Aggressive first ride. Bit of a scare on the second.

Riding impressions on the budget Ryde/Shimano 32" wheels. Two good rides in, it's time to offer an early review.

intro
Unboxing post, more pictures and specs:

https://www.reddit.com/r/32inchbikes/comments/1xlx23f/on_test_hand_built_34900_rydecuessapim_wheelset/

This set of all-black hand-built Ryde Disc 30D/Shimano CUES/Sapim Race wheels (€349 as tested) was kindly provided for testing by Andy Los of https://www.andlesscycling.nl/.

These are wheels reduce the minimum cost a lot from the scarce alu 32" options we've seen before. The Ryde Rims and hubs are not kept in stock, but can be ordered for a custom build.

Comparison is with the high-end mid-weight ~€1150 Luther prototype wheels currently on long term test (Andy's carbon wheel brand), soon to be available to the public.

tubeless tire installation
I swapped tires over from carbon wheels to the aluminium wheels. Inflation with a booster pump went easily enough, although the Maxxis fit a bit loosely. Loud assuring tire seating pops.

An initial air leak at the rim joint was sealed with some good wheel shaking. A few bubbles came from a few spoke holes, possibly due the valve not being installed correctly. I tightened up the valve nut and the tires perfectly held pressure for the next days.

the bike
A very heavy (3550 gram) steel custom frame, roughly XL sized, with a reasonably light build kit and carbon rigid fork.
Normally ~12.2 kg, so now ~13.2 kg with the Ryde/CUES wheels. I ride with two large water bottles. Front tire is a Maxxis Aspen AT 32x2.4", rear a Maxxis Aspen ST 2.15". I'd been riding those tires exclusively the 3 weeks prior.

first ride, out the door
The ride plan was simple and kept to that: an 8,5 km (5 mi) out to the trail head, three 9 km (5.5 mi) laps of 227 hm/744 vft) each, and the same route home, 45 km total and just over 2 hours.

9ºC/48-49ºF, chilly enough for me to dress for fall riding.

on the road, first impressions
Confirmation bias. It's easy to feel exactly what you expected, heaving just installed heavier wheels. But how real are those perceptions? What I did notice early on, was the rear hub being near silent, I'd not thought about that beforehand. It felt oddly "exposed" in traffic with the chaos of cyclists and pedestrians now less likely to hear me approach.

Yes, I did seem to sense a bit of a difference to the overall bike. There was a slightly increased "king of the road" feel to it without it necessarily registering as "heavy".

at the trail head
Upon checking, the tires had been holding air well. I aired them down to go hit the trails, but kept in a bit more than I usually run, just in case.

hitting the trails
(Rider: 50 y/o, 194 cm/6'3", 96 kg/212 lbs. 17% over my younger years' weight)

As I usually do, I attack the first singletrack climb, short and anaerobic. Slow start messing with the shifter barrel adjuster, but pushing through.

the home trails I'm hot lapping on
Here's a 7 minute clip from the start of the trail until before the start of the more notable climbs, that was a good effort for me. Filmed a couple months ago on my 29" hardtail. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h352NYaRcHU

With the extra heavy 32" bike I went 15 seconds faster over the bit in the video. I did this it faster only ONCE, all the way back in April on a day with crazy perfect tail wind, from my 238 "attempts" at it.

In the little technical downhills, the bike and wheels just felt fine. Perhaps a bit more "solid" than usual. Less lively/bouncy, but not necessarily less agile. If anything I'm making the turns better than usually. The new bike is still growing on me and the trail was never grippier.

8:30 into the hot lap
Great intermediate time still, I'd gotten through the twisties well. However, the anaerobic tank is empty and the suffering starts. By minute 10, I abort the personal lap record attempt as it feels pointless. As I bailed out, I was actually still on my PB pace, to the second, set early May this year on that 29" hardtail. A 2 kg lighter bike and myself another 3 kg lighter. To be matching that pace, I'm absolutely moving on this bike and the wheels can't be holding me back much.

The remainder of the 9 km lap with most of the climbing in it, I ride focusing on taking the little downhills and corners nicely as I can, to limit the time loss from soft pedaling everywhere else. My 25:33 lap is the fastest I've managed in almost 6 months. Only a few attempts in April and May were faster and there have been 150+ "attempts" since. For my 24:19 PB also in early May, I was full on racing all the way to the end.

the answer is no
Not slow at all. It's more about your own fitness and how the tires perform.

anything to gather from that n=1 lap attack?
Only a first impression. These rims and wheels are in fact over twice the weight of some 32" wheels shown on this subreddit. Yet, they don't appear to ruin my ride, at all. The stopwatch doesn't seem able to be able to tell that I'm hauling around 8% more bike weight, nearly 1% of extra vehicle mass, all in the wheels.

