Astral Outback Alloy Gravel Wheelset Review: Built Right, Here – Spencer Harding | The Radavist | A group of individuals who share a love of cycling and the outdoors.

Looking for a USA-made alloy wheelset? You may have heard of Astral, who has been making high-quality alloy rims in Eugene, Oregon for years. Today Spencer takes a look at the Astral Outback alloy wheelset, which is designed for gravel or XC riding…

You may have seen Astral wheels rolling on your local ride, or sparkling under the bright lights at the latest framebuilder show. You might be more familiar with sister brands Rolf Prima and White Industries. These brands all exist under one umbrella, with White Industries providing the hubs for the Outback wheelset.

Astral began in 2017 as an offshoot of Rolf Prima to make standard drilled rims instead of Rolf’s twin-spoke design. I like to think of Astral as Rolf’s classier sibling. Astral offers clean lines, simple aesthetics, and bomber durability. Where Rolf’s designs feel European in their aesthetics with the exotic lacing patterns, Astral feels familiar and classic. Astral even offers the Outback rim in polished silver, which is absolutely drool-worthy.

OutBack Wheelset Quick Hits

Price: $999.00
Alloy clincher rims
700c/29″ or 650b/27.5″
Rim Depth: 23mm asymmetric (ASYM)
Rim Width: 28.5 mm external, 25 mm internal
Tubeless ready
Weight: 1695 g for 700c/29″, 1615 g for 650b/27.5″
Brake type: Disc brake, center lock
Spoke count/ lacing pattern: 28H/28H, 2x
Spoke type: Sapim CX Speed, bladed
Hubs: Astral Approach made by White Industries
Hub body: CNC machined in Petaluma, California by White Industries
Bearing: Enduro precision steel
Front Axle Options: Boost (15 mm, 12 mm)/15 mm/12 mm/9 mm
Rear Axle Options: Boost 148 mm, Boost 141 mm QR/142 mm/135 mm
Freehub Options: Shimano HG11, SRAM XDR, Shimano Micro Spline
Freehub Material: CNC machined, case-hardened steel, electroless nickel plated

My wheelset represents Astral’s middle-tier Outback option, consisting of their Approach hubs and the alloy version of their Outback Rim. For all you MUSA fans out there, the Outback rim is produced in-house at Astral’s Eugene, Oregon factory.

This rim/hub combo only comes in a 28H variant, but you know with a factory in Eugene they have up to 40H options for all the tandem nerds out there. 28H seems to be where everyone is landing in this modern age of gravel/XC MTB rims anyway. It’s worth noting that Astral has found its asymmetrical rim design to increase lateral stiffness by 20%. The asymmetrical design of the rim allows the forces and angle of the spokes to be more equalized while still allowing for the dish of the wheel. This adds to the stiffness of an already solidly handbuilt wheel.

The Approach Hubs are made for Astral at White Industries’ Petaluma factory. The hubs have the same internals as White’s CLD hubs, with some slightly different machining and a heat-treated steel freehub (rather than titanium). In essence, you are getting a White Industries hub with a barely heavier freehub, but all the same internals that make White Industries hubs famous.

One of the first things I had to do when I got these wheels was swap the freehub body. The Approach hubs use the same mechanism as, you guessed it, the White CLD hubs. There is a small window through the center lock rotor mount for one to loosen the set screws on the axle. Loosen three 2mm screws and slide the hub apart to swap the freehub body. It’s not quite as fast as my time trial on a DT 350 hub, but it is rather simple and does not require cone wrenches.

Built Right… Here

Astral rims and hubs are manufactured and assembled here in the USA. With that comes their Certainty Program, which promises:

5-year warranty

Lifetime crash replacement

Real-person customer service

Guaranteed reply to service calls and emails

Service work resolved within 3 days of receipt of your wheels

Replacement parts availability – If it’s an Astral, we’ll get you back on the bike

In many of my recent wheel reviews, the main factor in choosing a wheel comes down to warranty, as many wheelsets offer similar specs and performance. The Outback wheel is not some marginal gain that you are upgrading to shave a few seconds, nor is it an exotic new rim design. So things like Astral’s Certainty Program should truly sway your decision. You’ll get a wheel that was designed, tested, and hand-built in Eugene, Oregon.

Pedal Dammit

It’s easy to get lost in the sauce of the bike industry’s arms race to make the highest-engagement hubs. The Astral Approach hubs feature the same 3-pawl, 48-point (7.5 degree) engagement as the White Industries CLD hubs. For gravel, this is just fine. To quote something I heard from an engineer recently, “If you keep pedaling, you don’t need high engagement.” It’s a bit reductionist of a statement, but it’s mostly true. While technical mountain biking may necessitate near-instant engagement, the use range for the Outback wheelset seems just fine with 48-point engagement.

In the Weeds

I have a few minor gripes with an otherwise stellar product. For one, I don’t like center lock rotors. I find them to be harder to field service and I see no advantage outside of their use in situations necessitating quick rotor changes. I am sure it would be a burden to have White Industries make Astral rebranded CLD and XMR (6 bolt) hubs, so I assume they chose one with centerlock rotors.

Another small gripe is the interface of the outer lower part of the rim and valve stem. While I have had no problem with the Astral wheels, in the past when the narrow flat section is smaller than the presta valve nut or gasket, it leaves room for a leak. The Outback profile is barely smaller than the width of the Presta nut, but it’s something that gives me pause from my past experiences.

All that to say: the Outback wheels from Astral are a great product. Their Approach hubs use standard J-bend spokes, and the wheelset comes blessed with Sapim spokes. The rims are a standard-ish 25 mm, which pairs well with larger gravel tires and even small XC mtb tires. The hub engagement is solid without being unnecessarily high engagement for their use case.

If a solid, made-in-the-USA alloy wheelset that will last through the years and be covered by a warranty is written in the stars for your future, then the Astral Outback wheelset might just be for you. If this isn’t exactly what you want, they have a plethora of options for rim material, spoke count, and hubs. Talk to them for any custom wheel needs, they’ll work with you!