P to the 35

Now, there is plenty of finality in the word final, but this might be more of a sign off. Guitar Ted has been putting a set of our P35's through the ringer since the beginning of the year and has given us and the world his thoughts throughout the process [see the On Test, Out of the Box, & Midterm reports]. G-Ted stamp of approval? In this final review, we think so!

Velocity Wheelset: P-35 Rims: Final Review

August 9th, 2010 by Guitar Ted

The P-35 rim, introduced last year, was the second widely available rim in the 30 plus millimeter range. How would it hold up to regular mountain biking. How would it play with your tires? Is it a worthy choice for average trail riding 29″er freaks? These are the questions I had going into this review. Now, after several months of riding everything from packed snow machine trails to swampy, muddy track, to dry, rooty single track, here are my final observations on these rims/wheels. Also, as a bonus, I’ll cover the new Velocity rim tape that turns any set of P-35’s to tubeless compatible wheels. If you have missed the last Mid-Term Report, you can click this link to read that.

P-35 rim on the front here of this Big Mama full suspension bike.

Wide Track: The P-35’s claim to fame is its reasonable weight plus its width. The width spreads out a 29″er tire, and is also said to give the tire better support. One thing needs to be considered though when looking at a 35mm wide rim. Your tires may actually end up being worse performers on a P-35 than they are on narrower rims. Why? It is because the tread area on some tires actually flattens out when the beads are spaced further apart. This flattening of the tread area may “close up” the tread, making your tires skittish, or loose. Generally, I would suggest using wider tires, over 2.3″, on this class rim due to this phenomenon, but experimentation is always good.

The wider rims also may cause issues with tire clearance in some frames. If you set these up with 2.4″ers, it will certainly cause you to use up most, if not all, your chain stay clearance. Many older 29″er frames were not made with these rims and 2.4″ tires in mind. For instance, the Ardents on the P-35’s I had were nearly 62mm wide at the casing. That sort of casing width isn’t going to leave a lot of “breathing room” in a lot of frames out there!

The Wheel Set: Now for a word on the wheels specifically, which are built on Velocity branded hubs. These wheels were trouble free during the entire testing period. They stayed true, and to my surprise, the wheels did not develop fouled bearings despite my best efforts to get them contaminated. The bearings are very smooth to this day, and I wouldn’t hesitate to have Velocity build me a set again. The tensions were great, and I have no complaints on the build. The only thing I would suggest is for Velocity U.S.A. to consider developing a front hub that is convertible from 9mm QR to 15QR, to 20mm through axle. This would make buying a hub from Velocity much more appealing, and make the hub a versatile one that could go from bike to bike with a quick end cap change.

All you need to set up a pair of P-35’s to be tubeless compatible.

Velocity Velotape: The Velotape came out after we received the wheel set, so Velocity sent the Velotape out after our Mid-Term Update. I set up the rims after removing the tire and make shift rim strip I used previously. Let me tell you, the Velotape is a far more elegant solution! I cleaned the inner rim cavity thoroughly, and then I was all set.

It is important to slightly stretch the tape as you apply it to make sure you minimize any air pockets after application. (It is kind of like applying a decal, if that makes sense.) The inner cavity of the P-35 is “U” shaped, so following up with some pressure from your index finger where the tape meets the rim is advisable. (See image above)

After overlapping the tape at the rim seam, according to the instructions, you pierce a hole at the valve drilling to allow installation of the supplied valve stem. (Make sure you pierce the valve stem drilling and not a spoke hole!)

When inserting the stem, make sure it is seated all the way in, as shown here.

The valve stem nut comes with a supplied washer that goes against the rim as shown. Then you are ready to install a tire, add sealant, and air it up! I used the Ardent 2.4″er again, and the process was seamless. So far, the system has proven very trail worthy. (By the way, the valve stem does have a removable core.)

