Scott-SRAM Racing Switches to Syncros' One-Piece Carbon Wheels

Feb 18, 2021
by Ed Spratt  

Scott-SRAM Racing have announced that they will be switching to Syncros wheels for the 2021 season.

The racing team featuring Nino Schurter, Kate Courtney and Lars Forster are swapping from DT Swiss wheels to Syncros' intriguing one-piece carbon Silverton SL wheels. Syncros has been partnered with Scott-SRAM since 2017, supplying the team with cockpits, saddles and seatposts. For the 2021 season, they are expanding their support with their carbon wheels.

Syncros' Silverton SL wheels hit the scales at a claimed 1290 grams with options of both 26 or 30mm internal widths. The one-piece construction includes spokes running from rim to rim. Syncros claim that each carbon spoke is 35% stronger with a weight of 3.5g grams each compared to steel spokes at 5.7 grams. Each rim is a single hollow piece with only the valve hole needing to be drilling, resulting in a claimed increase in impact protection and a reduction in pinch flats.

photo

bigquotesWe're always looking to get to the next level. When competing at the highest level of racing, it's crucial to rely on the best setup available. This is why SCOTT-SRAM is working with industry partners who share the same spirit and thrive for constant innovation. With Syncros we found a partner that shares the team's DNA in an unparalleled way giving us the perfect opportunity to collaborate even closer for the future and be at the forefront of technology.— Thomas Frischknecht, Team Director

bigquotes"The Syncros Silverton SL wheel is super light but the benefits don’t just stop here. The construction removes weight from the rim allowing for super fast acceleration. It’s also stiff allowing for great power transfer, tracking, and in particular cornering. Perfect for world cup racing.— Nino Schurter

bigquotesThese wheels never go out of true and need no maintenance when it comes to spoke nipples or rim tape. Tubeless ever-ready means it takes seconds to mount a tire, while quality bearings lead to great durability and performance. The two rim widths of 26" or 30" allow tire choice no matter the conditions. It’s a bit of a mechanics dream, to be honest.— Yanick Gyger, Scott-SRAM Head Mechanic

You can learn more about the Syncros Silverton SL wheels here.

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103 Comments
  • 93 6
 Never need truing because when they go out of true they go in the bin.
  • 116 4
 Ocean, carbon goes in the ocean.
  • 17 2
 @SketchyD: like old car batteries
  • 4 2
 @SketchyD: what's new, everything else does
  • 4 0
 If a carbon spoke breaks they can repair it. These wheels like most high end carbon wheel set comes with a really good warranty.
  • 1 0
 @SketchyD: laughed out loud.
  • 1 0
 I ride with my laptop in my backpack logged into pinkbike to collect data. You can see the guys in the background pushing me on the on the wheels to get the best data
  • 1 0
 Or more material for Guerrilla Gravity to make frames.
  • 4 0
 @LiquidSpin: I'm old enough to remember Spinergy wheels. And the horrific crashes that came with those failing catastrophically! Warranty unfortunately won't cover your medical bills.
  • 1 0
 @nicktapias: I was just thinking of BMX Mag wheels, just a piece of plastic molded in the shape of a wheel. Or Bigwheels, heck those don't even have a tire on them : )
  • 2 0
 @Smallbright: Unfortunately I think only GG can recycle the carbon they use. Hoping someone corrects me telling, though!
  • 1 0
 @nicktapias: I think its a very different construction. These Silverton wheels are still "rim & spoke" from a mechanical viewpoint, not really a monocoque. They will also repair broken spokes, which already implies that this happens without catastrophic failure. I read somewhere else in more detail, that they will repair spokes, provided the rim is not out of true too much. Which sounds like any other ordinary rim&spoke wheel out there.
  • 1 0
 @nicktapias: You're talking about a brand that was and still is a small brand that failed in their craftsmanship. They did not have the technology, the right R&D nor the quality control.

