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Reynolds AM MTB

Reynolds Cycling are well established in the Road, Triathlon and Cyclocross circles, but their mountain range is something they’ve been building on in recent years. Offering only carbon wheels for mountain bikers, because in Reynolds’ words, “it’s the ideal bicycle wheel material”, there’s not exactly a budget option in getting some Reynolds wheels on your MTB. Here we take a look at the tough Reynolds MTB AM set.

The wheels are built around Reynolds’ High Modulus Carbon Fibre, tubeless ready rims. They’re laced to Reynolds’ Alloy hubs (with convertable axles) with DT Swiss Revolution (yes really revs) spokes. It’s a pretty serviceable and simple wheelset that’s easy to work with and while we’ve not done a full service, the axle changes front and rear were a doddle so that bodes well.

The rims are comfortably wide enough for most 2.4s. The finish of the carbon is top notch inside and out with clean finish allround. As mentioned, they’re tubeless ready and you get the valves and a generous roll of rim tape (enough for at least four wheels at a guess) in the box.

Visually they look very good on the bike. The decals are reasonably loud and while the tribal look might not be to everyones’ taste, they are at least in ‘goes with anything’ white. Against the smooth, raw carbon finish, the wheels are real class and do seem to strike a balance between loud but not too garish (thankfully cheesy weaves are being left off of MTB wheels). Up close, the decals are just block vinyls applied to the carbon rims and if we were being really picky, at this price point we'd be after something a little more special in terms of application.

The Reynolds alloy hubs definitely get a thumbs up from us. The ability to convert the front between 9mm, 15mm and 20mm, and the rear between 9mm, 10mm and 12mm is essential on any All Mountain wheelset, but the bonus is that it’s so easy to do! The front being a tool free operation and the rear requiring either a cone spanner or allen key depending on the end cap, but there's no drifting bearings out or rebuilding the hubs. Speaking of which, all end caps are provided in the box too.

Sam Reynolds has been using them on his DMR jump bikes, so that's some nod of confidence!

The freehub body tick is reassuringly loud but stays just the right side of anti-social. The body is an alloy number so watch out for cheap cassettes and non-alloy carriers to avoid scoring. The hubs run on cartridge bearings and are standard six bolt in terms of disc mounting. You get two fairly ‘vanilla’ but tidy looking Reynolds skewers to finish off.

It’s when we got to the spokes that we couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. ‘All-Mountain’, ‘28-hole’ and ‘DT Swiss Revolutions’ don’t tend to go together in the same sentence and we admittedly had our reservations. They’re at least laced in a good old fashioned, conventional 3-cross pattern, and with common spoke lengths, so replacements will be a doddle. And besides, Sam Reynolds has been using them on his DMR jump bikes, so that's some nod of confidence!

Our wheels near enough matched the claimed 1719g weight, which isn’t exactly light but the Reynolds literature does pain to point out that this is a stout, proper All Mountain wheelset designed for serious abuse, not some feather-weight XC wheel with a slightly wider rim. And really your main All Mountain carbon alternatives are from ENVE or Easton, both of which are vastly more expensive anyway and offer just a few hundred grams of weight saving. Talking of price, the Reynolds come in at £1299.

In all honestly, simply looking at the Reynolds MTB AM wheels on paper, they’re a tough one to judge. Especially when compared to the alloy rimmed American Classic AM wheels we’ve also been testing, which are less than half the price and are lighter, so our snap reaction was that the Reynolds just looked painfully expensive and heavier. In riding though, it was quickly apparent that the weight to stiffness was very good and the claims of being ‘stout’ have proved true enough so far.

It's really hard to pin your finger on the feeling you get from riding the Reynolds Carbon wheels. They certainly feel stiff, but there's a ride quality to them too, and they seem to make the bike feel 'light' over the ground. Maybe it's just that extra damping quality you get as per carbon frames, but they just seem to tame trail chatter just that little bit more. You certainly quickly forget you're only running 28 of DT’s finest xc race spokes in an All Mountain wheel. Carbon MTB rims really make themselves known when cornering and the Reynolds were no exception, the low spoke count and choice of Revs over say DT Competitions did nothing to hold the wheels back. We’d even go as far to say that they made our resident Orange Five with 9mm rear end feel like it had received a maxle upgrade!

the rims don’t have so much as a mark on them...

Carbon-skeptics are quick to point out carbon’s apparent desire to simply explode if you so much as look at it for too long, but it’s fair to say we’re getting past those ‘old days’ of carbon now. We’ve had tube blow outs on the Reynolds mid-rock garden and the rims don’t have so much as a mark on them. With an alloy rim you’d be checking for dents and dings which could see you needing a replacement. Where Carbon skeptics are right is that the Reynolds carbon rims aren't going to ding, they're probably just going to break when the reach their limit. But the Reynolds AM wheels give you that reassuring feeling that the limit is way beyond what the hub, spokes and axles, and of course any alloy All Mountain rim is going to put up with.

And If you really are the sort of rider who's likely to, or wants to explore the kind of limits the wheel is up for, some extra piece of mind is offered in the form of Reynolds' Rider Assurance Programme (RAP). Basically it's a £250 extended warranty that covers your wheels against literally everything and essentially equates to a crash damage insurance policy.

We're at the bleeding edge of technology with Carbon MTB wheels at the moment, and there's a premium to pay for early adopters. It's difficult to say "you need these on your bike right now", given the price point and the fact that weight will typically be on a riders mind when they budget this kind of money for wheels. The Reynolds All Mountains are pretty much the 'affordable' entry point to carbon wheels of this riding remit, and as such the weight isn't as competitive as the Eastons and ENVEs (but two ENVE rims on their own is going to cost more than the Reynolds AM wheelset). But for those that can afford it and want to try a burly carbon wheelset while appreciating the material for its other properties, rather than just weight, the Reynolds AM wheelset will offer a surprising ride and package that's satisfying and interesting enough to showcase carbon in hoop form. And you'll find it's very much here to stay.

You're paying a premium to go carbon 'now' and the weight isn't amazing. But they're stiff and should be as reliable as they come, and they offer a ride quality that's so much more than just £/gram.

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