Conclusions: The Velocity P-35 rim succeeds in that it is a trail worthy rim at a reasonable weight and price. It comes in many colors, and is easily found from many on-line and local bike shops. The new Velotape adds extra value to these rims, but it is an extra purchase on top of the rims, so be aware of that. The rims seem to be of average stiffness and would be best suited to XC to light AM uses. Front single speed applications, and anywhere a rider sees that a wider footprint on a 29″er would be advantageous would be places to look at using a P-35 rim. The weight is very reasonable for the width, but even so, this isn’t an XC racers rim. This rim is for the everyday 29″er rider that wants to maximize the performance of the wider tires on the market for 29′ers.

The wheel build gets an A+. I had zero issues with it, and the tensions were good and remained so during the entire test. The hubs were also a highlight, and for the money, they were a great value. I didn’t necessarily care for the thread on free wheel compatibility or the fact that the 20mm through axle is not convertible to other standards now available. If you don’t want to fuss with building up a set of P-35’s, have your bike shop do it through Velocity U.S.A. and they will be a great wheel set, if this one we tested is anything to go by. They do have standard geared cassette hubs for geared use which can be set up with spacers for single speed use.

The Velotape is an easy to apply solution to get the P-35’s going as a tubeless wheel set. I had no issues with setting up the tires I was using as tubeless on this system and the valve stems and tape seem to be top notch quality stuff. I’ve seen much worse!

Finally, the Velocity P-35 is a welcomed addition to the choices for a 29″er rider in terms of rims and wheels. The colors available are unmatched by other companies, the quality is consistent, and the rims themselves are workhorse pieces that should serve most riders well, save chunk riders and anyone pushing the limits of 29″er wheels. These folks should look elsewhere for rims, but for a wide swath of the 29″er riding public that is wanting a wide footprint for their rubber, the P-35 rim from Velocity U.S.A. should be a serious consideration.

Note: Twenty Nine Inches received this wheel set at no charge for test and review. We are not being bribed or paid for the review here and we will strive to give our honest opinions throughout.

_

The P35 is available in these sizes and drillings:

26" [559], 650b, 700c/29er in 32 and 36 hole drillings in these colors:

Black, Silver, White, Electric Red, and Antifreeze Green

* Lumberjack Plaid and Teak P35's are available in 26" and 700c sizes with 32 and 36 hole drillings

Revoked

Videos, videos, videos.

We continue to get to be part of some of the best videos within the FSFG realm. Each film seems to push further with better edits, film making, and creativity; which has been on par with the evolution of this segment of the cycling world.

Chris Fonseca has done it again with his new film, Revoked. One of our riders gets highlighted in it, Jakob Santos, throwing down on Chukkers and like so many has recently transitioned to P35s. Check out the preview below and to get your hands on a copy head over to Revoked store. A special promotion is being run between Fonsecafilms and Leader; when you purchase the film you are entered to win a Leader Trickstar 2.0 frame and Shadow Fork. Pretty stellar.

REVOKED TRAILER from Chris Fonseca on Vimeo.

And as if you needed more persuasion, Boltman's review:


Boosh!

Stay Gold

Rest easy this isn't our pitch for Cash4Gold, but with gold at an all time high... You know the spiel, in the cycling realm, our Cash4Bike is the local pawn shop, unless you're in Toronto, and is never a place we'd want to see any bike we care about land. But I digress.

'Stay Gold' - The mantra of designer Benny Gold of San Fransisco.

To me, it's a reminder that all the ideas and experiences that we hold dear are the real gold inside each of us. This is what shapes us, what preserves our sense of self, and what keeps us young. When it came time for me to establish my own brand, I hadn't wavered from that concept, which is how the Benny Gold brand came to be.
_ BG

Benny Gold: Stay Gold from hypebeast.tv on Vimeo.

From Kirk Pacenti on the P35 to Benny Gold on the special edition Deep V's, we partner with these visionaries like these because of their innovation, knowledge and expertise in their specific fields. And it doesn't hurt that they are class act individuals.