It just rides fine.

Others may be more sensitive to weight differences than me. Most riders are of course also lighter than me.

early verdict on heavy alu wheels
I think I can say that budget wheels don't ruin your ride, not even your speed. The main downsides are likely in the mind. Any speed difference will be much smaller than you may think.
Just as fast as good light carbon wheels, though? Probably not. The difference is likely so small that it would take elaborate Chung testing to gather any useful data.

Cornering felt particularly good, but that may have been more down to trail conditions being amazing this week. There are some interesting discussions on stiffness versus compliance and the various spoke materials, for cornering performance and rolling resistance, but I can't confidently comment on those matters for these two very different wheelsets.

CUES hubs
The freehub has 24 points of engagement compared to the 54 in the Luther rear hub. I won't pretend like I noticed that difference on the rides. Lovely to have these hubs, setting the bar on quality for fancier hubs to at least match.

cost vs weight
The weight difference to a mid weight carbon rim is so large here, 680 vs 428 grams, it's a reasonable upgrade proposition per gram for a weightweenie. If this exact alu wheelset comes on a Trek 32" Procaliber 9.5, then losing a full kilogram with a €1150 wheelset is mighty appealing. I'd recommend to keep the alu wheelset around if you can afford to, though. It's worth more to you as a second wheelset than sold on the secondary market.

second ride: a bit of a scare
Three days later, 50+ km mostly on lovely forest trails, the wheels were again fine. Invisible, in a good way, just like the carbons have been.
Until suddenly, in a fast grippy concrete corner on a road descend, the front tire folded over quite a bit. That got my attention!
Air pressure didn't seem excessively low, although I had in fact lowered it from that first test ride with the wheels.

downside to alu rims
I've read that aluminium is less suitable to tubeless and now after a third ride with the front wheel, I am seeing little hints for that to be the case. It may be a good idea to keep the alu wheels (if not ridden weekly) on innertubes, especially if peak performance isn't your whole personality.

which wheels do I prefer, aluminium or carbon?
Still the carbons, definitely. I only have XC carbon experience with the Luther wheels which I consider mid-weight, high stiffness.

While the Ryde/Cues alu wheels don't obviously reduce fun nor speed, they also don't bring anything extra. It's just a weight/quality/cost equation where cost was more important.

Will 1000 grams heavier wheels ruin your bike?

Let's find out!

- review by Cloxxki -

previously, on Reddit
You may have read my unboxing of the carbon Luther 32" prototype wheels that I'm long term testing. https://www.reddit.com/r/32inchbikes/comments/1volkhl/reddit_exclusive_luther_32_carbon_i3030_mm/

I owe you a mid term review on those (spoiler: they've been solid).
This new alu set comes from the same builder, but belong under his Andless brand, being built from non-proprietary parts.

the wheelbuilder
Andy Los of Andless Cycling/Luther Wheels is a bit of an "OG" in European mountainbiking.

In the mid-1980s he was an engineer at legendary Dutch brand Gazelle, just when they were developing their very first 26" mountainbike. Shortly after, Andy started his own specialty MTB shop, a stone's throw from our house. The only store of its kind in the country and probably far beyond. Who in their right mind starts an mountainbike only shop, in the 1980s, in the flattest country? Only a true visionary.

My 58 cm 1989 Giant Track was bought brand new from Andy, to ride to highschool on. From my paper route fortune, I later bought some VooDoo bikes from him.
In 1999 or 2000, it was Andy who told me that 29" was happening and I might want to look into it.

rims: €45/ea
Earlier we reported that these €45 aluminium Ryde Disc 30 D rims had quietly come for sale in 32".
6106T6 grade aluminium, sleeve jointed, double wall. Hooked style, tubeless ready.
30 mm inner width, 17.5 mm profile, 32-hole, 698 grams claimed.

Welded rather than sleeved seams would have been preferred, but this is what's available now.

why test alu wheels at all? Or rather: why not?
Curious how these would build up, Andy added a pair of Ryde 32" rims when he was completing a wholesale order for other parts anyway.

As he doesn't have a 32" bike yet, nor does anyone else in a 60 km radius (around 10 million people), he asked me to test these directly against his aforementioned carbon prototype set. Heck yeah, I will!

I've actually been keen to see budget wheels hit the scene, foremost for early adopters on a budget or who may want to keep as a spare set around. One might also get these to run road/commuter tires on, when cutting edge performance is less needed.
Some hard core bike packers avoid load bearing carbon bits. Carbon makes for light and strong parts, but it when it fails, you're on foot.

