Anyone got experience of the crank bros wheels – cobalt or iodine?

Never really heard anything bad about them and there is never any for sale in the classifieds but…?

Latest Iodine 3 in Black and Orange are sweet looking things but a lot of money to drop on wheels without canvessing the opinion of the STW massive.

Cheers…

even MBR said they were shit.. they are shit dont waste ur money!!

see the earlier CB are shite thread

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/dear-crank-bros

To be fair – it was the earlier thread that got me wondering – pity too as they look sweet – function over form in this camp tho 😉

Dont buy – they are made from cheesy string.

the hub seals dont even exist, and they look shit

Like all factory wheels they’re stupidly expensive, heavy, and spares are hard to come by. Just no.

Did one of the mags not have a set that seized in fairly short order?

Andy

yep it was MBR they gave them a 3 out of 10.

they are fugly, whomever buys them deserves the shortfalls for crimes on bikemanity

they remind me of spin wheels , crap, pointless and over priced.

they remind me of spin wheels , crap, pointless and over priced

Dunno about that; they have some good design features (as with most CB stuff) such as being UST out of the box, and presumably a rim with no drilling is quite strong. While, by all accounts, CB stuff is great in dry California, it just doesn’t have a reputation for surviving in the wet, muddy UK.

Andy

Are any of the above opinions based on 1st hand experience or just what folk remember reading or hearing?

I had a set of iodines for about a year, and thought they were excellent. Very stiff, strong and read easy to set up tubeless. Fully compatible with all front axle standards. Strong enough for some pros to use them as dh wheels. All for about 1800g. The hubs are very easy to service. I eventually sold them to raise some funds but have since bought another set.

I’ve actually ridden them. I like them, a lot. Bearings in rear wheel went but were replaced under warranty.

I get to try lots of wheels and they are not the best(unless they cost a lot less) but they are very very good.

I’ve got a set of Cobalts and have been running them for over a year now. If I am honest, they are not very good. The issue I have with them is the seals, they are not good enough for the UK. Your money would be better spent elsewhere. Saying that I do like the look of them and they seem plenty strong enough.

Like all factory wheels they’re stupidly expensive, heavy, and spares are hard to come by

Except for Mavic.

Well, except for the expensive bit; guilty as charged.

Bearings in rear wheel went but were replaced under warranty.

Replaced under warranty. Seems like this is a common theme with cb products….

Iodine owner here. See this thread from 8 months ago.

CB Iodines

Since the repair, the wheels have been fine. Would I buy them again? No. Pawl carrier issues aside, the sealing in the rear hub is rubbish. Now, I’m quite fond of fettling. However, stripping down a free hub and cleaning the pawls/springs everytime I ride in the mud is not my idea of fun. They’re summer wheels only now.

Agree with the sealing issues, I have a set of Sages’s and bearings frequently(6 monthly) need regreasing or ride till fail at 12-18 months. Rims are incredibly strong and even landing on the edge of a Dartmoor granite rain gully eye-wateringly-hard only put a slight buckle in the rim. Rather have CB over Easton Havens which have given me no end of problems. Next time will be shop built recommendation.