Spank Oozy Trail 295 Wheelset – First Look
Spank have made a name for themselves making products that stand up to some serious abuse. We grab a set of the their Oozy Trail 295 wheels for test.
Spank’s Oozy range sits at the all-mountain/enduro end of their use chart, but with Spank’s established history of putting up with hard use I’m more than confident that they are up to it. The first thing that catches the eye is the colour, for those not into the rowdy green (I am!), there’s also blue, silver, red and black – all built up with 28 black spokes and nipples. The hubs come with 15mm front and 142x12mm rear adapters fitted, and 20mm/QR options in the box as well.
The both hubs are 28 spoke straight pull, and thanks to some neat flange design, all the spokes are the same length. Unlike some straight pull hubs we’ve come across, the spoke is totally captive so a loose nipple won’t mean an escapee followed by a snap.
Inside, Japanese bearings take care of keeping things running smoothly. The hubs are only available in 6 bolt, but that’s no issue in my book.
The rims are packed with a bunch of technology. The cross section uses Spank’s OohBah profile, that mixed stiffness with light weight. The central rib forms a “toroidal” shape (think ring doughnut) that adds a load of stiffness without having to add loads of material, in the same way that corrugated card has plenty more strength than regular card.
Dynamal alloy created with MGR (Micro Grain Refinement) is how Spank describe the materials used. Suffice to say they have invested a good deal of time and money into research into material selection and processing by Fratelli Industries who make the rims.
The bead of the rim has two things going on, Bead-nip and Bead-bite. Bead-nip creates a trough that the tyre bead sits in, while Bead-bite is a series of tiny ridges that the bead presses into. These two should combine to give loads of friction, hopefully meaning that the tyres will stay in place at lower pressures and prevent burping.
I’ve thrown a couple of different brands of tyre on so far – Vee and Continental. Both have been super snug fits, so firm I almost had to find a tyre lever! This is how it should be, baggy beads mean rubbish times when it comes to tubeless. With 50km of off road shredding under my belt already, a quick check of the spokes shows no sign of loosening and a quick spin in the frame shows them still running true. My long term bike gets a lot of action, so check back in the depths of winter for a full review.
949g (rear, 142x12mm) and 844g (15mm)
RRP £449.99
