBah profile they stay nice and round. They never cracked from the spoke holes either. Really liked the wide 35mm rim.
That brings me to point 2...Spank rims are designed, developed, and manufactured in house. In fact due to the success of the new EVO rim line, we have been approached by so many brands hoping to improve their wheel programs, and we actually now make many of the top brands in the world's top of the line alloy rims. So Wakaba...ironically very funny...but check your facts and you might be surprised!
Are those spoon hubs by Novatec?? It would be nice to know if Novatec adapters would fit them...
Joytech is the parent company.
Novatec is the offspring "higher end" division, they themselves have an even higher end lineup which was mentioned in the Novatec factory tour a few months ago.
Joytech/Novatec manufacturers hubs under various labels for other brands, of which Spank is one of them (Transition is another)..
what?? Another wheel size??WTF!
Fitting a cassette with an alloy spider will just chew the weaker spider/ last 3 or 4 small gears instead?
Anyway... anyone able to tell me if the above is actually a concern or not? Ah, also the pawls ahre a single spring and don't look quite as erm... "pedalling friendly" as more xc/ AM setups?
Really like the look of these wheels, just want to make sure they will be ok for more trail/ AM use. I can live with the weight, im not the lightest of riders, so strength is more important to me than weight.
probably a far stiffer rim though.
www.pinkbike.com/photo/14371046
I've had these Subrosa rims laced to Pro 2 hubs for almost 5 years without an issue.