Whether it's a sunset lap with friends or a race run against the clock, a broken wheel ruins any ride. We set strength and impact resistance as our highest priority, but strength doesn't have to mean uncomfortably stiff. Our wheels are compliant enough to avoid that harsh "wooden" ride that gives some carbon rims a bad name offroad. We only make offroad bikes at Santa Cruz, so we have the privilege of being able to focus purely on the mountain bike experience. Everything from the thickness of rim beads to external spoke hole reinforcements comes purely from our experience of knowing what riders need at every level—from international racing to your local trails.
A new line of premium carbon mountain bike rims and wheels from Santa Cruz designed to be the strongest, most reliable on the market.
Designed, tested and prototyped in Santa Cruz, California using our new our in-house carbon lab and well-established carbon fiber expertise. Made in our exclusive factory.
LIFETIME WARRANTY
Backed by the best product support program in the industry—the Santa Cruz Lifetime Warranty, just like our frames. If you do actually manage to break our rim while out riding, we'll replace it for free. And probably high five you in the process! If it gets run over by a truck we'll help you out with a low cost accidental 'crash replacement', because life's too short to argue. We know riding time's too precious to keep you waiting, so we'll do our best to sort you out fast.
-
NO MISSED RIDES
-
Rock-solid lifetime warranty—just like on our frames and bearings
-
24-hour turnaround
-
Dedicated wheel service staff
MATERIAL WHERE YOU NEED IT
This information in hand, we set about determining how we might design a rim to mitigate those failures, and part of the result is the square-shaped reinforcements you can see around the spoke holes. We made plates of different carbon spoke hole designs in our carbon lab in Santa Cruz, developed a test that mimics the sudden increase in pulling force associated with an impact, and spent a few months breaking bits of carbon, spokes, and nipples until we got to the point that we were breaking all spokes and nipples and no carbon.
We're far from the first company to reinforce high-stress areas with more material, but they're visible to ensure that the spoke hole drilling matches the reinforcement. Super-precise placement of these reinforcements allows us to use only the amount of material necessary to achieve the strength required, rather than reinforcing the entire rim. We then invest that extra material into the other common failure point of a rim—the bead.
The rim beads on the Reserve wheels are thick, relative to other rims on the market. As much as a millimeter thicker on either side, in some cases. The material we saved by optimizing the placement of the spoke hole reinforcements went directly into the bead, making it extremely strong without adding weight to the overall construction. The beads are hookless: this makes for a better fit with modern tires, but also simplifies manufacturing, which results in more consistent carbon compaction—the technical way to say stronger rim.
MATERIALS MANAGEMENT
Putting carbon reinforcements around the spoke holes enabled us to add strength where needed while saving overall weight.
Because we put the reinforcements on the outside of the rim, we’re insured of correct, centered drilling which can be an issue on internally reinforced rims.
We took that weight savings and reinvested it in the rim bead where rocks strikes are more likely.
LOW VARIABILITY
We use a special wax bladder molding technique to ensure excellent compaction and no voids, or air bubbles
This creates rims with low manufacturing variability and more consistent construction, making them more reliable.
RIDE QUALITY
A carbon rim’s profile and the wheel’s build spec determine how the wheels ride. We built Reserve prototypes in dozens of combinations to come up with a configuration that we think strikes the perfect balance of strength an stiffness.
PROFILE DESIGN
Our width-to-height ration of 1.5:1 strikes the optimal balance between ride quality and strength
Rims that are a taller ratio tend to ride harshly and transmit trail shock
Rims that are wide but shallow make for a flexy feel
We also made specific profile and dimensional decisions based on intended use, which we’ll see later.
ASYMMETRIC DESIGN
Asymmetrical rims build up into stronger, more reliable wheels by improving the bracing angles and equalizing spoke tension side-to-side
Our carbon layup is optimized to resist torsional forces
All wheels are hand built with 28 spokes, 3-cross for strength and comfort
You can now order Reserve wheels for any bike in your garage. With options spanning two wheel sizes, three rim widths, and two hub choices, a set of Reserves will match any modern mountain bike perfectly.
When you purchase a set of Reserves, make sure to save the builder card—not only do you get to see who built your wheels, but the serial numbers are recorded there to make it easy to register your new wheels.