Syncros is a bigger and better brand owned by an even bigger company Scott. Technology has come a long way and no Scott/Syncros are not having their biggest MTB team players ride on cheap non-tested wheels made up from marketing bullshit just so they can lose money and credibility.
  • 1 0
 @theobviousfaker:

These wheels are one piece including the hub. These wheels cannot go out of true unless you heat up the carbon and bend it.
  • 54 0
 "[...] The two rim widths of 26" or 30" allow tire choice [...]" -> That's a WIIIIIIIIIDE rim. Smile
  • 14 3
 The new +plus+ tires on +uber+super+boost+plus+ standard. f*ing industry always making me upgrade. Frown
  • 12 0
 @number44: let me know how your 30" wide tires work out, Im looking to haul rocks at a mine with my bike.
  • 32 0
 Scott-SRAM will be running Mickey Thompson tires as their sponsor next year
  • 4 0
 @sjma: Maxxis makes some sick 4x4 tires as well....
  • 1 0
 @sjma: Yes yes Baja Claw 11
  • 5 0
 They're just trying to please the 26 ain't dead crowd...
  • 4 0
 This is it, this is the scenery? Have you ever been to Stonehenge. It's here specified on this napkin, 18".
  • 1 0
 Flintstones barrel wheels?
  • 1 0
 @picocassette: I, for one, do not think the problem was that the band was down. I think that the problem may have been that there was a Stonehenge monument on the stage that was in danger of being crushed by a dwarf. That tended to understate the hugeness of the object.
  • 40 0
 Sorry for trying to stop your bashing. These wheels are not meant for most of us. Just because you can buy them doesn't mean you should. None of you would consider buying a set of formula 1 wheels. But that's exactly what these wheels are. They are meant to be what they are, super light, stiff and super expensive. They make sense when you want to be the fastest rider in the world. And now back to making fun of them.
  • 22 1
 you're telling me i'm the only one with formula 1 wheels on my car?
  • 6 0
 @Kimura: That you Lewis Hamilton???
  • 1 7
flag headshot FL (Feb 19, 2021 at 2:22) (Below Threshold)
 You can't buy F1 wheels.
  • 15 0
 @headshot: Yes you can, my dad's boss has a cousin who knows a guy who is brothers with the wife of someone who sells them. He'll also get you any TV channel for £50
  • 1 0
 @T4THH: Can I get his contact info?
  • 19 2
 No replacement if you break them. Still don’t understand why anyone is gonna spend that much money in a wheel set where others offer no questions asked replacements for life
  • 6 2
 Are the others offering that lifetime policy the same weight?
  • 8 0
 @bikerbarrett: i think you can get a pretty decent warranty on roval control SLs.
  • 1 0
 Only if they have a manufacturing problem. If you smash them into a rock etc. good luck with warranty.
  • 2 0
 www.syncros.com/global/en/silverton-sl

CRASH REPLACEMENT SYNCROS SILVERTON SL WHEELSET
If your Syncros Silverton SL wheel becomes damaged by a crash in a non-repairable way and the wheel cannot be used anymore you will have the possibility to take advantage of a special rate on a new wheel.

This offer is eligible for the first owner of the wheel up to 3 years from the purchase date.

Depending on the age of the wheel, Syncros will offer you the following discounts:

In the first year after the date of purchase a 50% reduction is offered on the official retail price.
In the second year 30%.
In the third year a 20% discount.
  • 4 0
 @bigtuna00: a scaling discount over 3 years vs lifetime no questions asked, isn’t really anywhere close is it?
  • 1 0
 @bigtuna00: A new technology at a sky-high price would be a good time to offer an extra-great warranty.
Not sure this qualifies.
But this policy is for a crash. Anything can break in a crash. What's the warranty for just taking a bad line through a rock garden?
  • 1 0
 @newbermuda: What's really wild is the Roval Control SL Team LTD are cheaper by a few hundred dollars, and weigh 50 grams LESS. Considering how well my Traverse Fattie SL and my Control SL have held up, I'd trust the Specialized wheels more.
  • 1 0
 My wheel manufacturer of choice also doesn't replace my wheels when broken. The only difference in principle is that you trust ordinary wheels much more to not randomly break.
And thats a good heuristic, especially if you pay for the stuff yourself.
But think about it more positively: If you have the choice, the money, are not overweight and just want that crazy nice stuff (like Dangerholm..) then go for it, provided you trust the manufacturer to not want to just rip you off and then try to kill you. After all, Syncros is not a random seller of labeled catalogue parts.
  • 16 0
 Do they come with 20x110 and 15x157 hubs so that I can run them on my DH bike as well?
  • 9 0
 Someone at Synchro's engineering team just had a panic-attack reading that post.
  • 11 0
 "Syncros has been partnered with Scott..." How about a little journalistic integrity PB? If we wanted the manufacturer's ad-copy, we'd just go straight to the Scott website! Syncros is a fully-owned subsidiary of Scott. They bought the rights so they could rebrand and de-stigmatize the house-brand components they spec on their stock builds: it's a copycat move lifted straight from the Trek / Bontrager playbook.
  • 2 0
 Yep - it's like they lifted the language straight from the press release.
  • 4 0
 Genuine question - does it destigmatize the if most people already know Syncros = Scott? I don’t understand why they do it.
  • 3 0
 @mtshakira: it's a shockingly effective Jedi mind trick: in 40yrs of dirt riding, I have never knowingly sought out Trek-branded accessories. After they bought Bontrager, however, and took Keith's sleek, smart, & light ethos to heart, and started making stuff that sucked a lot less in the performance & looks department, I started to buy it, knowing full well it was still Trek product. As for Syncros, until Scott stops relying on the crutch of lockouts for their suspension designs, I will likely never know if their reboot of the brand is worth a damn or not.
  • 11 0
 What's up with that giant, heavy backpack with all of the tubes connected to Nino's bike?

The weight and hoses make it look like he's considering switching teams and riding for "Team Ghostbusters-Surly."
  • 7 0
 Honestly that sounds like a pretty rad team, especially if Bill Murray's on it too!
  • 4 0
 He is field testing the latest E-bike technology from Scott/Sram: Forklift lead acid battery in the backpack in combination with ultralight carbon XC e-bike + full carbon wheels.
The motor is hidden in the jockey wheel of the Di2 deraileur
  • 4 0
 obviously you're not a gofler
  • 2 0
 @Dudeclimbsrocks: I tried gofling once. It wasn't for me.
  • 8 0
 This is an impressive wheelset, but worth noting that the Roval Control SL, which is conventional spoked construction and 29 mm internal width, is listed at 50g lighter: 1240 g "with rim tape and tubeless valves". The Rovals are also covered by lifetime warranty, a 2-year, no-fault crash replacement, and are "only" $2500.
  • 2 1
 flexy. wind up under power.
  • 6 0
 @mm732: I own them. They don’t feel flexy to me at all. And they’ve already won a World Cup.
  • 1 0
 The Roval control SL has a weight of 1360 gram..
  • 2 0
 @Swenik: Are you talking about listed weight? If so, I think you're looking at the ~2014 version (which I also owned). The newest version is 1240 g.

rovalcomponents.com/collections/xc/products/control-sl
  • 1 0
 @Swenik: You are correct. It's the Control SL Team LTD edition that's 1240g, 29mm inner width.
  • 2 0
 @TucsonDon: Nope. The Control SL and Team Limited version have exactly the same weight. The only difference is the number of teeth in the ratchet. I literally listed the product page on the website above.
  • 10 1
 1290 grams I think I could make it a 2 piece wheel pretty quickly maybe 3 or 4
  • 8 0
 Where is the 26" option?
  • 3 0
 0:58 Aren't you supposed to lubricate the inside/inner section of the chain rollers while also trying to avoid being so close the cassette? Because I can understand that it looks flashy and yet mind was screaming "Heresy!" for the rest of the video.
  • 3 0
 One shift into the spokes, one misplace stick or putting your wheel down falling onto a rock and it's over...... I accepted a long time ago I just can't have nice things. Not Hating on them though. They are A beautiful piece of engineering for the select few who race to make a living....I'd love to run them....from someone else's wallet.
  • 7 0
 No nipples. Scary.
  • 7 0
 All about the nips are ya?
  • 11 0
 Think of the children!!
  • 6 0
 "Oh yea, you can milk anything with nipples." Even a cat.
  • 3 0
 Like Barbie... nipple-less
  • 1 0
 The wheel set only suitable to race teams and those with very deep pockets. 35% stronger than steel spokes still means that if you break a spoke you need a new wheel. To be honest, this is a huge waste.
  • 4 0
 As long as the wheel isn't too much out of true, broken spokes can actually be repaired.
  • 4 0
 @dangerholm: Repair?

