EUROBIKE New SRAM Rise 60 - A first look

The New SRAM Rise 60

It’s not a new name, but it’s a new wheel. SRAM haven’t quite re-invented the wheel, but they have redesigned their Rise 60 to make it one kick arse cross country and trail wheelset for the performance minded rider.

The idea was to make sure it accelerated well for quick bursts out of corners, it sealed up well for tubeless, had a great ride quality, was light, and was strong. Reports suggest all of this is true.

New Bits

The rims and hubs are new, with lots of time testing and refining the product from their factory riders and technicians. Even down to playing around with less than 0.05mm of carbon layup on the sides of the rim, tuning the ride to get the right mix of weight, rigidity and strength.

The rims use a hookless bead, which helps SRAM as it’s more efficient for production due to the method used, but it also uses less carbon for lower weight, and can help make the rim more impact resistant too.

Easy Maintenance

On good wheels, you don’t often break spokes early on. But in time, you can, and do. SRAM continue with their Solo Spoke design, where each spoke length, front or rear, drive side or non-drive side, is the same. This is especially helpful for those who travel and race extensively.

Something for Everyone

Unless you ride 26” anyway. The wheels are available in 27.5” and 29” sizes, and the hubs use end caps to adapt to just about any axle pattern you could run. Best of all, with their Side Swap design you can run right on left, or vice versa. They’re symmetrical.

The hubs come either ready for a 10sp cassette, or with an XD Driver for XX1. The 29er model is available with a Predictive Steering front hub.

Run them wide

Or don’t. The 21mm rim width isn’t overly wide compared to the widths some XC and trail rims are moving to. But that’s not terrible, as these are designed as a leading XC wheel set, only surpassed by their tubular model. The 21mm width will suit 1.9-2.2” tyres just fine, which are typically what you will find on XC and Trail bikes.

The wheels weigh 1385g and 1430g in their lightest configurations for 27.5” and 29” respectively. No word on Australian pricing as yet, but don’t expect the 29er wheels to be available before the Highland Fling or Hellfire Cup, and the 27.5” models won’t be on our shores until the new year.

Words : Mike Blewitt Images : SRAM