Tweeder

So it's the 21st century with nearly a decade behind us, our world has been transformed by the digital culture and subcultures: Websites, blogs, instant messages, direct messages, Facebook, and Twitter. We can't run from it nor hide from it, posting this, micro or macro posting that.

All of this is nothing new.

Of course, we always enjoy it when messages come our way via the Tweed-machine. RTs, responses to our posts or the simple thank yous, all are welcome. A few as of late:

From @guitarted1961 of TwentyNineInches.com and G-Ted Productions

From @zachdestory of Velorue

From @winstonsbrand of Winston's Brand Cycling Skincare

All this to remind everyone of the Temporary Tat Bag-O-Goodies Give A Way. We'll be posting a majority of the submissions, along with our favorites, as they come in on our Twitter. If you submit a photo, along with emailing it to me [adam@velocityusa.com] with all your contact information, feel free to at your Twitter handle.

And why not for you post July 4th hump-day blues, a video making the splash on the ol' intro-web but edited by the Autotune guys...

... see the original here.

Name that Rim

Can you name the Velocity rim/wheel seen in these videos?

A.

B.

NYC BFF'10 Antics 2 from WRAHW on Vimeo.

C.

MaiHiro x urban1cycle x Velocity USA from greg deese on Vimeo.

D.

The wheels seen are shown below to give you a hint. If you haven't figured it out, the answer will be given on our Twitter at 3pm EST.

Rides and a Review

It was a solid weekend of riding for most of us, ending with a great Sunday Bike Polo session with Matt, JBolt, Alex, myself and a few others. Jacobi put us all to shame though, by throwing down and taking 2nd in the 8 hours of Cannonsburg putting in 15 laps in 8 hours 27 minutes [roughly 91.5 miles], where the winner ended up putting in 15 laps in 8 hours in 9 minutes. All in all, this was what summers are all about.

This past May we had a set of the P35 wheels reviewed by Dirt Rag Magazine and today I noticed that it made its way to their website. Another great review on a stellar rim and wheelset. Enjoy.

DirtRag Articles: Velocity P35 Rims
by Karl Rosengarth

My secret decoder ring tells me that the "P" in P35 refers to Kirk Pacenti, who co-designed these rims with the folks at Velocity. The "35" refers to the fatty 35mm width, which increases rim durability and allows mounted tires to spread out for a wider footprint.

The P35s are made from 6061 T6 aluminum alloy using a "sleeve joint" technique: a small aluminum alloy extrusion is fitted into the rim's inner cavity and held in place with a heat-activated epoxy. With their 22mm height, the 26" version of the P35 rims weigh in at a respectable 545g—making them a reasonable choice for weight-conscious all-mountain riders looking for a sure-footed rim that's light enough to pedal all day.

To accommodate my test, Velocity built a wheelset for my Santa Cruz Heckler test sled, which was equipped with a 150mm-travel RockShox Revelation Race Dual Air (20mm Maxle Lite). They laced the Electric Red powdercoated, 32-hole P35s to their Velocity brand 20mm thru-axle front hub and lightweight rear disc hub using DT Competition 2.0/1.8 butted spokes and DT brass nips. The wheels weighed in at a very respectable 1030 front/1120g rear. The P35 rims retail for $99 each. The wheelset, as provided, would retail for $600.

For the first flogging, I mounted a set of Snafu Knob Job 2.35" park tires and headed to Ray's Indoor MTB Park in Cleveland for a day on the jumps and stunts. Thanks to the P35's width, the Knob Job tires appeared to spread out and adopt a wide, solid-looking base. Hitting the planks at Ray's, the set-up felt as solid as it looked. The feedback from the contact patch felt incredibly secure. I played with incrementally lowering the tire pressure, and things never got squirmy. I credit both the P35's wide base and the Knob Job's stiff sidewalls—a match made in heaven for park riding. Try as I might, I neither dented a rim nor pinched a tube all day. I did manage to crash and bend a spoke on a stunt, but after hand-bending it back and a few turns of the spoke wrench, everything was back to normal. It seems like it would take a significant amount of blunt trauma to hurt these rims.

