Santa Cruz Bicycles

Reserve 30 29in DT 350 Boost Wheelset

Having nice wheels not only increases the bike's performance, it can instill a certain confidence that will have you charging harder and trying more difficult lines. Thankfully these wheels are up for the beating and its reinforced bead and spoke nipple interface ensure that they can withstand the frequent flogging. Santa Cruz researched other carbon hoops on the market and designed their Reserve Wheels to exceed the punishment where most rims fail. Extensive research of failures from a material standpoint and engineering design were carefully considered before the wheels were production ready and Santa Cruz is so confident in them, they are ready to back them up.

A note on testing: most tests replicate a pothole-like impact which is mostly fine for road wheels. Santa Cruz takes it a step further and developed their own testing protocol. It better simulates one-sided impacts that are a usual occurrence when mobbing through a rock garden when the quickest line is the one you're on. Testing in this way revealed the Achilles heel of many manufacturer's carbon wheels: they were strong when both bead hooks worked in unison to displace the trauma, but were overwhelmed when forced to do so individually.

Another area that saw repeated failures at impact was at the nipple/rim interface due to the high stress load when wheels smack into objects. Santa Cruz reinforces the spoke bed area by one millimeter improving the strength of this highly-stressed area, and giving the rims a fighting chance against the high tension spokes pulling from all directions. The engineers then added supports at each spoke hole with reinforcements you can externally see that help dissipate the load and prevent the nipples from pulling through the rim. When doing spoke pull through in testing, Santa Cruz will consistently break the spoke under tension versus it pulling through. Santa Cruz isn't the first company to reinforce the spoke bed, but they are one of the few to offer a lifetime warranty if you do actually manage to break them.

This particular Reserve 30 Wheelset is for 29-inch wheels and laced to DT Swiss 350 Hubs known for their outstanding reliability and durability. The star ratchet is upgraded to a 36t version for quicker engagement. The 30 millimeter internal width is the goldilocks size for the current crop of 2.3-2.6-inch rubber which is what we are increasingly finding on all-mountain and enduro machines. J-bend spokes and mechanical lock nipples make for easier replacement and sourcing in the field, should you break a spoke or nipple on vacay. Also, no having to pull the tire, sealent, and rim strip to true a wheel. Please note, these are available in Boost spacing only.