I couldn’t kill them at the Strathpuffer…

I probably shouldn’t admit to this, but I’ve been trying to destroy these wheels. Almost two years ago, I was loaned a pair of Rolf Ralos 9 wheels and if I’m being honest, I thought they looked nice, they certainly weighed very little but I didn’t hold out much hope for them surviving a winter and a hard season of endurance racing and training (I’ve even done some cyclocross racing on them, including the 3 Peaks). My expectations were proved to be very different to reality….

…or the 3 Peaks…

When I saw the low number of spokes, I expected the wheels to be bashed into wobbly egg shapes quite quickly. They’re still dead straight.

I expected the rims to be dinged and for them to start to leak air from the tubeless tyres. They’re still almost unmarked and the tyres still hold air.

The only thing wrong with them right now, after several thousand training miles in typical UK conditions and six 24 hour races (including a total of 54 laps of the Strathpuffer component-doom over two races), is the hub bearings will need replacing soon. Not desperately, there’s just some side to side play that’s all.

I’ve been nothing but impressed with these wheels. They’re tough, easy to set up tubeless (which is good because I’ve got zero patience with hard-to-setup-tubeless wheels), they look good and they’re more than light enough for racing. 

…pretty good going fast in Heaton Park too.