Review: Nukeproof's $563 Horizon V2 Wheels

Specs and details

Like a growing number of wheel manufacturers, Nukeproof has opted for front and rear specific rims. They both have the same dimensions (30mm internal, 35mm external width, 21.6mm height), but the rear rim has a thicker sidewall for extra dent resistance. Nukeproof says the 29" rim weighs 510g for the front and 540g for the rear. For context, a DT Swiss EX 511 enduro rim has a claimed weight of 570g, while the XM 481 has a claimed weight of 525g but is sold as an all-mountain rim. If you were to damage a front rim, you could replace it with the stronger rear rim with the same spokes and aesthetics.

Speaking of which, the matte black finish looks to me like a high-end wheelset, while some manufacturers want to visually differentiate between their top-end and lower-price options.

The hubs use Enduro ABEC 5 bearings throughout, which have double-lip seals and a generous amount of grease to help them run for longer in wet conditions. The freehub ratchet is a conventional six-pawl design with three teeth per pawl to help prevent skipping. Between them they engage the ratchet ring a total of 102 times per revolution, resulting in a pretty snappy 3.5° engagement angle.

The spokes are J-bend for easy replacement and the same length front and rear, although the drive-side spokes are shorter so you'll want a spare of each size (not included). The wheels come pre-taped and include Nukeoroof's nifty valves, which have wrench flats on the nut to help secure the seal tightly and valve caps which double as valve core removers.

Performance

Installing tires from Maxxis and Schwalbe without a tubeless inflator caused zero issues (as you'd hope these days) and I had no leaking of air past the tape or valve throughout six months of testing.

I've spent a lot of time back-to-back testing different enduro wheels in the past, and in my experience the differences between them in terms of ride feel and harshness is extremely subtle at most. But the Horizon wheels never did anything odd like flex unpredictably during heavy cornering loads, nor did they ever make any disconcerting noises when battering through rocks (this can be a problem particularly with wheels laced such that the spokes don't touch as they cross over). They were usually last thing on my mind when riding, and that's about as much praise as you can realistically give to a wheelset.

Similarly, the effect on wheel weight on acceleration is often overstated. Yes, a gram on the rim has up to twice the impact on acceleration as a gram of non-rotating weight, but since the difference between a heavy and a lightweight trail/enduro wheelset is perhaps 300g, the effect on acceleration of a bike and rider weighing close to 100Kg is small. In fact, saving 300g of wheel weight will improve acceleration by somewhere between 0.3% and 0.6%, depending on whether the weight is saved from the hub, spokes or rim. But the Horizons's 2,071g total weight (including valves) is competitive for the price. To use DT Swiss as a benchmark once again, a set of their E 1900 Spline wheels weigh 2,106g on my scales.

The freehub ratchet is on the louder side, but not so much that it becomes obnoxious. It's plenty quick enough that you'll never notice any significant freehub lag when stamping on the pedals. The bearings felt tight to begin with, but they soon loosened up so the wheels spin freely and take a long time to come to a halt when spinning in the work stand.



Durability

I had issues with the first version of the Horizon V1 wheels skipping and damaging the pawls, but had no such problem here despite some deliberate pedal-punching to make sure. After a full winter of use in the UK, the bearings all feel smooth with no roughness when spinning them individually by hand. There's no visible wear on the internals and very little dirt ingress despite plenty of filthy weather. It's also nice to see that Nukeproof offer a range of spares including bearing kits, adapters and freehub pawls on their website for reasonable prices, along with clear instructions on hub servicing. Along with those J-bend spokes, this means they should be pretty easy to live with long-term.

Denting rims is a bit of a lottery but despite a few audible rim-on-rock moments over the last few months both rims are dent free. The rear wheel has a very slight wobble which I measured to be about +/-0.5mm. More importantly, all the spokes remain well-tensioned (at least, to the specifications of the "ping" test). That's not necessarily surprising for an enduro/DH-rated wheelset after six months use, but it certainly bodes well.

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Pinkbike's Take: