CRANK BROTHERS

Cobalt Wheelset £700                          MBR Review –August 2008       

Words - Paul Burwell

We don’t know if Crank Bros’ ultimate aim is to have a full range of aftermarket components, but this Cobalt XC wheelset is one of the latest products and, as you can see, it’s definitely in your face. Blue is used for all of the cross—country components and, while it ensures you won’t buy the wrong wheelset, it’s not exactly subtle. However, we’ve heard rumours of

black pair, so maybe Crank Bros is just trying to get noticed with these early press samples.

Not that the rim and spokes are conventional — the extruded 6061-T6 aluminium rim has a centre rib on which sit 12 pin anchors for the 24 spokes. On the Iodine freeride wheels this rib is left intact, but on the Cobalts it’s machined away to save weight. Since you can’t

true the spokes at the rim hub Crank Bros has designed a unique ‘twinned spoke’ with a long 7075-T6 anodized nipple and a short double-butted (2.0/1.6/2.0) stainless steel spoke. The flats for the spoke key are in the middle, at the join.

Like XTR and Mavic, the Cobalt rim is properly tubeless—ready; you just need to install a valve stem.

The front hub features two cartridge bearings and a 17mm aluminium axle, but we think Crank Bros has missed a trick by not offering front hubs in 15mm or Maxle standards rather restrictive for future fork or frame upgrades.

Sealed cartridge bearings are also featured in the rear hub: two ‘high

capacity’ main bearings in the shell and two in the freehub. The freehub

contains six oversized pawls with alternating three—pawI engagement.

It also features low—friction seals, so no chain slackening when you back

pedal slightly coming into a turn.

Both hubs come with a ‘split quick release’, which has a double lever, so they can be opened or closed together or individually.

We fitted a set of Maxxis Larsen TT tubeless tyres, and they not only seated first time without any sealant, they’ve also held pressure for about a month.  We also fitted a SRAM cassette, but we did notice the steel sprockets seating into aluminium cassette body the first time we pulled away.

Unfortunately, these wheels are deafening. In fact, the ratchet in the

cassette body is so embarrassingly noisy it actually makes you pedal.

The CobaIts seem well made, though whether they’ll stay that

way we’ll find out in due course. We might also find out how much a

replacement rim and individual spokes are, as currently neither is

available — bad news if you break a spoke or ding a rim on the first ride.

Crank Bros is offering something special in terms of construction and design but we feel the ride quality is not as sparkling as Shimano XTR. They’ r good but they’re not super light or that stiff, and they miss axle options we’d expect as a standard for a product that costs this much money. PB

8/10