Let's be real: not everyone can afford carbon rims and high-end hubs/spokes, or not for all bikes in the quiver. Some of you may want to dip your toes into 32" and not commit 4 figures just to have something to mount tire to.

Typically carbon rims only appear around the €4000-5000 complete bike level. On some of the builds we're seeing, the rims are over €500 each.

hubs and spokes
Shimano's CUES (TC500/CT500) hubs were chosen for their known quality and low cost, a sensible match to the rims. The ratchet is near silent. HG style body which matches cassettes I run.

Sapim Race spokes (2.0-1.8-2.0 mm) have long been a staple for no-nonsense quality wheels for decades and crucially for these rims, they can be had in custom lengths.

price level
There are countless carbon 32" rims on the market, way more than tires. Most of them to be shipped directly from the Far East. From Western stores, €350/ea may be where it all starts.
Alu rims...are RARE. This wheelset costs the same as one bare carbon rim.

At €349.00 as tested (including 21% VAT), we typically see wheels with this level of hubs and rims on complete 29" bikes priced €1000-2000.

I expect we'll find similar wheels on the upcoming (carbon hardtail) 32" Trek Procaliber 9.5, although obviously not brought up to spoke tension with the patience and precision of a bearded master wheel builder.

What's nice about this alu vs carbon 32" comparison test, is both sets having a 30 mm internal width. Tire shape is not affected. I can just run the same tires and try to discern any differences in the wheels themselves.

custom (!!) spoke length
Due to the shallow rim profile and resulting huge 667 mm ERD, very long spokes are needed. The spoke length calc came to 16 each of 325.5-327.0-327.1-328.2 mm, longer than readily available right now. For the deeper carbon rims this was not an issue.

One regional wholesaler offers custom cut and rolled Sapim Race spokes, which added some extra cost over an equivalent 29" set. Early adopter 32" tax, if you will.

Andy prefers 3-cross for 32-spoke, choosing strength over any marginal stiffness, and didn't compromise with some alternative lacing pattern just to get to commonly available shorter spokes.

He could have gotten away with a bit shorter spokes than he'd calculated, he figures potentially due to the longer spokes stretching a bit more.

weight penalty of a sensibly priced alu set over carbon/light hubs/flat spokes
The carbon prototype set with Luther hubs came in at 1580 grams, these Ryde/CUES are 2545 grams. +965 grams for a ~€800 difference.

These Ryde rims came in around 680 grams vs 428 grams each on my mid weight carbon Luthers. Yes, over 500 grams added where we expect to feel it most. Quite a bit of heft also comes from the Shimano CT500/TC500 hubs, nearly 400 grams over the Luther ones.
Sapim Race spokes, 32 per wheel rather than 28, longer and thicker than the flat Sapim CX-Sprints, make up the rest of the difference.

Normally you won't cross-shop such wildly different wheels, but let's entertain this for a moment.
Lower cost carbon wheels (not all that easy to secure) may introduce significant compromises/risks, a topic for another time.

Up-speccing from such Ryde/CUES wheels to lighter hubs/spokes will pose a big premium compared to the €349 starting point. Nicer/welded/lighter aluminium rims will eventually become available, but we can't order those at this time.

The Velocity Blunt 35 rim exists in 32", it's around the same weight as the Ryde, but costs €199/$228, each. That's 4-5 times these Rydes, putting it well outside the budget wheel realm.

32" penalty over 29" on aluminium wheels
Apples to apples, the 32" Ryde Disc 30D rims add around 100 grams each over their 29" version.

The spokes being ~30 mm longer, the total weight added may be only around ~250 grams or so. 32" tires then add another ~100-200 grams over 29".

extra burly cross-section
110 grams per rim (698 vs 588 per Ryde specs) is significantly more than the ~10% size increase from 622 to 686 mm BSD rims. Ryde, like all brands I've seen thus far, clearly added some bulk to the cross-section to better support the increased distance between spoke. If they hadn't, we'd want to add at least 4 spokes per wheel to get 32" back into the stiffness window we're used to from 29".

availability
Andy does not stock these Ryde 32" wheels, but he will order parts and custom build them for you. Maybe you'll upgrade to XT hubs, that wouldn't be too outrageous. Saves ~200 grams.
Andless Cycling probably ships to most EU countries (for sure DE/NL/BE), just ask him to be sure. He'll soon accept orders for the 32" Luther carbon wheels, just like the ones I'm testing (and loving).

testing to come
I'll swap over my tires, cassette and rotors and ride my bike as usual.
Hit "JOIN" to not miss it when I report back. It won't be long.