The rest of my testing was conducted outdoors, including a road trip to the rugged mountains of north Georgia, with a set of Kenda Small Block Eight 2.35" tires mounted on the P35s. On the trails, the tactile feedback was best described as sure-footed and stable. I never detected a hint of wheel flex—even when careening down rocky steeps at top speed. I ran the tire pressure low enough to enhance flotation and traction, and the rims supported the tires and kept them from feeling squirmy or squirrelly. No pinch flats so far, touch wood.

The folks at Velocity tell me that the P35s work well tubeless, with Stan's rim tape and sealant, or a similar system; however, I chose to run with tubes. P35 rims are available in 26", 650b and 700c sizes and come in black, silver, white, Electric Red and Antifreeze. Drillings: 28 (black only), 32 and 36.

Made in Australia. Website: www.velocityusa.com

_

Remember. Go Tubeless with the P35 with our all new Velotape. Now available!

Whoa.

'Pop quiz, hotshot. There's a bomb on a bus. Once the bus goes 50 miles an hour, the bomb is armed. If it drops below 50, it blows up. What do you do? What do you do?'

'Whoa.'

Ok, I think that was enough Keanu Reeves references for the next decade.

But seriously, pop quiz... hot shot.

You have your 29er. You need new wheels. 35mm of tubeless-ready goodness and too many colors to choose from. Black, Silver, White, Electric Red, Antifreeze Green and now Images? What do you do? WHAT DO YOU DO?

Choices, lots of choices. That's what we love to give you. We offered the Teak in the P35 [26" and 29er] for a little while now and last week we got a new image for just the P35, Lumberjack Plaid.

Inspired partially by JBolt's hipster plaid shirt and the Lumberjack 100, that we are proud to be a part of and just so happens to be going down June 19th. This is the first and limited run of the Lumberjack pattern, that would definitely set off any bike.

Personally, building this rim up with our Pro-build: black Lightweight disc ATB hubs and CX-Ray spokes with gold nipples. Oh man, that would be a hot wheelset. Some are taking the Teak designed rims and building them up for cruiser projects. Either way you go with it, both make for unique wheels!

Have a great weekend everyone.

Velocity Wheelset: P-35 Rims: Mid-Term Update! [from Guitar Ted]

It's looking like a P35 kind of week. Yesterday we shared with you the release of our new Velotape for the P35, along with a review done by Brain at Gram Light Bikes. Today, Guitar Ted posted over on TwentyNineInches.com his Mid-Term review on the P35 wheelset, below I've posted most of it here but be sure to check it all out in it's entirety over at his site. If you're looking for another honest review of the P35's check out this months newest Dirt Rag Magazine.

Velocity Wheelset: P-35 Rims: Mid-Term Update!

Well, this has been a long time coming, but here is the Mid-Term update on Velocity’s P-35 rims and wheel set that I have been riding for about six months now. If you want a refresher on the wheel set, you can check out the Out Of The Box post which will give you all the data on the rims and hubs. Let’s take a look at what I have found so far with the P-35 rims and also with these wheels as a whole……..

The P-35 rims really stretch out the foot print of your tires!

I’ve been riding these with the Soul Cycles Dillinger Gen III frame during the test.

The P-35 Rims: First, let’s focus on what the rims do and don’t do for you. As stated in the Out Of The Box post, the P-35 in 29″er size is listed at a sub 600 gram weight. I didn’t get to weigh these specific rims, since the wheels were built at Velocity’s U.S.A. facility in Grand Rapids, Michigan, but suffice it to say, they do not feel heavy, or all that hard to spin up. These are definitely a lighter weight rim than the other wide rims out there. Does it sacrifice lateral stiffness? Well, so much of that is how a wheel is built, the tensions used, and what have you, but to my feel, these are definitely not quite “Gordo” stiff. That isn’t to say they are not acceptable, or even good. Actually, they are quite nice in this area, but the Gordo’s I have, (first production run), are definitely a stiffer rim. All but the heavier riders will think P-35’s are stiff though. I would rate them at above average for sure. Keep in mind- A stiffer rim will most likely weigh more too, unless it is carbon fiber, but that’s another story. You want the ultimate in wide and stiff? I would point you to the MTX-33, but it weighs 750 grams too. See what I mean?

