Review of SRAM Wheels?

Glenn Rides After 4 PM CST

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
SRAM ROAM 40 29er wheel set

I have been riding the roam 40 for about 2 months and absolutely love them.There claimed weight is about 300 grams lighter than a stock stans arch ex 29 set that I was riding and you can definitely feel the difference.

Carbon wheels are about 800 each and the weight saving wasn't that much for me to notice.
https://www.sram.com/sram/mountain/products/sram-roam-40-wheels
 
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Kirt

JORBA: Chimney Rock, Team MTBNJ.COM
JORBA.ORG
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Glenn--posted weighs on each

Roam 1695g (29") $749 retail

Arch EX 29er 1775 grams $595 retail
 

jdog

Shop: Halter's Cycles
Shop Keep
I have a season on the roam 60 carbon wheels.

I think they are super. You can spend more on enve wheels and get nothing for it.

They work well setup tubeless and they seem bomber tough.

I replaced the alloy nipples with brass as I have zero luck with alloy nipples.
 

Pearl

THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
Utah should reply, he offered solid advice with carbon vs alloy MTB wheels. I forget exactly what it was, but it made me stop looking at replacing my crests with carbon wheels of any kind.
 

Kirt

JORBA: Chimney Rock, Team MTBNJ.COM
JORBA.ORG
Team MTBNJ Halter's
When I borrowed J's scalpel that was the 1 thing I really noticed about his bike, the carbon wheels. I personally loved them. They were stiff, especially compared to my Stan Golds. But not bone jarring stiff. I would grab a set in a heartbeat. Or a set of Stans Valors.
 

muddybike

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I have a season on the roam 60 carbon wheels.





They work well setup tubeless and they seem bomber tough.



I replaced the alloy nipples with brass as I have zero luck with alloy nipples.


Awesome ! Thanks for that. What problems were u having with alloy nipples? Mine kept unscrewing, but a drop of lock tight in each one did the trick.
 

jdog

Shop: Halter's Cycles
Shop Keep
Awesome ! Thanks for that. What problems were u having with alloy nipples? Mine kept unscrewing, but a drop of lock tight in each one did the trick.

Alloy nipples on all wheels are particularly susceptible to corrosion. If you live near the beach or ride on roads that have been salted, you will likely experience Nipple failure at some point. No one likes (NF) nipple failure.

This can simply mean that they lock up completely. If you try to turn the nipple, you will only twist and stretch out the spoke it attaches to. Occasionally you may be able to free locked nipples with some penetrating lube.

Worse off, the nipples corrode badly and the threads break free under load.

This is where brass nipples are a better choice. Yes, they are heavier and yeas it is rotation weight at the worst spot for it. But consider that they rarely seize, break or fail. They are also happier at higher spoke tension.

I have taken to building wheels with brass nipples on all occasions, unless otherwise instructed by the customer. At minimum, i recommend this on the drive side of the rear wheel as this is the most crucial spot on any wheelset.

Unfortunately they only come in Brass colored or Black. Thankfully the brass color is much nicer to look at than the ugly gold colored alloy nipples.

You might find it interesting that ENVE uses brass nipples on their carbon wheels. They found out the hard way that the alloy nipples were failing like crazy. They are good enough to replace the alloy nipples on their wheels with brass for no charge if you send your wheels to them.

This is reason enough to NEVER EVER buy a reynolds wheel as they recognize the issue but continue to ignore it. I pick on reynolds vs other brands that do the same since I see them locking up more often than others for some reason.


On the Sram ROAM 60 wheels i popped one alloy nipple and just rebuilt the whole wheel with brass.


my .02


j
 
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Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
The nipples on my Reynolds wheels have corroded to disintegration twice. I'm on my 3rd set. He speaks truth.
 

jdog

Shop: Halter's Cycles
Shop Keep
The nipples on my Reynolds wheels have corroded to disintegration twice. I'm on my 3rd set. He speaks truth.

You can use the Enve brass nipples on Reynolds wheels... And you should.
 
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