AC Road Tubeless vs Stans ZTR Alpha Pro

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styrrell
Posts: 167
Joined: Mon Apr 19, 2010 10:33 pm

by styrrell

Just curious if anyone has experience on both of these wheelsets, and can give any pluses or minuses between them.

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MJHsurfin
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Jun 20, 2012 12:42 pm
Location: Sydney, Australia

by MJHsurfin

Had a couple of rides on a set of wheels with the Stans ZTR alpha 340 rims - they were OK but seemed to flex a bit too much for my liking & wanted something even lighter - so took the gamble on the (supposed to be) 1180gm AC Tubeless rims. So far so good. For the weight, they are plenty stiff enough. Look great as well....
Loving the Tubeless rims & tyres - no more punctures & roll so well. AC's are nice & wide, so running IRC Formula Pro Tubeless Light tyres in 23's are more like 25's, so nice & comfy. Rear Hub design is good & the free hub has a really nice positive action to it..

Some negatives....not sure where my rims porked it up, but measured real weight is 556/702 for a total of 1258gm without valves or skewers. Not really close to 1179gms as advertised :( Combine that with the supposed to be 240gm IRC Pro light tyres which are really 260gms each & the combo is 120gm more than I was hoping for !! (still bloody light though)
Also, the AC Valves are a nice design, but my pump uses a screw on presta attachment & the valves will loosen the locking nut when airing up....keep getting leaks from the valve o'rings. Extra sealant seems to have limited the air lose, but they always need tightening - considering some locktite to fix ??
Front wheel also had an annoying tick that a spoke tighten has seemed to have cured.

All up - still really happy with them. My goal was to go tubeless with a wheelset even lighter than my Dura-ace C24 CL's + Vittoria Diamante Pro Clincher tyres & they are....just wish the weights were actually as advertised.

kulivontot
Posts: 1163
Joined: Sun May 16, 2010 7:28 pm

by kulivontot

Fwiw, Stan's stock wheelset w/o skewers using AC hubs came out to be 1252g, which is almost identical to the AC tubeless. Are AC wheels also laced triplet on the back? I kinda wonder if AC helped Stan's design their tubeless rim a couple years ago, because the two wheels sound pretty much identical.

styrrell
Posts: 167
Joined: Mon Apr 19, 2010 10:33 pm

by styrrell

I doubt that AC and stans worked together on rim design, but near as I can tell they are the two closest in style for light aluminum wheel.

I originally asked be cause both optins are about the same weight as light carbon clinchers wheels, such as Zipp 202s, but much cheaper and have al brake trakes, which I like.

If I go stans I'd build them myself so with something like Novateck hubs they would be 1/3 the cost of FC 202s with better braking. But even that chep if they are so flexy or so prone to breakage that they are ruined at the first rock or small pothole its a false economy.

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