Building on from their XCX Plus cassettes and XCX Race cranks, which are proudly touted to be the lightest production MTB crankset in the world, e*thirteen set about broadening the XCX moniker to wheels.
Their new XCX Race wheels are targeted firmly at iconic races such as the Cape Epic and BC Bike race and compromise of two complete wheelset offerings blending carbon fiber composite rims with aluminum hubs.
The XCX Race wheels are split into two categories. The IW24 wheelset, as the name hints at, has an inner rim width of 24mm and points more at the XC and even gravel crowd with its lean weight and rim width for a narrower tire range.
XCX Race Wheels DetailsIntended Use: Gravel, XC & Trail
Wheel Size: 29"
Axle & Hub Width: 15x110mm & 12x148mm
Rotor Mount: Six Bolt
Rim Inner Width: 24mm or 28mm
Claimed Weight: 1,350g (IW24 wheelset), 1,520g (IW28 wheelset)
Price: $1,799 (IW24 wheelset), $1,599 (IW28 wheelset)
More info: e*thirteen The IW28 wheelset sports a 28mm inner width for use with slightly larger tires needed for more trail riding, while still being pretty skint on grams.
All wheels come with e*thirteen's lifetime warranty.
Rim e*thirteen use carbon fiber to construct the hookless rims. Optimised XCX layup doesn't say much about what's going on in there, but the rims come in at 380g for the IW28 and 340g for the IW24, +/- 15g tolerance. The IW24 is aimed at tires ranging from 2.0" to 2.3" while the IW28 best suits 2.1" to 2.4" wide tires.
Another difference in the rims besides the inner width is the depth of the rim profile. The IW24 has a taller profile to best balance the rim's impact strength and weight while the IW28 has a shallower profile to balance out the increased rim width. They will come taped up ready for tubeless with the valves included.
HubAll hubs are machined aluminium with 28 spoke holes and six bolt rotor attachment, apart from the 24-hole version on the IW24 front wheel. The hub axle is also aluminum and now tool free for assembly and disassembly making it that bit easier to work on the hubs or swap out freehub bodies.
Freehub bodies are available for XD and Microspline and have a 6-degree engagement.
Spokes & NipplesA sight for sore eyes is the use of J bend spokes, no need for pliers and angry screams.
The IW24 wheelset uses DT Swiss Revolution spokes, the company's lightest round spoke, which are butted to within an inch of their life (2mm, 1.5mm to 2mm). The IW28, needing a little more meat, uses DT Swiss Competition Race spokes (2mm, 1.6mm to 2mm).
Aluminum nipples are used throughout the range and the wheels also use washers between the nipples and rims to ensure a good spoke/nipple alignment while maintaining a good amount of surface contact to the rim.
Options & Price Looking to e*thirteen wheels of the past, they come with a few spare spokes, nipples and washers as a handy backup.
The full IW24 wheelset has a claimed weight of 1,350g with the IW28 at 1,520g.
IW24 wheel options and prices are:
• XCX Race Carbon Front Wheel – 29" x 24mm – 24 hole – 110x15mm – $809 (€899)
• XCX Race Carbon Rear Wheel – 29" x 24mm – 28 hole – 148x12mm – XD or Microspline – $990 (€1,099)
• XCX Race Carbon Wheelset – $1,799 or €1,998
IW28 wheel options and prices are:
• XCX Race Carbon Front Wheel – 29" x 28mm – 28 hole – 110x15mm – $719 (€799)
• XCX Race Carbon Rear Wheel – 29" x 28mm – 28 hole – 148x12mm – XD or Microspline – $880 (€979)
• XCX Race Carbon Wheelset – $1,599 or €1,778
I have had great luck with rims from Asia (lightbicycle and carbonfan) but the prices used to be significantly cheaper (my last set I purchased 3 years ago were well under 1k with dt240 hubs)
At comparable prices now I will certainly be sending any wheel budget funds to Dustin / WR1.
Did you try to contact them when your parts failed JRA?
Thanks
That sounds like wear and tear...maybe premature, but doesn't exactly scream warranty.
They also sound like they *really* want to take care of you in these comments, are you ignoring them just to raise a ruckus?
(not an E13 fanboy...only ever used their old company's fixed gear hub)
Every time I come into a main page comment section I get to see your comments constantly downvoted. Could it be that you're just a troll? Seems likely.
On the positive side Chris from e13 is really making an effort to take care of issues on the customer service side, as others have also noted in their experience with him, so I have to give him respect for that. I don't know what kind of shit they went through with past designs, but he clearly cares about turning the company's rep around. I wish him and the company the best of luck going forward.
E-13 contacted you here, and you replied with "How about you send some replacement parts for your failed products instead. I'll take a new chainguide, two cranksets, and rimset. I'll DM you my shipping address."
You then say several comments later; " Already emailed them. But I'm not asking for anything. I don't want apologies. I don't want replacements. I don't want consolations. "
So which is it? Do you want replacements or not? Cause you're demanding them, then moving goalposts to make it seem like even that would not satisfy you.
Past that, you're being massively over the top. A simple "their stuff broke, wasn't for me!" and moving on is one thing. Being a pest in the comment section over several comment chains and constantly on the attack is, well, f*cking annoying.
And finally, the one issue you are noting doesn't sound even remotely like a warranty concern. You needed to change bearings? Uh? Welcome to literally any hub on the market? The fact E-13 is willing to help you when you're acting this childishly, and essentially don't have a warranty concern, is honestly a massive faith installer for me in their product.
