Stans ZTR Crest 29er Stock Wheelset Review
Posted by FatBob on January 24, 2012
Light wheels can make a huge difference in performance – more so than any other component on your bike. With many companies making all sorts of claims as they clamour for their wheels to get a spot on your bike, the choices can be difficult. Add in cost and things can get overwhelming.
700 grams for a front wheel, quick release, tubeless tape and valve core
880 grams for a rear wheel, quick release, rim tape and valve core
Stan’s No Tubes, out of Elmira New York, was one of the first companies to offer a 29er rim that could be run tubeless and was light enough to compete with 26 inch wheels, or at least bridge the gap. In my mind, they were instrumental in making 29ers a viable option at a key point in the history of the 29er. They did not stop with a light, tubeless rim; their line included mid weight and heavier duty rims to provide the entire range of wheel types for the big wheel enthusiasts. While being one of the first to really invest in 29ers, and having a broad lineup is nice, in today’s competitive 29er wheel market, they have to perform in order to earn our thumbs up.
The wheelset we have is a Crest 29er Stock Wheelset. The internal rim width is 21mm. It is a laced 3 across with a light gauge 2.0 to 1.7 spokes (14/16 gauge). This appears to be a double butted spoke. Double butted spokes are well suited to disc brake wheels, as the ends are thicker than the center. The thicker section (2.0 or 14 gauge) is in the area most prone to breaking and the thinner section (1.7 or 16 gauge) has better elasticity, so the spokes won’t get brittle as easily from repeated flex from braking force.
Since they are called No Tubes, not surprisingly, the rims are tubeless ready. You will still need to run sealant, but almost any tire can be converted to tubeless using this system. Please be sure to read the tire manufacturers material with regards to tubeless use, and remember, this is always done at your own risk.
Without listing every tire we have run on them, Stan’s tubeless system works well across a wide range of tires except UST standard tires which are very tight and borderline impossible to get on. Of course, we have burped every tire we have run, on every tubeless combination. Typically, this is due to failing to keep enough air in the tires and leaning hard and pumping through a turn. I still feel that tubeless set ups are more reliable then a tube set up. Usually, if you burp a tire, you would more then likely have pinch flatted a tube anyway.
Our Stan’s Crest rims are fairly narrow, so we chose not to run more then a 2.1 tire. There is still a slight balloon shape even at this width. You have to keep in mind its intended use, XC. These are very light weight wheels, so the emphasis is on low weight, not on keeping a square profile on a tire. It is an appropriate width rim for its intended use, and on par with other XC rated wheels. If you plan on running a really wide set of tires, look at the Arch or Flow rims by Stan’s.
The 3.30 Stan’s branded hubs are, to me, a real focal point of these wheels. They really stand out as a great value. They can easily be converted between 15 qr and standard drop outs without any special tools. The rear can also be converted to 12×142 without any special tools. To do this, I prefer using a vice with soft grips very gently pressed onto the end caps. Then, gently rock the wheel back and forth while pulling up gently. The end cap pops out and you can replace it with the adapter caps. Or, as in the pictures below, you can use vice grips, which I am absolutely sure Stan’s doesn’t advocate but it still works, if you don’t have access to proper tools. Again, the key here is be gentle! You don’t need much force and you definitely don’t need lots of clamping force. On a good day, I have even done it with my fingers and it probably should be tried this way first. If you have any doubts, please go to your local shop. If you bought them online, don’t forget the six pack for the mechanics
Back to the hub’s performance and why they are such a good value. The bearings roll very smoothly and the tight ratchets react well to quick bursts and pedal kicks. Overall, they are responsive and very smooth, especially for the money. In my mind, they are an excellent value and the real selling point of this wheelset.
With some caveats, unfortunately, this is where the good ends. These wheels are recommended for riders that weigh up to 190 pounds. I am 20 pounds over that recommendation and our other testers that spent time on them are under that number. One 20 pounds under, the other 55 pounds under that number. Riding in an aggressive XC style, literally, every other ride, the spokes completely de-tensioned, and were flopping around in the wind. I had as many as 8 spokes loosen up to this degree during one ride. We got the wheel re-tensioned 3 times and thread lock designed for spoke nipples put on. That improved things from 8 loose spokes to 4 at a time. After going through this process, I threw in the towel on these wheels. In my opinion, I was asking nothing out of these wheels that that they should not have been able to deliver on – wheels should not de-tension regardless of rider weight.
To be fair, our 135 pound rider thought nothing bad about them. Myself and the 170 pound rider couldn’t get past the wiggle felt in the back from the wheel flexing. It is our opinion that the weight penalty of 100 grams or so on similar wheels offered by other companies is worth the stiffness and reliability gained. Best case scenario is that the wheels were poorly built or manufacturing tolerances are not great. Either way, they can’t really get our recommendation until they prove more reliable.
