As a continuing effort for riding and reviewing re-appropriated components from 29r, BMX and Mountain bike technologies, I’ll be keeping everyone updated on how these new wheels hold up. Everyone seemed to be pretty involved in discussing the aforementioned Equalizer 23s. People have asked how they’re holding up and to be honest, they’re great wheels. Light, stiff and smooth. I’ve thrashed the shit out of them and have only had to re-true them once after basically landing on them sideways.

My only issue with them is that they don’t come in 36h. People forget that I weigh 200lbs and am a big dude generally speaking. When I come down hard on a wheel, I have the potential to break anything. The Equalizers have held up great and as I pointed out earlier are about 1/2 the weight of a Velocity Deep V.

After talking to Milwaukee about a new wheel set, we had Sun Ringle custom drill 36h hoops for my new build. Profile provided the hubs and Sun Ringle provided the rims. The build is as listed below:

Black 36h fix-fix profile’s
Black Wheelsmith DH13 Spokes
36h Sun Odeg-XC’s

After riding them all weekend, I can notice a massive difference in not only weight, but overall handling of a 23mm wide rim. I’m still riding a 28c tire on them, and may switch to a 32c for the rear. Again, these rims weigh almost 100 grams less than a Deep V and that’s a noticeable difference.

The only complaint I have is that they don’t come in non-machined, which is understandable since they’re a XC 29r rim for brakes. I plan on painting the sidewalls with a paint marker, or maybe spray paint later.

As I said, I’ll keep everyone updated because one of the reasons why this new sport is so great is because the internet has proven to be a useful tool in experimenting with various components. If multiple people have good experiences with the same rim, fork or hub, then it’s pretty easy to express this. Hopefully, we’ll dial in a perfect 700c trick bike that can hold up to all kinds of abuse for all kinda of body types.

Hopefully, these rims will last me well through the winter and spring. I’ll be even more stoked if they last longer, which I’m sure they will! Big thanks to Sun Ringle and Milwaukee once again.