Halo Ridge Line II Wheels review

These Halo Ridge Line II wheels weigh more than their near rivals but they’re simply more robust, impressively durable and fit-and-forget.

Pros

• Impressively bombproof
• Fit and forget
• Good value

Cons

• Heavy
• No XD version [ Halo do SRAM XD version now ]

This really is a very straightforward review. These wheels weigh more than most entry level aftermarket wheelsets but they are tough AF.

That’s kind of it.

Literally the only thing I can find fault with them is their weight. They weigh 2,155g for the pair. A lot of other entry level aftermarket wheelsets (Scrub Alloy Trail Wheelset review here) weigh in the 1,800 to 1,900g range. And weight on your wheels does matter.

Even if it only really matters to me because such weight sort of prevents me putting decently aggro AKA heavy tyres on my bike because it gets too laborious to pedal around. Accordingly, with these Ridge Line II wheels I’ve not shod them in any of the DH casing tyres that I typically would use.

But you know what? The rims remain undented. I can’t actually remember the last time I used a pair of alloy wheels that remained undented. Kudos to Halo.

Rim stats: 30mminternal width, 35mm external width, 17.7mm depth.

There’s certainly an argument here for opting to go with heavy wheels and light(er) tyres, instead of light(er) wheels and heavier tyres. It will entirely depend on your circumstances. As a 73kg rider who does not explode berms or send booters, I’ve been fine with these heavy Halos and light(er) trail tyres.

The elephant in the room here is the rider who wants to run not-heavy wheels and not-heavy tyres. These Halo Ridge Line II wheels are not for you. Never mind. Move on.

As for the rest of the wheels aside from the tough rims, no problems. The steel freehub is holding up really well. It’s unscarred/unscorred and getting cassettes off and on is still as easy as day one. I’ve been using an HG freehub (the only other option is Shimano MS, SRAM XD is not currently offered UPDATE: Halo now do these wheels in Shimano MicroSpline and SRAM XD freehub versions).

Not that I’ve actually had any cause to, other than for thei review, but the brass nipples are still fine to rotate in their stainless steel eyelets. No binding or notchiness. The plain gauge spokes (32 per wheel) are still all straight; none of the usual “oh, that one’s got a kink in it” surprises when it came to inspection.

The tubeless tape is still in position with no lifting or tearing. The rims are traditional hooked bead profile by the way. Which may occasionally make them a bit harder to get tyres to seal/pop into place but in my experience inflation has always been possible with just a normal track pump; it’s just sometimes required me going all the way to 40psi+ to get the tyres to ping into position 100%. Not a massive hardship.

The hubs – surprise surprise – are similarly just doing perfectly fine thanks. Bearings still smooth. No side to side bagginess even when holding the tyre and giving it a big ol’ waggle. Some hub stats: cromoly axle, 4-pawl engagement, they use 6902 sealed cartridge bearings throughout* (two in the front hub, four in the rear hub).

*the Shimano Microspline version of the rear hub uses two 6902 bearings and two 6802 bearings.

As regards the freehub, it’s not quiet but it’s not loud. It’s a pretty middling noise. The pick-up is similarly middle-of-the-road, borderline slowish. Which is fine by me. Am not actually a fan of quick engaging wheels (they seems to eat bearings/axles, be draggy and interfere with rear suspension action).

Overall

So yeah, this really is a very straightforward review of a very straightforward set of wheels. These Halo Ridge Line II wheels weigh more than their near rivals but they’re simply more robust to being (ab)used and just generally impressively durable and fit-and-forget items.

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Review Info

Brand:	Halo
Product:	Ridge Line II
From:	Ison Distribution
Price:	£328.98 (£139.99 front, £189.99 rear)
Tested:	by Benji for 16 months

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