Review: 6 Months on the New Race Face Era Carbon Wheels

With a price tag of $1,599 USD / $2,150 CAD, the Eras aren’t a budget product, however, they do land lower in the ballpark compared to other premium carbon wheelsets on the market and rank high in weight savings at 1750g (29”). Like the crankset that shares the model name, the Era wheels also come with a “no-questions-asked” lifetime warranty.


DESIGN

Designed from the ground up over a lengthy and rigorous test phase, the Era’s carbon rims were built to balance durability and compliance, both in the vertical and lateral planes, That meant designing a front and rear specific rim profile.

The front measures 18.6mm tall externally while the rear is marginally deeper at 22.6mm. A shallower front rim cross-section is said to provide even more compliance. Internally, they both feature the commonly found 30mm width to produce evenly formed tire profiles from popular brands when using 2.4 or 2.5” width treads.

Race Face rolled with 28 straight-pull, double-butted (2.0/1.6/2.0mm) spokes on the front and rear wheels, likely adding to the compliance while reducing weight over a higher spoke count. Each asymmetric rim profile uses an offset nipple bed.

At the center, the huge Vault hub shell boasts tall flanges for claimed increased torsional stiffness and a wide bearing placement, nearly 10mm wider than DT’s 240 EXP hub. At this time, only 6-bolt rotor mounted Vault hubs are available for the Era wheels, but a Centerlock option is coming late 2024.

Typically, you’ll find the pawl clutch system located on the freehub and the drive ring on the hub shell, but the Vault reverses that orientation. A labyrinth seal guards the 60-tooth drive ring and 6 pawls, each with two teeth, making for a speedy engagement of 3-degrees.

Freehub bodies are available in each standard; the XD driver for SRAM Eagle cassettes, plus the Shimano Micro Spline for their 12-speed drivetrains. Shimano HG freehub bodies are available aftermarket.




PRICE AND WEIGHT

Carbon wheels are a premium product, reflected by a higher price tag than aluminum hoops, but generally bring weight savings too. The Era's cost $1,599 USD / $2,150 CAD for either wheel size or freehub body. That's nearly twice the price of the Turbine wheelset, Race Face’s aluminum trail and enduro option, but $200 less than the full retail price of Reserve's 30HD carbon wheelsets. Against the We Are One Convergence ($1580 USD / $1750CAD), the Era are on nearly equal state-side but are much more expensive in Canada.

As for the weight, the 29" Era wheelset comes in at 1750g. That sheds 100g from the Turbine's weight and more than 100g off of the Convergence (1887g) and 30HD (1879g). The full 27.5" wheelset totals 1692g, and the MX set lands at 1736g. On their own, the front and rear 29" rims check in at 470 and 505g, while the 27.5" versions are 450 and 480g (claimed).

Next to shedding grams off of your bike, carbon rims’ most notable benefit may be how the material holds its shape. I mean in terms of denting. Yes, they can break, but so can aluminum hoops.

Race Face may have made that security upsell to carbon less incentivizing because that their lifetime warranty now applies to the alloy Turbine wheelset too. Still, if you can pony up the extra cash out of the gate, the carbon Era rims act as insurance against those deflating rim dents.


PERFORMANCE

Race Face boasts that the Era wheels strike a desirable balance of lateral compliance and impact resistance along with the lowest weight that they could achieve in a carbon wheelset. I put these through the wringer for nearly 6-months and have been impressed with their overall ride quality and durability. If you’ve stepped away from carbon wheels because they’ve been brittle or unbearably harsh to ride, it may be time to take a spin on the Eras.

Primarily, they’re aimed at anything you’ll find on epic trail rides or on an enduro race course. They’re comfortable when bolted to short travel trail bikes and resilient enough even under SL E-bikes.

Feedback and tracking might be another way to think about vertical and lateral compliance. The Eras bring a positive element to both. During the test, the wheels took hard impacts and were thrown into corners when clad with 1,000-1,300g tires and shook those forces off with ease. I wouldn’t deem them harsh or lacking in the ability to track through chattery bits of trail well, but there is a unique “spring” to them when pushed hard through berms.


DURABILITY

A large helping hand on the durability front would be the thick Anvil Edge rim bead wall. This is said to make the Eras the most durable Race Face rim yet. I’ll stand by that claim as these wheels took a serious licking over the long test period, including a double-flat produced by a rogue rock sitting in the landing of a sizable gap jump.

Rim tape isn’t an overly exciting specification to talk about, but poor materials here can ruin your day before you even start riding. The translucent brown rim tape that Race Face chose looks brand new, even after multiple tire changes, and has remained air tight.

Other areas of the wheels held up impeccably, as one would hope for a carbon component of this level. The spokes held tension well, rarely needing anything more than a quick confirmation in the truing stand. In the center, the hub internals remain clean (as pictured) and quiet - no pops or bangs from the freehub were ever emitted.


HOW DO THEY COMPARE?

When deciding between all of the carbon wheels on the market now, it’s hard to go wrong honestly. There’s a vast range of weight classes, flex characteristics and value to choose from. The Eras do stand out when searching for that ideal trifecta in the aggressive trail and enduro bike carbon wheel category.

Without a doubt, the Zipper 3Zero Moto wheels have to be the most flexible carbon wheels I’ve tried to date. While they’re suitable under my 78kg mass aboard a short travel trail bike for slower trails where you want them to track through the chunder, they can be a little unnerving when diving into high speed berms. The Eras don’t wander aimlessly through those G-force turns like that at all, however, they do spring back with more force than the We Are One Convergence wheels, for instance.

Against the Reserve HD30, another premium carbon wheelset I’ve spent a fair amount of time on, the Eras track across cambers and rough trails much more comfortably and with less feedback.

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Pinkbike's Take

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