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11.16.2004

I had been thinking about trying a 24" rear wheel for two seasons now. My first thought was stronger and more able to take hardtail abuse and my second was... hmmmmm, I wonder what difference it would make performance wise?

Well my sun ringle rhyno lite rear rim lasted forever, 3 full seasons of major abuse, so it wasn't until the middle of this year when my rear hub and rim finally bit the dust that I went ahead and tried a 24" setup. Upon suggestion, I went with the sun ringle double wide - big and beefy, tried and true!

...so far I can say this rim is absolutley killer! it has taken several full shots to the side after tumbling end over end on botched drops with out even so much as a scratch - staying perfectly true... in one instance, I biffed and the bike went over me bounced and did a summersault at speed before the rear wheel slammed into a big oak tree - taking the blow squarely to the side of the rim - in most cases a side impact like this would have destroyed the wheel let alone knock it out of true... but the double wide didn't even flinch...

As for 24" rear... I like it, especially for hardtail freeriding... it makes acceleration that much more responsive, which is great for carving flat technical single track, pedal kickin' some squirrelly drop or getting up to speed for gaps.

shot of the double wide on my bike
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