[Total Heckler]

Any updates?

Looks like they have officially put the other wheels on their site now too.

www.crankbrothers.com

-cobalt (XC / Race)
-iodine (All Mountain)
-opium (DH / Race)
-sage (freeride)

Anyone else running any of them yet in a DH or freeride application?

 

[jonKranked]

I love how they name their DH wheels after one of the most addictive naturally occurring drugs of all time.

 

[Muttely]

Well they arent exactly light for a wheel with what, 3 spokes.

 

[trib]

because (if their pedals are anything to go by) hard abuse of opium will leave you poor and close to death ...

 

[- seb]

Hmm, twice the price of my wheels and half a pound heavier. No thanks

 

[demo 9]

Are they serious? can that possibly hold up?

 

[ridingsupreme]

ya if their wheels are anything like their pedals, they'll fall apart in the first week and thats assuming bearings dont seize in the first two rides.

Crankbrothers=garbage. and I mean that in EVERY sense of the word, and about ALL their products.

 

[demo 9]

Not to start a hate thread, but ive owned 7 (yes seven) 5050XXs and i have only broken the ONLY set of 5050X pedals i got. right now 4 of my 5 bikes have 5050xxs, AND I BEAT THEM. i think they work fine.

 

[davet]

wow $1000 msrp for a DH wheelset. Ouch

 

[jonKranked]

wow $1000 msrp for a DH wheelset. Ouch

Thats almost what a set of DeeMax cost (~$900), and that's what a set of I9's will cost.

 

[dondon]

Bryn Atkinson has been running them at the world cups. His wheels have held up fine. Using one set through 4 rounds and the US open. Not bad, and we all know Bryn does not ride light on a bike. The price is no different than other high end wheelsets or custom builds. You have benefit of running tubeless if you want. NO spoke drilling means a stiffer wheelset, which allows them to remove more material off the rim thus reducing the weight too. Also no nipples etc on the outside means less rotational weigh too.

 

[sethimus]

no 135mm hubs, no buy

 

[dondon]

If you are running a bike that needs 135 hub, then it is likely a lighter duty bike. For that the Iodines work great. If not then i guess these wheels like a lot of other DH specific 150mm wheelsets are not for you.

 

[sethimus]

im building a full bos equiped 2008 sx trail, as my only mini?-dh bike. dont think the iodines are suited for this task...

 

[jonKranked]

If you are running a bike that needs 135 hub, then it is likely a lighter duty bike. For that the Iodines work great. If not then i guess these wheels like a lot of other DH specific 150mm wheelsets are not for you.

Are you a proctologist? Did you find that in someones ass? Because it has no basis in reality. There are a LOT of full on DH rigs that are still using 135 rear hubs. The specialized demo's for instance. The only REAL reason I am aware of for using a 150mm hub is to achieve a proper chain line with an 83mm bottom bracket. Generally, 150mm hubs also allow for a dishless wheel build, so in theory they are stronger. However, a properly built and tensioned 135mm wheel will hold up to DH just fine.

edit: Yes, more and more DH bikes are moving towards 150 spaced rear ends, but for a while not many companies did so because of limited options for hubs. To date, I have yet to see or hear of any company do any actual research as to whether or not a 150 rear end was actually stronger than a 135. Actually, I think in one of the Specialized vids from one of the World Cups this year one of the mechanics made mention that they are still using 135 spacing because when they tested it against a 150, they didn't find a substantial difference in strength, or at least not enough to justify changing to it.

 

[Sandwich]

I thought 150mm spacing gave you a dishless wheel. 135mm standard brake needs a dish to clear the cassette. Of course, there are several bikes running 150mm rear ends with a floater, resulting in 135mm spacing and a dishless wheel.

I doubt there's any difference in strength of the rear end, but it would make sense that a dishless wheel is stronger and stiffer.

Retardless these wheels miss the price point and weight benefit of other wheels. Is there any way to quantify rotating weight besides a subjective "it feels faster" when accelerating?

 

[jonKranked]

I thought 150mm spacing gave you a dishless wheel. 135mm standard brake needs a dish to clear the cassette. Of course, there are several bikes running 150mm rear ends with a floater, resulting in 135mm spacing and a dishless wheel.

I've heard that there are some 150 frames that don't have a dishless build, but I can't confirm it.

Again, yes, dishless wheels are stronger than dished wheels. But again I want to stress that a **properly** built, tensioned, and dished 135 spaced wheel is plenty strong for DH. The wheel I'm currently running in back is a 135x12 hadley laced to an arrow DHX rim (which is stupid heavy, but insanely strong), and in the nearly 3 years I've owned it, I've only had to true it 3 times, and once was because I broke and had to replace a few spokes when I fell and the wheel landed sideways on a rock.

