Project Wide Gravel Wheels v2: The Rims

The Spank 359 Rims

 I've been detailing my new wheel build and the obvious 'star' of this show is the Spank 359 rims. Yes.....these are really mountain bike rims. I get that, but as I have said, the whole 'wider is better' inner rim width thing is blurring the lines between road and mountain anyway. May as well go to the wide side, right? That's kind of the point here- to find out where the line is at. 

So, in this post I am going to take a closer look at these rims and what- if anything- would recommend them for riding on gravel roads. The big selling point with these rims is the 'radial compliance' which Spank claims smooths out the ride a bit more over standard rims out there. I thought I'd focus in on that claim a bit first, as it is the main one that would make sense in terms of usage for gravel riding.

First of all, Spank uses a shallow rim depth of 19mm. This is done to help induce some flex in the vertical plane. Kind of like how fat bike wheels in aluminum often are- wide but very thin- these rims would have a bit more of an aptitude towards flexing vertically. The width of 35mm (outer) helps keep the rims laterally stiff, at least that is what Spank claims. There is a version of this rim with Spank's "Vibrocore" which is a foam filled interior of the rim, but this rim I have does not feature this technology. 

To give you an idea of how ridiculous and stupid this idea is, the 359 is Spank's down hill mountain biking rim! But in comparison to many 'gravel rims', this rim is only about 100 grams per rim heavier. And this is not a rim for racing, or even for thoughts of 'going fast', but I am thinking this is the rim for adventure and maybe bike packing with a gravel bike. My intentions are to use a tire of 45mm or wider, so nothing crazy like a 700 X 38mm tire will see these rims. So, at first glance this seems like a really dumb idea, but...... Maybe it will work well. If not, I can always convert to use with a MTB at some point, or just blow apart the rims from the hubs and start from scratch.

The 359 rims feature a 'hump' in the profile where the spoke drillings are.

The 359 rims get some lateral rigidity from the way Spank had the extrusion made which features a mid-hump in the rim well. Instead of the traditional "U" shaped inner rim well this one looks more like a wave with the crest at the point where the spokes go through. There is also a unique ridging in the bead seat which Spank claims locks into the bead of the tire and allows lower pressure usage without tire burping. 

So, that's the deal here. I'll be awaiting spoke nipples and then these wheels will be getting built up. But there has been another recent development which will provide me with the opportunity to test my original hypothesis right along side of these ridiculously wide wheels. You may remember that this project was to be done with a set of Velocity Blunt SS rims? Well......they showed up the other day! 

I could have just swapped out rims and proceeded as planned, but I happen to have a wheel set languishing in the Lab which has rims I do not prefer, and they have 28 hole hubs with Center Lock disc mounts and 12mm through axle compatibility! So, I will be blowing that wheel set apart and utilizing the hubs which will be laced to the Velocity Blunt SS rims. It's a twofer! 

Stay tuned.....