So the verdict: if you are a light rider with a finess riding style, these wheels may work fine. I would recommend riding them for a couple of days, then bringing them into a shop with an excellent wheel builder and having them re-tension the wheel. Another option is to use them as a dedicated race day wheelset on smooth race courses. Everyone else, look elsewhere.
Comments
8 Responses to “Stans ZTR Crest 29er Stock Wheelset Review”Leave a comment, and if you'd like your own picture to show up next to your comments, go get a gravatar!
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I’m 6′-6″, 195lbs, and race on these wheels on an Epic 29er with S-Works FastTrak LK 2.0s. Maybe its just riding style (and I’ve learned to ride pretty smoothly from fear of pinchflats), but I’ve had to true these wheels once through the entire 2011 race season. Don’t know if I had an exceptional experience, or you guys just had a poor one, but thought it was worth mentioning. My Mavic C29ssmax wheelset has had greater issues with (a) trueness and (b) pinchflats than the Crests ever have.
Cool BigE. I guess at the best this is a quality control issue. People I know that ride crests that were hand built by a good wheel builder have had similar experiences to you. All I can say is we had significant issues from day one so it would be hard to really recommend these wheels.
We appreciate your experiences and to be fair to Stan’s No Tubes, are happy to post peoples experiences that don’t agree with ours.
I am confused why you would post a review from the perspective of a rider who “doesn’t fit” the merchandise. Unless you were trying to show why there is a “weight limit” of some kind. Your perspective is fine, yet not very scientific. Without the counter perspective (of the other riders who you mentioned had a different experience from yours) this review is needlessly harsh. If you had the only negative experience, it would seem that the official review SHOULD be positive with your experience being the caveat.
You wrote: “Our Stan’s Crest rims are fairly narrow, so we chose not to run more then a 2.1 tire. ”
As you stated, these are 21mm internally(~26mm ext). This is wide for a XC rim! The standard XC rims are 19 mm internally and many are 17 mm, like old Crossmax SLRs and many DT Swiss rims.
Hi Crisco Kid. Fair enough I guess.Jamie spent time on these wheels(multiple weeks) and the spokes were loose when he gave the wheels back. This is after I had the first re-tension done. He later asked to not ride them due to flex. For the record he is 10 pounds under the weight limit. Only Camye who is a whopping 130 pounds didn’t complain. I am only 15 pounds over the weight limit. Not enough to loosen that many spokes on a wheel as often as I did.
The reviews that I write are taking many factors into consideration including other riders feed back. these didn’t pass the test enough for a thumbs up. The Arch set I had had a good amount of flex in them. The Flow setup I ran was excellent as far a stiffness. Neither of these ever loosened a spoke. Not once and I ran the Arches for 2 years on a dozen test bikes. At my weight I would have over looked flex but not the spokes flopping around in the wind.
Hey Tjaard. I believe the external is 24.4 internal 21. These numbers are wider then the Arch rims. In fact the Flows are only a little wider. Somehow the flows feel huge compared to the crests. I personally can’t imagine running over a 2.1 on the crests. I guess running a big heavy tire on a crest seems odd. It seems kind of out of place on such a light rim. Your right it is wide for an XC rim but somehow the extra width didn’t help.
Speaking of XC rims I guess I need to add to the list a set of 355 rims we have been using for 2 years. Still true and the spokes are still tight. This has a 19mm internal width.
In short the review is a wheel review, not a rim review. Stans makes great rims but we had a problem with a complete wheel set. Thanks Tjaard. i don’t have a good reason for the, kind of, mistake. 21mm internal rim width is fairly wide for an XC rim. Still wouldn’t run over a 2.1.
@ Fat Bob: A fair enough response. Thanks!
Did the other riders experience the spoke problem as well? I just wonder if you happened to get a factory defect or something. I personally don’t ride these rims but a good deal of other riders on my race team do, and they all have rave reviews. But every rider is different for sure.
As for the flexing; I have heard the same from others but it seems that it might be the accepted trade off for the lightness. I wonder if there is another brand then that is just as light that DOESN’T flex. Do you know of one?
Hey Crisco Kid. Jamie did have spoke tension issues, Camye did not. I would probably guess it was a poor build or a rim that was not quite up to tolerances. we have some local riders that love their Crests as well. the biggest difference I see is that they ride hand built wheels by a reputable local builder.
I expect that flex is within acceptable limits for pure cross country riders who are light on their bikes and I would venture to agree it is withing acceptable limits for a race wheel set. Their just seems to be so much restriction and conditions of use that it is hard to recommend as you really have to fit an ideal mold.
I appreciate your reasonableness and its o.k. to disagree or comment a experience you have had. For people looking to buy these having others opinions can only help. so thanks.
As far as wheels in this weight range that don’t flex. Yes there are a few but they are all carbon fiber and cost a whole lot more ! I would like to try the Sun Ringle’ Black Flag Pro wheels. I believe they are close in weight and we had a great experience with the Charger set we got from them. I’ll see what we can come up with.