For most folks, the P-35 is going to be just peachy. The combination of the width, weight, and stiffness is a pretty nice one for average trail riding and probably up to light All Mountain pursuits. Could you XC race this rim? Well…..yes, of course you could, but there are lighter weight choices that make more sense for that sort of thing.

What else does the P-35 rim do? Well, it really puts more tire down on the trail, just like any wide rim does in this class. I was really surprised when I was able to mount the Ardent 2.4″ tires tubeless and run them at about 15psi on packed snow machine trails. The rims put so much tire on the packed snow that I could ride for miles as long as the surface had been traveled heavily by the snow going vehicles before me. This isn’t to say that I had a “fat bike”, but in a pinch, you could really do fairly well on these rims with the right tires on packed snow. The fun continued on dirt as well. I was really noticing the way the Ardent’s were gripping the trail, and I was still running fairly low pressures in the low 20’s. Yes, you have more rolling resistance, but the traction you get in certain situations with certain tires will be amazing. Keep in mind, not all tires will get better on a P-35. Some will actually perform worse, so remember that in your experimenting. I would recommend sticking to 2.35 tires and wider, but don’t let that stop you from checking something else out.

The Wheel Set: The wheels as a whole are actually pretty dang impressive as well. The wheels bearings were impressively smooth and free running when I received them. They have remained that way despite my attempts at snow riding, mud riding, and commuting in less than ideal situations with them. No play has developed during the test period, and I have had no issues at all with them. The spokes and nipples have also been doing their job, keeping everything running straight and true throughout the first half of the year. Some may lament the fact that the front hub is not convertible to 15QR or 9mm QR, but I know that I would rather have a beefy front rim on a more aggressive rig, so the 20mm through axle is the way to go for me. (Front hubs are available in standard quick release if so desired) Also, it is worth noting that Velocity used the “old school” threaded free wheel style hub interface for the rear hub. Of course, we have White Industries free wheels to fall back on, thankfully! But that may put you off if you have a stash of several cassette based single speed cogs.

Note: Twenty Nine Inches received this wheel set at no charge for test and review. We are not being bribed or paid for the review here and we will stive to give our honest opinions throughout.

Introducing Velocity Velotape

When we released the P35 last year, it was designed around the growing demand by XC and All-Mountain riders for a wider, laterally stiff rim that did not sacrifice weight. The P35 has met that challenge and then some, providing riders with all the added float, footprint and 'virtual' suspension they have desired. It was no accident that the webbing of the P35 was designed to be tubeless-ready without the need for a molded strip; as many riders have already discovered, tubeless conversion consisted of the use high pressure tape and a valve.

Since the beginning of the year, we have been developing our own tubeless tape kits to sell with the P35 rim. After months of testing, we are proud to finally announce the newest addition to our line: Velotape. Velotape is a kit that includes: 1 - 10 meter long x 24mm wide transparent tape and 2 - high quality tubeless valves with removable cores [enough to wrap 2 29"/700c rims]. Designed specifically to provide a simple and reliable way to convert the P35 tubeless.

This past month we sent out a wheelset out to Brian at Grams Light Bikes, who has recently reviewed the wheelset with the new P35 specific: Velotape installed says this about them:

'They were easy to set up tubeless, with either UST or normal tires, and popped up without any issue. Their blue tape (not yellow!) tubeless system worked well, and I had no issues getting my usual assortment of tires to bead up on the rims. The rear wheel required sealant to hold air, but I use sealant with all my tubeless systems, so it was a moot point. I stuck on a set of Conti Rubber Queen 2.4 UST's the other day, and they popped on like butter...'

