Reynolds Attack or Assault or Other Carbon Tubeless

[SgtRock]

Hi

I have a set of FFWD 38mm Tubular G3 Powertaps that I am looking to replace. Nice hoops but rear wheel rubs the brake, when out of the saddle, which is annoying particularly as it is getting more frequent as I am getting stronger and recently upped my gearing. I can get round this by letting the rear brake off a lot but I am not keen on the brake feel. As a control comparison I have some Pacenti sl23 which run fine with no rubbing.

Another reason for wanting to upgrade is that my FFWD rims are 20.5mm compared to my Pacentis which measure up at 24mm - consequently swapping between wheels generally requires resetting the cables etc. which is a pain.

So I am looking for some lightweight replacement wheels, that have good lateral stiffness, and was considering Reynolds Attack or Assault wheels in tubeless form. All my other wheels are tubeless and I am really happy with the format.

The Attacks come in at 1370g and the Assaults at 1515g (claimed). Both are 25mm width rims which is as wide as I really want to go - purely for ascetic reasons.

I weigh 73kg straight up in the morning so no issues there. Most of my riding will be in the hills but I also live near the Cheshire plains and my club mates do like the flats. Possible occasional TT but not a major concern. Given the state of local roads comfort is also a factor as is braking performance in the hills.

I would like to keep budget under £1200

Anyone got experience with these wheels or can suggest an alternative?

Thanks in advance.

[shotgun]

I've got both the Attack and Assault. can't find any wrong with them except that the decals are under the clearcoat, which i can't remove. From a visual point of view I prefer the Attack, because of its lower profile and the weight savings is always a plus. There's very little difference between the two in terms of aero performance, a few seconds over a TT for sure.

I use them as clinchers, but they should be fine as tubeless. I had the same issue constantly fiddling with my cables to install thinner rims, so I moved all my wheels to the wide side.

[wheelsONfire]

You should consider No Tubes Avion Team.
I have the Avion Pro and i love these wheels.

Rode mine with 30-36 mm tires. I ride gravel, trail and tarmac.
If i rode pure tarmac i would run them with Schwalbe S-One which is a fantastic combo.
Ofcourse, you can run them with tires down to 25mm which is minimal.
Jumping between tires, i almost felt like S-One did burn outs compared to the tires i usually use.
The bike felt very quick and more nimble.
The best thing with Avion rims is they are what i would deem semi-aero at 41mm depth.
Inside is almost 22mm and outside 28mm.
They are stiff laterally, but vertically designed so they can take a pothole or bad terrain (tarmac) better than most rims.
They use 24 spokes front and 28 rear. This is consider a good thing because this make the wheels laterally stiffer, while the unique rim design still make them have a very noce ride feel.
I can say, if i built an all out tarmac bike today, i would buy a second set of Avion and i would use disc brakes.
You should also know that No tubes rims have their own bead hook design which no other brand have.
This is a really good set of wheels.

[dvdslw]

I had a really bad experience with the tubeless Assaults and I'll explain in detail what happened, sorry for the long post. For background, I've been riding road tubeless for the last 3-4 years mostly on a set of Ultegra 6700 wheels using several different tires like the Fusion 3's, Schwalbe One's, and now the Pro One's without any issues whatsoever related to the components of a tubeless tire system. I give credit to the fact that the Ultegra wheels are a certified road tubeless rim design where the rim is designed not only to help inflate the tire with a specially designed center channel, it also has a special bead design with a contour that will lock the bead in place which will help keep the tire on the rim in the event of a sudden flat giving the rider time to stop before damaging the rim, and most importantly a solid center channel with no spoke holes thus no need for rim tape.

The problem I had with the Assaults was the rim channel where the tape adheres to the rim. It was so uneven wherever there was a seam that it left little gaps where air would escape under the tape, through the spoke access holes, into the hollow rim cavity, and finally out through the point of least resistance which is the base of the valve stem. I first thought it was a valve stem issue because that's where it was leaking and tried a few different brands plus ruined one by over tightening it. The leak was internal at 180 degrees opposite of the stem and you could actually hear it leak inside. Another thing to note with a hollow carbon rim is that if air can get under the tape so can the sealant and just imaging getting a nice dried lump of latex rolling around inside your new wheels?

Sounds silly doesn't it? Easy fix right? That's what I thought and so did my local bike shop who sold me the wheels but after re-taping the first set a few times with no remedy and receiving a second set from Reynolds under warranty that were worse than the first set I threw in the towel, returned them and bought a set of Easton EC90SL's which are a true "Certified Road Tubeless" wheelset. I mounted my tires and have been riding them trouble free since November.

