Halo Vapour 6-Drive Disc Wheelset
Based in the UK, Halo makes wheels for nearly every category of cycling, with offerings for everything from BMX to DH bikes. Their Vapour 6-Drive Disc wheels are aimed at trail / all-mountain riders, with a very reasonable price to weight ratio of $495.90 USD for a 1690 gram wheelset. The aluminum, eyeleted 32 hole rims have an external width of 26mm, and the internal measurement is 21mm. Both the front and rear hub use sealed cartridge bearings, with two in the front and four in the rear. Regarding the rear hub, there are a number of designs where a pawled freehub body rotates on teeth that are found inside the hub shell, but Halo's 6-Drive hub takes a different approach, placing the 30 tooth drive ring on the freehub body itself, and six double point pawls inside the hub shell, which works out to 12 degrees of motion between engagement points. Halo's reasoning behind the design is that it creates more room to house the pawls, and it also allows a cartridge bearing to fit inside the drive ring, placing it closer to the bearing that's housed in the hub shell. Adaptors are included to convert the wheels to nearly every axle standard, and an XD freehub body is available separately for $69.95. MSRP: $199.95 / front, $295.95 rear. Weight as tested: 1690g. Also available in 26” and 29”. www.halowheels.com
Pinkbike's Take:
 | The Vapour wheels don't include anything to help set them up tubeless, but armed with a roll of Gorilla Tape and a couple of valve stems it didn't take long to seat a pair of tires with only a floor pump, and there were no issues with burping or rolling the tire off the rim while out on the trail. When it comes to rim width, internal dimensions are on the rise, and where the Vapour's 21mm measurement would have once been considered fairly wide, that's no longer the case. The wheelset that the Vapours took the place of had an inner width of 25mm, and there was a visible difference in the tire profile that resulted between the 25 and the 21mm rims. Even though it's only a few millimeters difference, wider (23mm or greater) rims allow tires to spread out further, typically translating to a better feel that's most noticeable when cornering and descending. It would be nice to see the Vapour rim's width increased slightly, even if it meant incurring a small weight penalty; this would make them more appealing for riders looking to upgrade their current wheelset. A few rough rides on the wheels led to a couple of spokes in the rear wheel working themselves loose, but after snugging them down and adding tension to both the front and rear they stayed tensioned and true for the remainder of the test period, which included multiple runs on a rock strewn, technical trails with several large drops. Although they did make it down those rowdy trails, this isn't the stiffest wheelset out there, and I'd say it would be better suited for a XC / trail usage, where there's less air time or extremely rough terrain involved. The biggest issue I encountered with the Vapour wheels was the rear freehub's tendency to 'pop' under pressure - more often than not, standing out of the saddle to power up a hill resulted in a disconcerting noise coming from the freehub, which made it tough to commit fully to tricky uphill sections for fear of a skipping pawl causing a hard knee vs. stem impact. The hub never failed completely, but it certainly didn't inspire confidence. After sending the wheelset back for Halo to examine, they determined that the popping sound was caused by a slight deformation in one of the drive ring teeth, which caused the pawls to occasionally engage unevenly. According to the company, they've since tightened their tolerances, and any rider who experiences this issue will be able to get a replacement freehub at no charge. At the end of the day, the Vapor wheelset is light, especially for the price, and withstood a good bit of abuse, but troubles with the freehub body prevented it from living up to its full potential. - Mike Kazimer |
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