Below is our official press release for our Velotape:


VELOCITY RELEASES TUBELESS TAPE KIT

(Grand Rapids, MI) Velocity is proud to announce Velotape, the newest accessory in the Velocity line. Velotape is specifically designed to convert P35 rims and wheelsets tubeless. The kit includes 10 meters of transparent Velotape and 2 high quality tubeless valves with removable cores; enough to setup two 29” P35s. Installation is easy, requiring only a small punch and sharp scissors. Velotape is available through any local bicycle shop or online dealer for around $24.99. Detailed information and installation instructions can be found at www.velocityusa.com.

For use in: Velocity P35 rims/wheelsets
Length/Width: 10 meters X 24mm wide
Included in package: 2 tubeless valves with removable cores and 1 roll of Velotape
Tools needed: scissors and punch

What a weekend.

It's been a full week since our last post. I had part of last week off and the Velocity train doesn't stop, so a few other things took precedence over blog posts. It is important to note that we do have some pretty amazing things up our sleeves for the coming months and I can't wait for the launch of them!

This weekend I would say it's safe to say summer has hit here in west Michigan. Sure, June 21st is the official date for summer but with temperatures in the 80's and look to be that way for the coming week, it's hard to argue differently. Any excuse not to ride is now out the door.

Yesterday, the wMMBA put on it's first Misery Loves Company free time trial race down on the gravel roads around Yankee Springs and on some the Barry Roubaix course. With the solid presence of the Founders Ale Racing team along with our very own, Ryan and Jacobi, and around 30 other riders from all accounts the event was a success. With the 80 degree temps and some humidity topped with an solid amount of sand, the race lived up to its name and provided enough misery a 12 mile time trial could.

Jacobi decided to try out an interesting approach with his bike set-up for this race; with his Fisher Super Fly rocking a P35 front wheel partnered with a 700 x 40 tire and on the rear going with the B43, yes a B43, and a 700 x 32 tire. In traditional Jacobi logic this would provide a 'roller coaster' effect once up to speed, mirroring his success on his Iver Johnson in gravel races. Sure, it would fight you on hills but given Jacobi's size it would increase downhill speed and help cut through the wind. Needless to say, he admits the 'roller coaster' effect worked but having more float [which the P35 front and rear would have provided] is what he would have ideally needed for this course. Even with that, Jacobi still won the Men's 35 and under category and Ryan took home first in the Men's Single Speed.

There is another Misery Loves Company time trial planned by the wMMBA for Saturday, August 28th at 2pm. For the second edition they are doubling the length to 25 miles of gravel/sand goodness. Check out the wMMBA site and their Facebook page for updates on all of the WMMBA/MMBA events.

In other weekend news, our fearless GM, Matt headed to Minneapolis on Friday to participate in the the Midwest Bike Polo Championship 8. We don't know how the tournament went so far since Matt is traveling back today and I'll see if I can get him to do a little write up about it. From all that I can gather from the Twitter feeds, this was another great event with a solid turn out with lots of bike polo had by all.

Remember, there is still a week left of Bike Month.

Get out. Ride. Advocate.

Photo Tuesday.

Yesterday and a post early today over at Prolly is not Probably, Prolly has posted a few pictures of a recent ride/interview with one of our 700cmx riders, Tom La Marche, over at Out of Print Magazine. Some of the stuff that Tom and a few others are pulling off is pretty crazy to say the least. Check out the OOPM website for more pictures and also check out Prolly's site for pictures from their 4/20 ride...




That's right, if you look closely Tom is rocking a P35 front and a Dyad rear, not the traditional stuff you see on most riders pulling off this stuff but certainly shows what we already knew: our rims go above and beyond what they might have first been developed for!

Below we have another one of our riders, Eric Puckett in a recent Volume Bikes ad going big over a gap with the Chukkers. Stellar.


Whether you're a roadie, a mountain biker or a 700cmxer, we'd love to see more of your own pictures rocking our rims. Post them over on our Facebook page or link them up on the comment sections here.

