Has my wife just bought into a world of upgrade pain?
She has an X Caliber arriving anyday and she hadn’t noticed the rear hub axle thing.
We’re both a long time out of the loop but I know she’ll be shopping for new upgrade wheels very soon.
Is she stuck with Bontrager as her only option or is this easily worked around?
Boost 141 QR?
Don't think it's as big a deal as it used to be as Trek, Salsa, Marin, Voodoo etc. have used it.
Superstar certainly offer wheelsets in that axle type.
Is it boost qr? 141mm iirc? There won't be much available in terms of upgrade but Hope do the pro 4 in that size so it's not like you wouldn't be able to upgrade
As said Hope Boost 148 can be made to fit but you have to buy QR adaptors for the rear. Not a big issue.
It's just boost 148 with QR end caps so there are options out there.
Thank you for the help. Hope are pretty heavy, aren’t they? Is there a lightweight version or any other recommendations that will fit?
She’slightly built if a little tall so weight reduction over heavy hitting endurance type wheels are the order of the day.
A lighter bike from the off would have been better but so little is available. She’d really like to get it down to around 23lb with some wheel and lightweight component upgrades over a period of time.
Is that reasonably possible! We think it’s from a starting point of 27lb.
I don't think Hope are that heavy, maybe more robust than you need though. DT offer QR end caps which will take a 148x12 Boost to 141 QR, plenty of lightweight DT hub options.
https://www.freewheel.co.uk/dt-swiss-rear-wheel-kit-for-135-141-mm-q-r-micro-spline-hbdts2789s?gclid=CjwKCAiAg6yRBhBNEiwAeVyL0HmwZehQwgPoNUzlSenBzk6RhLk2C58kSEi68j589KUfd-49zGm52RoCjKIQAvD_BwE
There are a couple of options around
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275031579406?chn=ps&mkevt=1&mkcid=28&var=575316247092
https://www.sussedoutsuspension.co.uk/product/halo-vapour-35-wheelset-29-boost-compatible/
Boost but QR.
Voodoo Rich is correct, pretty much any DT Swiss Boost hub (or any other hub that uses DT internals) can be converted to 141mm Q/R using end caps.
Thank you! Plenty to look at. DT Swiss will be getting an order soon.
As above hope *hubs* aren't that heavy, the prebuilt wheels tend to be as the rims are though.
One thing I would say given you mention you've been out of the loop for a while though is really really don't get hung up on arbitrary numbers like 23lb or 27lb. These days and on a 29er the difference between those two numbers is possibly only a pair of tyres. You'll regret bad tyres much more than you'll regret a few lb of weight.
(23lb is also properly light these days - the specialized epic HT sworks, an Olympic level, £11k xc hardtail is around 19-20lb)
That’s really helpful, thank you! The Trek website states 27lb but we suppose that’s probably‘ optimistic’. She’ll no doubt be upgrading to get it lighter, whatever it weights. We’ll pay much more close attention to tyre weights now. Thanks again.