You do you, but maybe do it more maturely. Cheers.
@sherbet
1) Seething is accurate. And entirely justified. Some people ignore injustices, some people cry alone in their rooms at night, I prefer to scream it from the rooftops...and in the comments on pinkbike.
2) E13 didn't contact me here. They subcommented on a subcomment in an article which I subcommented on other comments. So, when I clicked the notification on my dashboard, it went to the most recent subcomment, not E13's. So I didn't see it until a lot later. I would have replied had I saw it first. I do feel bad about that.
3) Nah, no moving of any goal posts. I don't want replacement parts. Ask Chris. I told him I wasn't interested, and the damage couldn't be reconciled. He's insistent, cares about the rep of his company, and wants to make it right. I told him I'll take the cranks because that's what I currently have to replace. I'm already onto a really good wheelset and hopefully I'll never have to look at another chainguide in my life.
4) Yup, I'm over the top. Most of the people I hang out with are too. And I love it. If there's another level to take things to, I'm going to do it. Funny thing is, I was actually being pretty tame here. You should see me in person. You'd hate me.
5) It wasn't bearings wearing out. It was end cap tolerance. That's not a wear and tear issue, it's a design flaw. Or a quality control issue. On a $900 purchase I shouldn't have had to deal with it. But, it's a 3-4 year old wheelset they don't make anymore, and to be fair I haven't heard of the issue since. Hopefully their new wheelsets don't have any similar problems. And the same with the crank issue. It was a poor design flaw. And now I have to replace them. Chris understood, wants to help me out, and explained that they changed the design and resolved any issues on the new cranks. So I'm taking his word for it and we'll see how they are.
Bottom line is, shit happened, I said some shit, they took care of some shit, and we're moving on.
You stated you wanted replacements. You then stated that no replacements would suffice. That is very literally the definition of moving goalposts. This isn't a subject that can be debated, your comments are still saved above and are very easy to read.
Do better mate.
Again, do better mate.
Sorry to everyone reading this. I'll stop. Have a great holiday dudes.
The spoke hole is the weakest part of a rim, alloy or carbon, imho. A nipple on to itself will place stress on just a small part of the shoulder of the nipple and small section of one side of the spoke hole. Washers serve to spread the load more evenly over the spoke hole, and also serve to reinforce it. They also generally help the nipple sit properly and orient the spoke more towards the hub flange, creating less stress on the spoke itself. Washers are a very good thing in terms of building a robust wheel that will last. We build the vast majority of our with washers, and have zero creaking issues.
Drop a couple drops of oil (grease would have been better at time of building of course) at the base of your nipple at the spoke holes. Spin the wheel and let the force push the oil in. Flex your spoke by hand to get things moving more. Repeat. Then clean the excess away. Hopefully that will cure your creak.
Alloy nips get a bad rep more often than not, because some people are using sub-par alloy nips, sub-par prep, and sub-par building practises.
I wouldn't advise to use them in every build, but for most mountain bike applications we favor them. Material weight savings where they matter most - at the extremity of the wheels. Color options are fun. And believe it or not, some (WheelFanatyk) are nearly impossible to round/strip - the spoke, the rim, or your hub flange, will likely break first. Proper truing technique will also stop you from rounding a nipple - lube the nipple at base and thread, and release tension (i.e. back them off a turn) before you start to tighten
Is e.13 using best building practises - probably not - I doubt the can afford to take the time and build every set by hand. The fact they are using washers says they are doing some things right though.
Of course my opinion is solely around custom hand built wheels. Should most factory machine build wheels use alloy nipples - probably not. Because of the lack of care that goes into them, they benefit more from brass.
OK, so you use nice alloy, you're still combining carbon and aluminum, which is a bad combination. Watch that video.
Now, you can send me all the videos you want, but I come to you with real world wheel building experience. I build wheels - lots of them. I have guys on wheel built with carbon hoops, and alloy nipples, that are on trail 3-4 years now, with zero sign of issues. No galvanic corrosion. No cracking. Nothing.
I want to be hip to the lingo.....yo?
Ignore all the haters it's always the same people complaining. Just for the attention dont feed the trolls
cause it's...you know...a race wheel...
brass nips are nice and durable. also 3x heavier. so...no brass on lightweight race stuff. you new here?
brass for low-maintenance workhorses, alloy for anything premium. simple really.
That is for mountain use only. I wouldn't put that out there for anyone subjecting their bikes to any sort of city/road/commuting where you may encounter salt and so on.
Totally agree. Salt's the thing. I live in coastal mountains...nothing like salted city streets, but if you don't wash your wheels it'll still catch up to you.
Also...have you ever seen a nice front wheel that live in a trainer too long lol? Sweat salt is the deadliest
Salt isn't a huge concern for most of my customers, so alloy works really well. The moment you introduce it, I start leaning towards brass 100%.
You build and maintain you own wheels, much respect. And with all due respect, I build many sets, for many people, many of them with alloy nipples. With properly cut spoke lengths, properly prepped spoke threads and properly prepped nipples and washers - they give up very little, except for the weight. Even a stubborn and stuck nips (usually from factory builds that were not properly assembled) can be coaxed into turning freely if you know a few tricks. We build a lot with WheelFanatyk aluminum nips, and the spoke will break before you round one of those out - it's next to impossible.
The only time I wouldn't recommend aluminum nips is in salty environments. Exposure to road salt, etc.