There’s something really special about a hand built set of wheels, they just ooze quality! However, they are often out of reach for a lot of riders particularly when paired with big brand components.
There are plenty of options in the affordable wheel market today, but given Scrub owner Andy phoned me within minutes of my order to arrange hand delivery to Innerleithen and a ride you know you’re getting something he’s very proud of.
My wheelset came with the following specs:
- Rim: 32 spoke, 30mm internal width, sleeved and eyeleted
- Spokes: Sapim Race J-bend with Sapim brass nipples
- Hubs: Scrub (Bitex) boost hubs with sealed bearings
- Rotor mount: 6 bolt (Centre lock available)
- Freehub: Shimano HG (XD and Microspline available)
- End caps: Rockshox Torque
**Tubeless taped with black valves included**
First impressions
Straight out the box the wheels look excellent, the blue Scrub branding (other colours available) really pops, the scrub laser etched branding on the hub looks premium and the stealth black with silver eyelets just looks clean!
When you spin the wheels, as you’d expect being hand build they are bang on true with no movement vertically or horizontally. The Scrub hubs with their 6 pawl, 6.6 degree of engagement have a quality but quite hum but if your into the angry wasps nest sound, these probably aren’t going to satisfy you.
Finally, on the scales the weight comes in very competitively for an enduro wheelset:
Front: 978g
Rear: 1109g
(taped, valves and torque caps)
On the trail
I’ve been riding and racing the Scrub wheels all over Scotland for a little over 6 months and can honestly say they’ve been faultless.
I’ve predominantly been running a Maxxis DHF EXO+ (2.5WT) up front with a High Roller 2 DD (2.3 and 2.5WT) on the back. Both tyres have seated easily with an AirShot and the 30mm internal width gives a nice profile allowing the outer grip to really dig in across all conditions.
When pushing hard the the Scrubs track the trail better than many high end wheels I’ve ridden and the hubs engage quickly to give you a snappy feel. When you change direction and push through corners they provide a playful pop bringing the ride to life.
At 88kg I’m no featherweight. I’ve ran fairly low pressure and no inserts with the Scrub wheels and with very average line choice its fair to say they’ve taken a beating. We’ve a few ‘that’ll be it bent’ moments but the rims have taken almost everything I can throw at them. I’ve had one ding from a rock garden straight after a slashed rear tyre but this was easily remedied with an adjustable spanner with no further issue. Honestly, not may rims would have survived!
Final thoughts
In over 6 months of winter and spring riding the Scrub Enduro Alloy wheels have been absolutely faultless. I’ve not touched the bearings and they’ve kept on spinning freely and continue to blast through even the worst line choice. I chucked them on the truing stand last week just for a check and really there was nothing much there to adjust.
Boasting a 2 year manufacturers warranty and a 5 year crash replacement scheme its beyond me how you can get a hand built in the UK set of wheels this good for under £400!
When budget allows I’ll be adding Scrubs 29er trail set to the hard tail and expect them to be every bit as good.