I'm sure as a std clincher setup the Reynolds wheels are just fine but as tubeless, you'd better go into the purchase expecting to have some issues. The Easton's I bought were a bit more money but worth every penny to not have to worry about what's going on inside my wheels as I ride. If I couldn't afford a Certified Road Tubeless set of Carbon Clinchers, I'd go lightweight aluminum. That way there's no hollow cavity and a smooth surface for the tape to do its job. Here's a few pics of my problem wheels, if you look close you can see the imperfections just above the spoke hole. The bottom picture is my Easton EC90SL with no spoke holes. As far as I know they are the only big name wheel manufacturer making them this way.

[SgtRock]

Thanks for the replies. I'm afraid the No Tubes and Easton wheels are a bit too pricey for me and don't address the issue of rim width compatibility with my Pacentis. Current carbons are 3.5mm narrower, going to a 28mm carbon rim would leave my Pacentis 4mm short.

The rim finishing certainly does look an issue on the photos. I guess the best I can do with that, if I do go for Reynolds wheels is to get the supplier to check over before shipping.

Shotgun - did you experience any break rub / wheel flex with either the Attacks or Assault and if you did was one worse than the other?

[Zigmeister]

I'm not running tubeless, but have a set of Strike SLG. I can confirm, that rim tape they have, and the rim bed/channel, is nothing I would rely upon, especially since it still has spoke holes in the rim bed?!?!

Easy to see why a tubeless setup wouldn't work worth beans on these. I personally just run velo plugs and butyl tubes and GP4000S II tires. So no worries.

Agreed on the Reynolds, the design and thought of the tape over spoke holes in the rim, don't see how that would work out well at all.

On Reynolds run some latex tubes and regular tires...weight savings and rolling resistance will be great. AS I said, I just run butyl tubes, the 20gms isn't going to make a bit of difference on 62mm clinchers.

[dvdslw]

The rim finishing certainly does look an issue on the photos. I guess the best I can do with that, if I do go for Reynolds wheels is to get the supplier to check over before shipping.

Not only did I send my Assaults back to Reynolds, they said they saw the problem and sent me a replacement set that was just as bad if not worse than the first. Their response after I contacted them about the replacement set was "we've never experienced the issue you described, that's just the way they're made". At that point I knew I was screwed so I brought them right back to the shop I bought them from and although by this time it was 3 months later the shop owner was gracious enough to give me credit to purchase something else. Do as you wish but if tubeless is what you're after, I'd look elsewhere.

[FIJIGabe]

You can pretty much run any clincher wheel tubeless. All you need to do is run two beads of Stan's tape of the appropriate width (wider wheels need the mountain bike tape). I used to run Zipp 303's converted to tubeless. Open your options and you'll find some great wheels that can easily accept tubeless tires.

[SgtRock]

Well thanks for the replies. I must admit the photos or the rim and response from Reynolds has made me think twice about the tubeless route. I am not interested in running with tubes so I have decided to go the tubular route. Going to put some Veloflex Arenberg 25mm tubs on so hopefully should offer a fairly tough, fast and comfortable option. The 25mm rims will match up almost perfect with my Pacentis making change overs a little less tiresome.

Fingers crossed they wont rub the breaks - wider rim should hopefully address this.

[defride]

dvdsl's troubles don't look great.

However, I know some guys who've run Attack/Assault tubeless without a problem. I also know some who've converted the earlier non-tubeless Attack and used them for years without issue so tried myself (my Attack rims are handbuilt rather than factory build). Twice around with Stans tape and they went up with Pro One's without issue, I've done 700+ miles on them and they've ridden great, this has included some extreme long 20-30% descents where the grip was confidence inspiring even when braking was on the limit

It's worth baring in mind it's not something Reynolds recommends for the older Attack rim but the newer ones shouldn't be a problem using appropriate rim tape.

The wheels feel light, fast and it's a comfortable combo

[deathbystereo]

I've got both the Attack and Assault. can't find any wrong with them except that the decals are under the clearcoat, which i can't remove. From a visual point of view I prefer the Attack, because of its lower profile and the weight savings is always a plus. There's very little difference between the two in terms of aero performance, a few seconds over a TT for sure.

I use them as clinchers, but they should be fine as tubeless. I had the same issue constantly fiddling with my cables to install thinner rims, so I moved all my wheels to the wide side.

What tire combos do you use.... I am having a nightmare removing tires from the Attacks.. any help would be very much appreciated.

[shotgun]

What tire combos do you use.... I am having a nightmare removing tires from the Attacks.. any help would be very much appreciated.

I've used GP4000S2 on them, a bit hard to remove. I'm currently on Michelin Power Competition, and they isntalled much easier. I haven't had a flat so I can't comment on roadside repairs yet.