 

[4xBoy]

Are you a proctologist? Did you find that in someones ass? Because it has no basis in reality. There are a LOT of full on DH rigs that are still using 135 rear hubs. The specialized demo's for instance. The only REAL reason I am aware of for using a 150mm hub is to achieve a proper chain line with an 83mm bottom bracket. Generally, 150mm hubs also allow for a dishless wheel build, so in theory they are stronger. However, a properly built and tensioned 135mm wheel will hold up to DH just fine.

Jon is a Hill fan boy wanting moar 135mm wheel options.

 

[jonKranked]

Jon is a Hill fan boy wanting moar 135mm wheel options.

We all know that a 150 hub is just a 135 with MOAR SHIMZ.

 

[Sandwich]

Dude you could build an arrow DHX with ti spokes and the most crooked build in the world and that sucker still wouldn't come out of true. Those are the strongest rims around, it's just a shame they're so heavy. Arrow needs to come out with a DH race rim between the FRX and the DHX. A little wider than the FRX but not as beefy as the DHX. I love those rims.

 

[jonKranked]

Dude you could build an arrow DHX with ti spokes and the most crooked build and the world and that sucker still wouldn't come out of true. Those are the strongest rims around, it's just a shame they're so heavy. Arrow needs to come out with a DH race rim between the FRX and the DHX. A little wider than the FRX but not as beefy as the DHX. I love those rims.

I've contemplated drilling them out like I did with the DX32's on my trials bike to drop some weight. I'm pretty confident they'd still be strong enough, I'm just ill equipped to do so at the moment.

 

[Total Heckler]

I am picking up a set of the Opiums to race on this weekend.

I'm 215lbs and tend to ride pretty hard on my bikes. I will let you all know how things go. =]

 

[dondon]

Are you a proctologist? Did you find that in someones ass? Because it has no basis in reality. There are a LOT of full on DH rigs that are still using 135 rear hubs.

You don't need to be a proctologist to realize you are an ass. Why the hostility? As you can see someone posted Opiums aren't an option since they run 135 spacing, to which i suggested the 135 spaced Iodines, on the good chance his 135 spaced bike was a lighter duty one. And guess what... i was right, he needed for a SX trail, which i would consider to be lighter duty than a full blown DH rig. Since I own and have ridden both sets now for quite some time i figured i would help out with some info. The thread was about the CB wheels not about the pros and cons of DH bikes or wheels with 150 spacing.

 

[jonKranked]

You're just now realizing I'm an ass?

I have an SX Trail too. It's set up with a 66, deetracks, saint cranks, and what's soon going to be a shimmed 5th element, or maybe an x-fusion. I ride it just as hard as my DH bike, and take it off just as big of drops. I've even raced it before too. I know other people who ride their SXT's just as hard.

 

[Dogboy]

You're just now realizing I'm an ass?

I have an SX Trail too. It's set up with a 66, deetracks, saint cranks, and what's soon going to be a shimmed 5th element, or maybe an x-fusion. I ride it just as hard as my DH bike, and take it off just as big of drops. I've even raced it before too. I know other people who ride their SXT's just as hard.

You should seriously just let it go and give it a rest. Your SX is not a DH bike and you know it - it doesn't matter how "hard" you ride it. There are less DH bikes with 135mm rear spacing now than there are 150mm rear spacing.

 

[4xBoy]

You're just now realizing I'm an ass?

I have an SX Trail too. It's set up with a 66, deetracks, saint cranks, and what's soon going to be a shimmed 5th element, or maybe an x-fusion. I ride it just as hard as my DH bike, and take it off just as big of drops. I've even raced it before too. I know other people who ride their SXT's just as hard.

 

[Secret Squirrel]

If you are running a bike that needs 135 hub, then it is likely a lighter duty bike. For that the Iodines work great. If not then i guess these wheels like a lot of other DH specific 150mm wheelsets are not for you.

Huh...interesting...my Rotec is a 150 spaced rear running a ~135 hub w/ a floater...

But I guess an RL9 with a dude that's 260 on it is a lighter duty bike...

 

[jonKranked]

You should seriously just let it go and give it a rest. Your SX is not a DH bike and you know it - it doesn't matter how "hard" you ride it. There are less DH bikes with 135mm rear spacing now than there are 150mm rear spacing.

No, its not marketed as a DH bike. The Corsair Maelstrom isn't marketed to the DH market, but people are using it as such. There are definitely courses I wouldn't race my SX on, but there are definitely some I would (and have) raced it on. In some instances its beneficial, others its not. Don't forget that there are some people out there who learned to downhill on hardtails because nothing else was available, and remember a time when world cup riders were racing downhill on 3" travel bikes.

 

[Sandwich]

Anyways, let us know when you get some riding time on these wheels.

