Okay without this turning into a slating of the above establishment I am after some views/user opinions on Superstar wheel sets. (I have dealt with Superstar in the past and only ever had good service)

Specifically I’m looking at the £200 wheels with Stans 29er rims.

I’m looking to save some weight on my bike and this appear to be good value.

A few reviews on their website say they are built rather poorly with low spoke tension but after a bit of tensioning are okay.

I have also heard reports of the rear hubs failing. Can anyone confirm this?

Other than the aluminium freehub being a bit soft (cassette has dug in to the splines) I haven’t had any problems with my switch wheelset. Had them for nearly 3 years now.

Thanks wors.

I have Hoops on my other bike and they too suffer from the cassette digging in so i’m used to that.

Thanks for your input.

got some of the 29er crests and they dramatically lost tension to the point where I was having to stop and retighten by hand.
mechanic at work rebuilt the rear so it was asymmetric, not a wheel expert but he reckoned it was a better option, been fine since then.

I have 2 sets the XC and AM both laced to Switch evo hubs. I have had the XC ones about 2 years and the AM ones about 14 months and they have been fine, absolutely no complaints.

The cassette did cut into both free hubs about 2-3mm to begin with but in the time since it hasn’t got any worse.

have a pair of their AM490 rims on switch hubs – they’ve been fine, probably could do with being tensioned properly, but other than that – no complaints, and would buy again.

I have had a set of switch hubs on their own rims for nearly 2 years, apart from the freehub thing, which happens with Hope too, I’ve had no issues and I swapped the alloy freehub for a steel one which has been flawless and at £24 a lot cheaper than a Hope one. The other benefit I’ve found is that all the bearings are the same size rather than the 3 different sizes they use in Hope ones. Not bashing Hope in any way as I have a set of pro 2’s on Mavic rims too, just saying that on a budget I think the SS ones are great, I would buy them again. Regarding spoke tension my LBS checked them when I bought them and said that if anything they were a little tight.

I’ve seen both sides.

I’ve had a set of Spank rims on Switch hubs for nearly four years. They’ve had the crap hammered out of them around the Peak, Lakes, Ben Lomond, Snowdon a few times, Morzine a couple of times on a mixture of full sus and hardtail. I think I’ve had them trued about once a year, and they’re still going strong (well, ish, the rims are getting a bit tired now) despite countless pinch flats and some sizeable dents.

A mate bought some of the DH rims on Switch hubs, snapped a spoke on the first day in Morzine riding down a link trail (ie. slightly lumpy fireroad) then proceeded to snap and replace a rapid succession of spokes until a nice mechanic man rebuilt them, after which they were perfect.

**edit** and I don’t think I’ve ever replaced the bearings either. Though I might have once.

Had a set for 2 years now. No issues at all. 26″ switch front and superleggera rear on stans crest,ones with cx ray spokes. Very light too.

Been very happy with my Switch evos on Flows. 18mths old now and have only had a couple of loose spokes after alps trip.

Both my front and rear bearings are going now though. I have bought replacement fronts, but had a quick look at removing the old and its very tough, there only seems to be about .5mm purchase for a screwdriver to knock out the old ones! Thats pushing the inner sleeve in to gain the .5mm. Anyone got any advice on bearing removal? Hope ones are far simpler to replace.

Anyone got any advice on bearing removal? Hope ones are far simpler to replace.

If you email superstar they’ll send you a shet explaining how to do it. It’s pretty much as you are doing though.

I have had a pair of their Superleggera Tech wheels since late 2009. They needed rebuilding thanks to a poor set of alloy nipples, but they did it FOC and replaced the main bearings at the same time (I think this was around the same time as STW vs SS flamewars…)

Since then I’ve replaced the bearings once in each wheel, and had to tighten the occasional spoke, but otherwise they have been fine and true. SO, good build, decent quality hubs.

I have since had the hubs rebuilt onto some Flow rims, and at the same time had the hubs serviced, new bearings throughout.

Been runing switch hubs on stans rims. Mine were tensioned fine, they’ve been re-done now but after 2 years riding I think that’s ok. bearing quality seems to vary from what’s said on here, both of mine are on their second set but the rear is now pretty shot again. Mind you, it has been a little wet lately…

The only problem I had was the freehub exploded last summer, sheared into 3 pieces around where the pawls sit resulting in a walk home. All replaced FOC but a pain at the time.