Mountain Bike Wheels: What to Know
-
Posted by freeamfva jack - Filed in Arts & Culture - 749 views
The wheels on your mountain bike literally keep you moving and will have a considerable impact on the quality of your ride. Sure the drivetrain will push you along, and the frame will also have a significant impact on ride quality, but the wheels are the first element of your mountain bike to feel and translate changes in terrain and surface imperfections.To get more news about carbon fiber wheels, you can visit zpebicycle.com official website.
One of the most important traits of a quality wheelset is its role in transferring your efforts on the pedals to an outcome on the trail. Matching the right wheels for your riding style, terrain, and preferred riding discipline is important, as is having a reliable set that still offers sound levels of performance. So before you spend your hard earned money upgrading the rolling stock on your ride, have a read of the buyer's guide below for everything you need to know about mountain bike wheels.
A bicycle wheel consists of four main components, all of which have an influence on weight, performance, and durability. Upgrading (or downgrading) these components can affect the ride quality, your effort output (speed), braking performance and even how well your bike responds to the terrain, so it's worth knowing a little about each, and how that relates to improved performance on the road. Rim: The wheel's rim sits on the outside of the wheel and on the vast majority of mountain bike wheels, has one main function; to hold the tyre. The width of a rim will affect the tyre width which could have a significant impact on rider control and grip on the trail, more on that later. Hub: The hub sits at the centre of a wheel and provides the axis of rotation. Within each hub, front and back, is the axle which attaches the wheel to the bike. On the rear wheel, the hub features splines which a cassette attaches to. The bike's chain wraps around the sprockets of the cassette, and in association with the crankset and shifters, forms the bike's drivetrain which propels it forward.
As well as propelling the bike forward, all mountain bike wheels will use a rear hub with a 'freehub' mechanism which allows the bike to coast. Spokes: Material that connects the hub and rim. The number of spokes will vary between front and rear wheels, the rear often featuring more spokes to improve strength and stiffness. More spokes typically mean a stronger wheel but that comes with a weight penalty. Most commonly spokes on mountain bike wheels are made of steel wire but can vary greatly in shape and diameter. Nipples: Spokes attach to the wheel via a special nut called a 'nipple'. Nipples are important for adjusting spoke tension which will 'true' a wheel, making it straight when spun.Most entry to intermediate level wheels will feature aluminium rims of varying quality, while high-level wheels will typically feature rims made of carbon fiber which reduces the weight while increasing stiffness.
Aluminium, commonly referred to as alloy, is the more popular choice of rim material used on entry to mid-level mountain bike wheels. This is largely on the back of how much cheaper it is to manufacture. Whilst it is the cheaper alternative, there are still a host of benefits that come with using the material, the main of which being compliance, or comfort that alloy wheels provide out on the trail. On the flip side, carbon fiber wheelsets are beginning to increase in popularity across the spectrum of mountain bike riding disciplines. This is largely thanks to the falling prices and the increased stiffness to weight ratio, and strength, on offer. This means a wheel can be made super stiff, whilst also being lightweight, particularly helpful given the nature of mountain biking being tough on components. The drawback of this increased stiffness is that typically comes at the expense of comfort, requiring riders to alter tire and suspension settings to suit.