Who here has Wabi's recent model wheelset?

Can you give me your impression of the KT hubs and A-Rim rims themselves?

I found very little on the hubs and nothing about the rims besides their homepage, thus need a bit more encouragement, beyond Richard's good reputation, to purchase such a relative unknown.

Thanx for any help...

Yes, I own a set, and they are excellent. Buy them. I think the rim is a Kinlin, which is excellent quality. The bearings are extremely smooth and there is no sideplay. The only downside is that the rear hub cannot be spaced out for conversions with dropout spacing larger than 120mm.

I appreciate your fast response TT, and from your recommendation I think I'll go ahead and get them.

Perhaps I can return the favor - FYI...the rims are definitely not Kinlins. According to Wabi site, and Richard Snook himself, they are from A-Rim, which accounts for my question. Maybe somebody here with better search skills than mine can find some info on them (if anybody else even cares ;)).

I believe this is the rim Wabi uses

Thanx...but besides A-rim's site I can't find info, reviews, mention of, etc. of it/them anywhere

I just purchased a Dawes "Street Fighter". Does anyone have any experience with this bike? Thanks

Brake levers on tapered handle bars? Are there shims or..?

What levers? What bars?

I'm gonna assume some things and say get some 31.8 cross levers and mount them in the non-tapered part.

I probably should have looked at my bars to see what brand they are -- i dont know off hand :crash: They are risers though, 31.5 clamp and taper out to whatever dia Ouri grips are. Need to purchase levers hence, the question.. I have a feeling i might need to pick up a new set of bars though.

More than likely they are 22.2mm, so you will need something like Dirt Harry levers, which come with shims for 22.2mm bars.

Aha. Well original style Oury grips are 4-3/4" and brake clamps are around 5/8", so you need 5-3/8" of grip area if you're looking for MTB levers. Most MTB risers some with around 7", so if you don't have enough room, either your bars were cut too short or not really made with MTB levers in mind, so new bars might be in order if there isn't enough non-tapered grip area.

You could still run cross levers up near the stem somewhere. Should be 31.8 up in there. Standard sizes are 25.4, 26, 26.4, 31.8 and 35.

And, I don't think anyone makes shims for running levers in the tapered area. The tapers aren't usually a conical section, and everyone makes differently shaped tapers so it would be kinda crazy to stock shims for all makes/models of bars.

You either get some cross bars to run close to the stem or MTB levers to run out in the grip area.

I appreciate the help :thumb:

My bars are similar to Cineli pepper risers but i'm not sure if they have been cut down or not (the bar/grips came with the bike) but the Ouri's basically end right where the bar angles down to the stem which is the tapered bit.

I think i just kind of answered my own question in that i might just need to get a new bar..?

Yeah, those are intended for use without brakes or with cross levers.

31.8 Tektros if you're on a budget.

Universal Cycles -- Tektro RL Cross Brake Lever

Go for a new bar if you want MTB levers. New bar is gonna be much wider. XC straight bars can still be found in pretty narrow widths if you don't mind flat bars. Old Easton EC70 (not the new wide one) has barely any tapered area, so can be cut really short.

http://www.pricepoint.com/Brand/East...lebar-2012.axd

plenty others out there too.

Risers are tough to find so narrow.

These are 26", could probably be cut down to at least 24" and still have room for Ourys and levers.

Race Face Evolve Bars 1" rise 660mm Black | Race Face

Those are some excellent suggestions, thank you good sir!

Just for kicks, i googled Cinelli pepper bars and there were a few images that popped up with people running ouri's and brake levers which seemed to fit ok.. Gonna be picking up a new fork from Scrod shortly so i might just pick up a Pepper bar as well -- I can always trim down the ouri's a tad to make the lever fit :thumb:

Oh yeah, this guy cut the inner section off his grip to make room. Won't have much room for your hand that way, but it makes it work.

http://www.superbbicycle.com/wp-cont.../11/mash-2.jpg

Why don't you just start out with wider bars like the Leader Uptown, and then just cut it down to where you want it to be ?

Leader Uptown riser handlebar | Retrogression

Yup, saw that picture.. I guess really can't do anything until i actually measure the bar thats on my bike currently and then go from there.

Yup, thats an idea as well. Gotta measure my **** first and go from there :beer:

More like 1/2 inch if you use levers like Dirt Harrys, which have a clamp that is about 1" wide. I know this because I've got them installed on my Leader 721tr.

Just got home -- Current bars are ~44cm which is about the same as the peppers, my bars are Kore's. Looks like i might be able to make these work if i trim back the ouri a little bit and run a brake lever that has a small clamp..

Thanks for the help fellas :thumb:

I installed a 44cm KORE flat bar on my fat bike with a matching KORE stem. Can you post a pic of your bar?

I can take a picture tomorrow -- it literally looks like the pepper bar, its alum and painted silver.

One more thing, if you have road calipers or cantilevers, you'll want short pull brakes. Most MTB brakes these days are long pull, some can be adjusted for long/short and a few are short pull.

I received my new Wabi wheelset yesterday and rode them on one of our “fast” nite-time urban rides. While, from my short time on them so far, I am quite satisfied with their performance – I just do not care for the internal bolt system they use.

@TejanoTrackie (or anyone else familiar with these)…did you not, once upon a time, post about using quick releases on yours? If I am recalling that correctly, could you please explain how you did it?

Or…

Do you think its possible to change-out the axles to the typical ones that take external nuts? And if so, can you tutor me on how you would go about doing that?

TIA…