I'm waiting to see pictures of a build where you take the paint off these wheels and double butt the spokes with a nail file. Smile
  • 1 0
 As I mentioned at the top carbon spokes can be repaired.
  • 2 0
 I have one set of Silverton SL, and i hit a big rock sideways and one spoke snapped, now the same wheel are up running again with a rapir done to that spoke so no problem to use after damage..
  • 2 0
 @LiquidSpin: I'll believe this for real when I see the Scott-SRAM team racing the world cup on wheel with repaired spokes, because hey why not, they're just as good after a repair?
  • 1 0
 @timeOday: carbon is plastic. It has and can be repaired under certain circumstances. Damaged carbon frames are fixed on a daily.

The is issue is not can a spoke be repaired, because it can. It's how much will it cost to repair?

Then again what does it matter to a person who probably has a top of the line bike with a $3500 wheel set?
  • 1 1
 Very beautiful wheels,it beats the MAVIC ones in that aspect ,but the price and if it cracks what to do ?,that is a major concern for that amount of money ,but yes very gorgeous,and yes no rim tape like MAVIC (the best of many years in that aspect ,way ahead of all ),but MAVIC used to have an SL wheels to
  • 2 2
 It's a cool technology, and if it sells, I'm sure it'll trickle down into wheelsets for those of us on non-dentist budgets. That said, I've got imagine the ride on these is brutally stiff. Probably not a factor if you're a high level XC racer and treat bodily misery as a badge of honor, but even still.
  • 1 0
 It's not new tech. Same guy who designed the Spinergy 4 and 6 spoke wheels designed this. He builds wheels under the brand Topolino. They've adapted it to work with aluminum hub shells, which detracts from the possible weight savings, but it's probably cheaper.

topolinotech.com/index.php/technology
  • 1 0
 I question if wheel flex is that beneficial when you have the pneumatic tire and shock working for you.
  • 1 0
 @timeOday:

Willing to bet these are stiff AF. No flex points anywhere. If they go, though, they'll detonate.
  • 3 1
 Can the Scott team promise us they're race the same set of rims all season?
  • 2 0
 That flat tire in one of the photos on the linked Syncros page isn't a great marketing move IMO
  • 1 2
 This is a terrible idea, break a spoke you're done, or get some repair job but you never truly repair carbon as the continous weave is broken. Additionally most carbon rims are normally a harsher ride than alloy, I'm running carbon rims myself but adding one piece carbon spokes is only going to make things even harsher. It's all well and good not wanting any lateral flex for carving turns but no vertical compliance is a bad thing, efficient and fast for racers maybe though, perhaps why they chose them. These would make more sense on an XC bike but not an enduro. Not to mention as stated you can build lighter wheelsets with your choice of hubs.
  • 1 0
 Is think a lightweight rim and hub with Berd spokes could achieve similar weight with more ability to repair component seperate of one another.
  • 3 0
 MadFiber for Mountain.
  • 1 0
 These are really cool - but more importantly, I just hope we can watch more racing this year...
  • 2 3
 $3500 is steep but this might be the future. If there are real benefits we'll see other manufacturers follow soon enough, hopefully with a real warranty. Innovation is great. Well, when it works.
  • 4 0
 This is not a new idea: Lightweight has been making one-piece carbon road wheels for almost 30yrs now. Other manufacturers like Mavic that followed them abandoned the technology because you can make wheels just as light, every bit as strong, and even more aero using bladed steel spokes.
  • 1 0
 No spoke nipples that can dive into the rim. Zero vertical flex! Looks like a bad idea for me.
  • 2 0
 they'll go great with SRAM's disposable power meters.
  • 1 0
 I’d ride those wheels if I got them for free. They look incredible. Mortals need warranties though!
  • 2 1
 XTR cassette with XO1 Eagle der?
  • 1 0
 And how long until the first 3D printed wheel.
  • 1 0
 My carbon rims broke my nephrite jade tire lever Frown Must test on aluminum.
  • 2 0
 1:08 Fox fork?
  • 1 0
 Whose hubs do they use?
  • 1 0
 dtswiss
  • 1 0
 This is great news, but?
  • 1 3
 hello bike ahead
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