American mountain bike brand, e*thirteen, has added a new lightweight XCX carbon wheelset line to its product portfolio.
Recognising the surge in gravel riding popularity and wanting to service customers who enjoy XCM-distance mountain biking, e*thirteen has launched its new XCX Race wheels.
These new mountain bike wheelsets are engineered for the best possible blend of rim width, lightness and strength and can double up for use as gravel wheels.
A traditional weakness of lightweight carbon-fibre wheelsets have been their very narrow rim width. Mountain bike tyres need an appropriately sized base to seat on and support their shape when inflated. Overly narrow rims can create oddly shaped tyre casings, which roll alarmingly in corners.
In the last few years, there has been a trend to slightly wider internal diameter rims. As such, e*thirteen has managed to design these new XCX Race wheels with enough width, but avoided adding too many extra grams.
Specification is very competitive, with e*thirteen offering two variants of the new XCX Race wheels, which are both 29er specific.
The lightest version features a 24mm internal diameter and is aimed at gravel bikers and weight-obsessed cross-country riders, with e*thirteen claiming a mass rating of only 1350g for the XCX Race IW24 wheelset.
Recommended tyre width profiles for the IW24 are 2.0-2.3-inches and its structure is supported by DT Swiss Revolution spokes.
Riders who desire the low rolling mass of a carbon-fibre wheelset, but wish to have the traction properties of a slightly wider rim on more technical terrain, can opt for the XCX Race IW28. As the naming convention indicates, it has a 28mm internal rim profile, which plays nicely with tyres in the 2.1-2.4-inch width range.
The mass penalty for this wider wheelset is only 170g and the IW28 is built with DT Swiss Competition spokes.
Both of e*thirteen’s new XCX Race wheelsets feature 15x110mm front hub spacing and a 12x148mm rear arrangement.
These wheelsets also run on 28-spoke hubs, designed for easy home mechanic disassembly and driver fitment.
Pricing for e*thirteen’s new XCX Race wheelsets are €1998 for the IW24 and €1778 for an IW28.