 

[dondon]

Huh...interesting...my Rotec is a 150 spaced rear running a ~135 hub w/ a floater...

But I guess an RL9 with a dude that's 260 on it is a lighter duty bike...

where did people leave their brains and common sense today. "Likely" does not mean "is". Too all you guys on 135mm heavy DH bikes, I'm eternally sorry for including you in my supposition. I think Jenson have some Monster T's on sale and 135mm double wides with Nokians.

 

[iRider]

I know you are not really objective, but what do you think about the stiffness of the wheels? I heard from basically everybody who owns Iodines or Cobalts that they are flexy. Shame, I really like the rim design.

You don't need to be a proctologist to realize you are an ass. Why the hostility? As you can see someone posted Opiums aren't an option since they run 135 spacing, to which i suggested the 135 spaced Iodines, on the good chance his 135 spaced bike was a lighter duty one. And guess what... i was right, he needed for a SX trail, which i would consider to be lighter duty than a full blown DH rig. Since I own and have ridden both sets now for quite some time i figured i would help out with some info. The thread was about the CB wheels not about the pros and cons of DH bikes or wheels with 150 spacing.

 

[jonKranked]

where did people leave their brains and common sense today. "Likely" does not mean "is". Too all you guys on 135mm heavy DH bikes, I'm eternally sorry for including you in my supposition. I think Jenson have some Monster T's on sale and 135mm double wides with Nokians.

Son, I still got my double wides and nokian three-ohs! I'm ready to go huckin' baby!!



This is the internet, we check our brains at the door. Seriously tho, there was no animosity in my original comment. I just like making smarmy remarks about butt doctors. Assuming that just because a bike has a 135 rear end it is a lighter duty bike is just as silly as looking at a picture of a bike and saying it looks flexy.

 

[Sandwich]

Those wheels look flexy

 

[jonKranked]

Those wheels look flexy

I stared very intently at the picture of them on the CB website for 10 minutes, and I SWEAR I saw them flex!

 

[dondon]

I know you are not really objective, but what do you think about the stiffness of the wheels? I heard from basically everybody who owns Iodines or Cobalts that they are flexy. Shame, I really like the rim design.

Regarding objectivity: While i may be close to the CB crew, im no longer racing, so im not actually sponsored by them anymore, i still get to choose what wheels to ride and would have no problem getting whatever. Ive mostly always ridden king/mavic custom builds on my trail bike and Hadley/Mavic on my DH bikes. Two great combos. I've felt that the CB wheels were really stiff, In comparison, I even rode the light xc Cobalts laced to a 20mm front hub on my 5" trail bike and they felt fine too. They have also held up better than the Mavics, requiring less tensioning and truing, less flat spots too.
My CB wheels were built and tensioned by the same mechanic that has built all my wheels the last 5 years, that has a big part of it im sure, iv'e had no flex issues. Im also pretty fussy about tires and pressure all things that can come into feeling flex. The freewheels run faster and they come in lighter than my old mavic and king/hadley combos. I was skeptical on how they would hold up when i first saw them with the low spoke count, but that has not been a problem.

The only thing i changed was i turned off some of the highspeed dampening on my fork, since i felt the wheels were stiffer and i seemed to feel the vibration more in my hands, but that could just be my imagination.

 

[jonKranked]

In regards to stiffness, I've heard the same about I9's - having to adjust suspension and tire pressure to compensate for the additional stiffness. Do you happen to have a cross section view of the rim?

How does the freehub engagement compare?

 

[gemini2k]

but dood....there XC wheels come in "champagne". Everyone will know your a badass then...

Also, what is with people using the word "Race" to get away with making ****ty products. If it's expensive, it'd better be both light AND strong. ANYONE can make a light DH "race" wheelset. God this sh*t pisses me off to no end. You should not be compromising ANY attribute for a $1k wheelset.


Actually...
1. Make crappy, but flashy XC product
2. Market it as a DH "race only" product
3. Profit!!

 

[Secret Squirrel]

where did people leave their brains and common sense today. "Likely" does not mean "is". Too all you guys on 135mm heavy DH bikes, I'm eternally sorry for including you in my supposition. I think Jenson have some Monster T's on sale and 135mm double wides with Nokians.

Thank you. That's all I really wanted.


I'm bored at work. So there.

 

[Huck Banzai]

where did people leave their brains and common sense today. "Likely" does not mean "is". Too all you guys on 135mm heavy DH bikes, I'm eternally sorry for including you in my supposition. I think Jenson have some Monster T's on sale and 135mm double wides with Nokians.

Dont M3/M6 have a 135mm dropout option?

Those are some pretty light duty bikes.

 

[jonKranked]

Dont M3/M6 have a 135mm dropout option?

Those are some pretty light duty bikes.

Yup. so does the Socom.