Velocity Wheelset: P-35 Rims: First Impressions [from Guitar Ted]

A little while back we sent the 29er guru, Guitar Ted, some of the P35's to check out, ride and review. Over on his site TwentyNineInches.com, he posted this today:

Velocity Wheelset: P-35 Rims: First Impressions

January 31st, 2010 by Guitar Ted

The Velocity P-35 rims are one of the wider rims now available for 29″er freaks to use. The wheel set that we are testing here was built up on Velocity’s hubs at Velocity U.S.A. in Grand Rapids, Michigan. You can catch up with the details here. This post will touch on the finishing touches to the wheel set and introduce the bike we are testing the wheels on. (Which will have its own test write up coming soon)

I set the Velocity P-35’s up with these 2.4″ Ardent tires we are testing and they are tubeless. The P-35 has the effect of stretching out the casing by about a millimeter over a more common 28mm wide rim with the effect of a slight flattening out of the tire profile in the process. This does two things over a narrower rim: It puts more tread on the trail without running lower pressures and it also brings the tire beads out wider, more underneath the tire tread edge, which gives the tire more support, especially under lateral loads.

In regards to tubeless set up, I used a home brew rim strip which worked beautifully on the P-35. Velocity does not recommend you do yours this way, but would rather see users going with a 32mm Stan’s tape or in the future, use the system they are developing for the P-35. That said, setting up these rims tubeless was a snap. Very easily done, and the bead seat works very well in terms of getting a good tire/rim interface. The Ardents set up on these with a short blast from my air compressor and have been trouble free so far.

Note: The Ardent by Maxxis is not a tubeless tire and running it as such is done at your own risk. Twenty Nine Inches does not recommend running your Ardent tires as such.

For disc brake rotors I set up the Velocity hubs with these Ashima rotors with which I have had good performance from in the past. I used a 185mm up front and a 160mm rotor out back with Avid BB-7 mountain calipers doing the squeezing here. I spun on a ACS Claws 18T free wheel for a rear gear. That wrapped up the set of wheels as complete units, ready to ride, and riding was done, even though it is very cold and snowy here.

Here are the wheels on the bike they will be tested with. A Soul Cycles Dillinger Gen III frame. The set up with a Rock Shox Reba Team with a 20mm Maxle Lite is pretty fun to ride, but I’ll get into that when we introduce the Dillinger a bit later. For now, I’ll focus on the wheels.

The tubeless set up had a bit of a hiccup due to a poor rear tire, (Not a 2.4 inch Ardent), but after matching the front with another 2.4″ Ardent, things have been trouble free. The amazing hub bearings spin really freely, reminiscent of the Easton XC-One single speed wheels we tested last year. The wheels have been noise free, and laterally pretty stiff. With rock hard frozen ice chunks, ruts, and some off camber bits that I could find, I have not been able to discern any lateral flex. When the trails become ride-able, I will put this to the test better in situations at speed.

So far the P-35’s seem as if they should be, at the very least, decent and on par with the Gordo from Salsa Cycles. This will be the inevitable comparison product, as there are no commonly distributed rims in this range out there. Yes- There is a Kris Holm branded rim, but it is quite a bit rarer. My next update will not be for a while yet until the trails open up and I can get these properly ridden. Stay tuned!

Note: These products were provided to Twenty Nine Inches at no charge for reviewing. We are not being paid or bribed for this review. We will give our honest opinion or thoughts through out.

Velocity Wheelset: P-35 Rims- Out Of The Box

Over the weekend, a nice little out of the box thoughts on the P35 was posted over at Twenty Nine Inches.com by Guitar Ted. We're sold on them and we're sure he'll be once he gets some ride time on them! Enjoy:

Velocity Wheelset: P-35 Rims- Out Of The Box
January 10th, 2010 by Guitar Ted

I remember waaay back as a kid the old Pontiac ads that touted the “Widetrack” stance of their cars at the time. Better stability on the road, they said. Well, that reminds me a whole bunch of the new P-35 rims from Velocity. Wide stance rims give the tires a wider foot print and better grip and stability out on the trail. So the theory goes. That is what I aim to test out on these wheels over the next weeks and months.

