Are Shimano Mountain Bike Wheels Worth Buying?
Shimano was and still is a giant in the world of Mountain Bike componentry. Their brakes cranks and shifting is only rivalled by the Sram offerings.
However there was a day when nearly every Mountain bike had Shimano hubs and somebody else’s rims. Then prebuilt system wheels became popular and even Shimano had to enter the wheel business. But now days they just don’t have the market share they once had. At the lower end OEMs can get cheap yet functional hubs from Taiwan and put on a range of rims. Sometimes you see Shimano rear hubs and “no name” fronts.
So are the Shimano wheels no good? Not at all I’d say. Just price is such a driver and unlike their road wheels where they can produce in high volumes to get prices down, Mountain Bike wheels are so varied in their needs and styles that Shimano can’t dominant with low price volume any more.
So what do they offer?
XTR is always the top of the line from Shimano. For $1099 (normally $1499) you get the XTR race wheels with either QR front or 15mm thru coming in at under 1500grams. Now that is pretty good. As always with Shimano you get strong durable cup and cone hubs with double seals bearings, durable Ti freehub, and all XTR wheels are tubeless compatible. However with only 24spokes front and rear, and a 19mm wide scadium rim this is a racing wheelset for sure and larger riders might want something sturdier.
That is where the XTR trail wheelset comes in. Only available in 15mm thru it offer QR rear or 142/12 thru in the rear, it also ups the strength and stiffness with a 21mm UST (tubeless) rim but remains with only 24 steel spokes. At under 1650grams this is still a reasonable weight given the tough stiff hubs. You can snap these up for $849 currently which is a bargain considering the RRP is the same as the XTR race at $1499!
Stepping down to XTR typically means similar performance but less exotic material. This is the case with the wheels as XT wheels get beefed up a lot compared to XTR. The WH=N776 wheels has a 20mm thru front and QR rear with steel cassette body. They also get a much larger 26.4mm wide rim but retain just 24 steel spokes.
The WH-M778 is a pretty similar wheel, but with 15mm thru instead of the 20 of the 776. Weight should be slightly less too due to the smaller front hub but will still be around the 2kg mark for a set. But with most things as the weight increases the price drecreases. These two wheelsets have a RRP of $700 but can be had for $349 online if you act fast!!
For me the XTR trail wheels are the sweet spot for what Shimano offers. The weight is good, and their trade mark durability should see most XC style riders getting years of happy use. The XT wheels start getting a bit heavy, but the large rims may suit those who do a bit more extreme riding and need a stronger stiffer rim.
Tags: Wheels
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