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Giant rims


snowey's picture

By snowey - Posted on 23 July 2011

NB: Originally posted elsewhere on the Global Riders Network and appears via syndication.

Giant have made their own rims and installed them on the 2011 anthems

Does anyone know if these rims are good for cross country riding??

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craked's picture

Are the rims manufactured by Giant?or just have Giant's graphics on them.

ben.archer's picture

They seem to be fine, but some of the press reviews of the bikes have mentioned the wheels as a bit of a let down. At the end of the day like all these things it depends on what you want to do with them, you could easily spend more than the total cost of most giants on a wheel set, just to shave a few grams and increase the stiffness.

Little-Ditty's picture

I suppose it all comes down to usage. What are you going to use this Anthem for? If it is hacking about on some standard trail riding, then what do you need special or expensive XC rims for? The proprietry Giant rims are probably fine for that purpose. If you are racing, then the strength and weight becomes more of a factor. You might need to compare some rim weights with other alternatives. What type of aluminium are the rims made of? But make sure you compare apples with apples... rim width needs to be identical, etc.

StanTheMan's picture

Anthem 3 Rims are fine for XC racing. If you were to go tubeless on them. They hold pressure reasonably bad. I have a DT swiss which has a bucke in it (which got fixed) and it still holds the pressure far better.

I Correct pressure on the weekly basis on the Giant rim. On the SDT swiss.....its long time between corrections. I do use the Giant rim for racing since I check pressures before racing.

GregK's picture

I have converted these rims to tubeless using STAN's rim tape, and the normal STAN's bullet valves, and they have held pressure fantastically, with no issues at all. The lip holds Tubeless ready Schwables very well. Yes, you could spend $$'s buying a lighter set of racing wheels, but I recommend you first get used to these before you lay your cash down.

snowey's picture

yer ok thanks guys

i was thinking of going tubeless, but i heard that the reviews arn't that good. hard to convert

DuncS's picture

You will not regret going tubeless, much better control on peagravel

hawkeye's picture

Tubeless is the bomb. Better traction, more control, lower pressures become feasible. Lower rolling resistance, better protection from sidewall cuts (heavier wall), and sometimes a significant weight reduction. Say goodbye to pinchflats.

Stan's kit is OK...ish. I got a better result with Bontrager rim strips. Much, much easier to air up. Even with tubeless ready rubber and lots of concentrated soapy water, and a home compressor, the Stans was a pain. In contrast, the Bontrager strips aired up immediately and stayed up without sealant for several weeks (Maxxis Ignitor USTs) before I got around to putting sealant in for a long ride.

Main point in favour of Stans rim strips in my view is the removable valve core that lets you top up without breaking the bead seal, but overall I'd favour the Bontrager rim strip and valve system for ease of use and will go that way if I ever have to convert a normal rim again.

Gold standard though is UST rims with UST rubber. Much more secure, easiest of the lot to air up and much less chance of burping the tyre off the rim if you get a slow leak despite the sealant and lose pressure.

Stan's sealant works pretty good.

snowey's picture

did you convert to tubeless on the Giant P-XC 2 rims? or other rims

Scratchy's picture

Slightly ot but anyone run non UST tyres in a tubeless setup? Which tyres worked or didn't?

MarkkyMarkk's picture

@ Scratchy:
I've been attempting to run various tyres on my Mavic XM317 (non-UST) rims with the standard Stan's conversion kit. I've had different results with different tyres.

Maxxis Larsen TT - would not seal the bead onto the rim no matter how hard I tried, even using the air compressor at the local servo. I wasted several stubborn hours trying to get this tyre to pop onto the rims as they're my current fave rear tyre.

Michelin XC AT - these were the original tyres that came with my bike & whilst i'm not overly fond of them, I had no problems getting them to seal with a makeshift floor pump. Currently running this on the front & holds pressure reasonably well. Only needs topping up with a few psi every few weeks.

Maxxis Ranchero Exeption - I was not expecting this tyre to seal, as its an old one I had laying around in the garage that has a few small sidewall tears in it, but I was curious to test the ability of the Stan's goo to seal them up. Surprisingly, after another trip to the local servo to use the air compressor the bead sealed up against the rim & after some liberal shaking & manipulating the goo inside the tyre to plug the sidewall tears, it held the pressure. Also the Maxxis Exception series tyres have micro holes in their sidewall to save weight & it was fascinating to watch the Stan's goo ooze out of these holes like tiny beads of sweat & seal the tyre airtight. I managed to successfully run this tyre for a month or two of leisurely riding before buying a new tyre - didn't want to push my luck too far.

Maxxis Maxlite UST - Popped this on with a handpump easily & holding pressure well.

So far my conclusions are that non-UST tyres are rather hit-and-miss as to whether you can get them to seal up properly, but the UST tyres will be much easier. I'm kinda annoyed by this as one of the main reasons people tout as an advantage of going tubeless is the lower weight, but in general the UST versions of tyres are 100-200g heavier than the non-UST versions, thus negating any significant weight loss. You also need to consider the weight of the goo & rim-strip that comes with the Stan's kit, too.

I've got a Maxxis Aspen Exception on order & will see how it goes tubeless.

daveh's picture

...with an alternate view! I have used Stan's for 2 x conversion on non-UST Mavic rims but using Maxxis UST tyres and these have inflated using a standard floor pump and lot's of soapy water without any issues. Next time will be a ghetto job where I am sure there will be lot's of swearing and frustration!

hawkeye's picture

@daveh, I've got a compressor if you get stuck. I'm just up the hill from you.

@snowey: Bontrger rims strips were on Mavic 117s. Stans strips were on DT Swiss X-430s.

+1 to non-UST Larsens being tough to mount tubeless!

Scratchy's picture

Sweet, I had been toying with the idea of non UST tyres in a tubeless conversion. Haven't heard good things about Crossmarks as they are a little loose. Ideally I'd like my tube tyres (Crossmark rear, Ignitor front) in a non ust tubeless.

I have a Maxxis Advantage Non-ust at home that I was going to try out.

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