Stan’s Notubes system was one of the first to realise the benefits of a tubeless tyre system.  Low rolling reistance, lightweight and virtually puncture free tubeless tyres are now the norm on all high end mountain bikes and starting to creep into the road market too.Having come up with the best sealant on the market, Stan’s have now expanded into rim design and tyres and their 7000 series aluminium rim is one of the lightest on the market.

The rim is low profile, light and strong and has been built into a number of wheelsets (see www.notubes.com for the complete range).  We recieved the top of the range ZTR race wheelset built with an American classic hubset.  This wheelset is incredibly light.  The front wheel is a svelte 550 grams and the rear wheel is close at 660 grams. 

 Another big plus concerning this wheelset is the price.  At current conversion rates it comes in at about €660, considerably under some of its competitors.  Function wise these are top notch and some top riders have defied their sponsors and purchased these wheels without the stickers and rode them at World Cup level.

Also in the range are two tyres specially developed by Stan - the Crow and the Raven.  We have the Crow on test, a low profile race tyre which some would say should be more suited to a drier country.  However the tyres can be run at very low pressures which should provide more grip and they have a good sticky compound.  Time will tell…

Last in the list (but by no means least) is a Stan’s Tubeless system kit.  This includes everything you need to convert two non-tubeless wheels to tubeless.  Also included is a bottle of Stan’s legendary sealant that we are trying out currently.

Full reviews to follow in the near future.