Review: E*Thirteen LG1 Race Carbon Downhill Wheels

The wheels feature a now-common 30mm inner width and are built around tires between 2.3 and 2.6". The wheels are sold separately and come in both 27.5 and 29", front or rear. They use 32-spoke rims that feature nipple washers, triple-butted spokes, and alloy nipples.

I personally am a big believer in using washers with wheel builds, and it's good to see more brands doing it from stock. A washer on your spoke nipple, like most other washer applications, is a way to stop the interface binding as you add tension, hopefully meaning the resistance you feel in the spoke key reflects the tension of the spoke.

The wheels are made of "World Cup carbon fiber" - whatever that means - and have claimed weights of 961g and 962g for fronts in 27.5 or 29" respectively. I'm not too sure how going to a 29" wheel only adds one gram. The rear has weights of 1448g and 1485g. We measured our mixed-size wheelset to weigh 982g for a 29" front and 1283g for a 27.5 rear.



Design & Specs

The wheels come with different end caps to go between 150 and 157 mm spacing, and are fitted with a proprietary steel cassette. The cassette works well with both Saint 10-speed or an 11-speed spacing 7 speed SRAM drivetrain. To me, it makes total sense for the rear wheel to be made with a certain cassette in mind, as it lets the designer maximise the real estate on offer in terms of flange width. Is it not slightly backwards that on some downhill bikes you space out the freehub? Or maybe just equip the bike with gears you'll never use? Especially if including those elements is coming at the cost of either ride quality or durability - or maybe even both. The idea of 157mm spacing while also running a cassette that wastes all that space is nonsense.

I love the integration personally, and I like the tight range and shift quality it grants. However, I also am not a stickler for running large chainrings to better isolate drivetrain forces away from the pedals. With a 34T chainring, the gearing is ample for all the riding I did, and I enjoyed the idea of extra clearance around the bottom bracket. However, if you wish to run a 36T you could end up with a gear range that's quite high. The hub itself offers six degrees of engagement.


Test Setup

I have used this wheelset over two stints of heavy riding. One last summer in the French Alps, and the more recently in BC. After spending a few weeks smashing them into just about everything in Whistler bike park, I can say that I have confidence in them. I've sliced a few tires in that time, but have yet to damage the rim itself.

My test setup has consisted of running inserts at times last summer, but more recently I have gone without. I've gone between downhill tires from Continental and Versus. I've been using these wheels on a Santa Cruz V10. While I really love my V10 and the versatility it offers, it perhaps isn't the best in terms of all-out chunder-tracking, and if you feather the brakes at the wrong time you can go straight to the rim.

During testing, I would typically run around 24 psi in the front and 28-30 in the rear.


On the Trail

Before we get to the wheels, I just want to say how well the cassette shifts. It doesn't look too exciting or appear to have any delicate shifting ramps and is absent of exotic materials, but it shifts very very well. There was one instance in heavy, clay-like mud, where I lost one gear due to it clogging with mud, but I think all cassettes are vulnerable to this (get in the comments to bemoan the lack of gearboxes). I coupled it mainly with Shimano Saint. If you cycle the shifter through the first three clicks, leaving only six remaining available before clamping the cable you can have a very good 7 speed drivetrain with the durability that I for one have come to love.

The wheels err on stiffness more than compliance and track very well when you're really driving the end and trying to sink your weight through the rear on the exit of a turn. These are stiff wheelset that offers a very direct feeling that happens to be comfortable.


The bead is tight to get tires on - perhaps a little too much so. Interestingly, the 29" front never gave me any issues, but getting a tire on the 27.5" rear wheel was a hard-fought battle. Removal isn't particularly easy either, and you have to be very careful not to pinch the rim tape. This isn't something I find myself concerned with on a lot of wheels, but I was very conscious of the risk with a bead as tight as this. That said, I never suffered any burping, both in turns and through compressions regardless of the tire on the front or the back.

I have sliced two tires on this wheelset, but there's nothing to suggest there's anything about the profile or shaping of the rim that makes this more likely. Although speculative, I might even contend that these impacts were enough that they would have dented an alloy rim and something simply had to give. Both times were on a high-speed trail that was littered with a razor sharp rocks.


Durability

During the course of testing, I have been impressed with these wheels' durability. Sometimes, testing wheels can be a bit daunting. Am I riding hard enough? Am I, essentially, smashing the rim directly into rocks and roots in a way that could cause an impact? In this instance, I feel like I have satisfied my own expectations.

Riding in Whistler, doing lap after lap of telemetry (data acquisition) testing, meant that I was able to really push these wheels time and time again on my chosen test track of Whistler Downhill and Detroit Rock City. Yes, I'm sure you could break them in some way - and everything will break if hit hard enough - but these wheels have done a very respectable job of standing up to abuse and holding tension. I would be interested to see how many dings and dents an alloy rim would have suffered under a replicated load. And isn't that, after all, one of the main benefits of carbon wheels? Being able to take the hits without having you reach for the crescent wrench.


I also lent these wheels out the Gabe Neron (the current Canadian national downhill champion) at the Fort William World Cup last year. Up until this point, I hadn't even ridden them myself, but when his bike got lost on a flight I was very happy to help. Not only did they survive his riding, but they came back true and under tension, which couldn't be said for all wheels on the infamously rough track.

The hubs have been good, but maybe not quite as impressive as the rims. I've had the rear come loose twice, and although it can be preloaded with standard cone spanners and without the need for any particularly specialist equipment it was a mild irritation. I also developed an intermittent squeal from the seals. I clean it, it's quiet, and then it eventually returns. It's not a big deal, and the bearings are still very smooth, but that's not to say it isn't an irritant. After a pretty frequent washing and cleaning, the freehub internals remained greased, adequately clean, and running smooth.

Finally, it is either nitpicking or very valid depending upon just how much you care, but the decals and stickers peeled easily, and they subsequently look quite tatty. It doesn't bother me, but it might bother you.

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Pinkbike's Take

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Reviews and Tech Reviews Wheels Ethirteen