But first, let’s take a closer look at what we have here. The Velocity products in this wheel not only include the rims, but also Velocity’s newest version of their hubs. When choosing a hub set for this test, I decided upon a 20mm through axle front and a single speed specific rear hub. The rear hub has a threaded drive side to accept a free wheel. The threaded hub is more a preference in my mind than an advantage or disadvantage. Either threaded or cassette works nicely for me. Moving on from that we have sealed cartridge bearings and the rear hub features a Hi/Lo flange arrangement. The bearings feel very smooth to the hand. The finish looks top notch. The rear hub goes at about 288 grams per Velocity’s site and the front 20mm through axle hub weighs in at approximately 250 grams. The hubs are laced to the P-35’s with DT Swiss Champion spokes using red alloy nipples. Hubs are available separately through any local bike shop. MSRP’s may vary according to the shop you use, but expect to pay about $90.00 for the front hub and about $100.00 for the single speed disc hub.

The hubs are laced by Velocity in house by their own wheel builders. Each wheel build is signed off on by the person who built it. A nice touch. By the way, Velocity will lace your hubs to rims at their Grand Rapids, Michigan facility should you have something you want laced to a Velocity rim. Just contact your local shop for more on that. The builds looked well done. Tensions were great, and everything looked in order.

The P-35 is a rim that was developed in tandem with Velocity by Kirk Pacenti. The rim is described by Velocity as follows: “The P35 is designed for the cross country/all mountain rider craving a laterally stiff yet weight conscious rim that is still tough enough for the occasional Super – D race.” Sounds like an all around use rim to me. And here are the specs on the rim again:
Outside Width: 35mm
Inside Width: 29.5mm
Depth: 22mm

Weight
29”: 595g

Pretty impressive for a 29″er rim. Lighter weight, and a wide inner rim well promise fat, fast tire performance. But will they hold up? That we shall see! As long as we’re on the subject of the rims, I will say that these are designed to be run tubeless. Velocity has decided that for the time being, a Stan’s strip will do for sealing the rim well. That said, they are still working on bringing their own rim strip to market. More details on that when they are released. These will definitely see tubeless usage during our tests. The rear hub attaches via Allen head bolts.

Now for the total weight of each wheel. The front came in at 1030 grams and the rear at 1160 grams. So, no lightweights here, but I figured these would be best suited to more aggressive type riding, and the weight doesn’t bother me in that regard. One has to figure that rims weighing nearly 600 grams each are not going to build up the lightest wheel set!

In the next update I will detail out the finishing touches to this wheel set and hopefully introduce the bike they are going on. Stay tuned!

Note: The reviewed products were provided to Twenty Nine Inches at no charge for review. I was not paid or bribed for this review. I will give/gave my honest opinion or thoughts through out.

Oh-1-Oh

As we all begin to awaken from the haze that was another 4-day weekend; getting back into the swing of the 5-day work week along with the realization that we are still, in fact, in the same decade. We, like so many, are looking forward to the coming year with great expectation: from the A23 rim/wheel set to the new reflective powder coating, which is only the tip of the iceberg. We have a lot in store for the coming year and can't wait to show it off!

The Grand Rapids New Years Day ride went on without a hitch. Ryan and Jacobi made it out and from all reports had a great time. Depending on which one of them you ask, it was a few short of the 100 riders the Founders guys were hoping for... either 50 or 70 riders. Some pictures from the ride will be up later this week.

A few things to put on your radar, for all you commuter/bike polo nuts, Amy Walker over at Momentum magazine has a little write up on the popular Chukker rim in their latest edition [which is available for free download, and shown to the right]. Also over the holiday I was able to pass on a P35 wheel set for review over to Guitar Ted and the Twenty Nine Inches / The Cyclist Site Laboratories. It's no secret that we're extremely excited about these rims and look forward to hearing what the 29er guru has to say about them. [By the way nice looking trap, Ted!]