# Stan's Ironcross team wheel set



## TJay74 (Sep 9, 2012)

So I am just getting started and looking into another wheel set, thoughts are to make the Stan's wheels my full time set and then take my stock wheels and set them up with another style tire so that I have two options and or even a back up set for events.

My stock wheels are the Giant P-CXR1 wheels, they come in at 1755g. I like them as they are DT Swiss internals and as of right now are working well.

The Stan's wheels are shown to be 1510g which will come out to about 3/4 of a pound of weight drop from the wheels.

Anyone use the Stan's Iron Cross wheels, any good or bad about them I should know about? I had a set of Stan's on my MTB with no issues, don't see many options out there for disc wheels that are lighter than the stock ones. As a reference I can get the stock set for the same price as the Stan's wheels.

TIA - Todd


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## sslos (Aug 11, 2003)

Keep in mind the 185 lbs. (IIRC) weight limit on those wheels. Then subtract 10.
Stan's rims do tend to be on the soft side, so dings and dents are very possible if you're running lower pressure.
I'm considering the Grails. I'm a bit closer to the weight limit on the Iron Cross for my comfort, and I do like the idea of being able to use them at higher pressures for road in the off season.
The 3.30 hubs that Stan's uses are not comparable to DTs, but aren't too bad.

Los


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## allenpg (Sep 13, 2006)

I got these for my wife and still have them. In the end, I built up my own wheels for her. She wanted to be able to also ride her CX bike on the road. The Ironcross has a low max PSI limit. Now, we just use them as a dedicated offroad, low PSI wheelset.


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## pretender (Sep 18, 2007)

With their lightest products, Stan's really pushes the envelope of robust design. They can push the weight down with low spoke count, alloy nips, etc, but then you can't build it up with much spoke tension. That's why you can't run higher PSI, because it would totally slacken the spokes.

It's not that they make bad product, but they definitely are playing the gram game, so a wheel with more spokes, brass nips, a stouter freehub, etc, might make you happier in the long term.


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## TJay74 (Sep 9, 2012)

I have tried building wheels on a couple of various sites, so far there are not a lot of options when it comes to disc ready rims and most of the builds I was able to build came in heavier than the stock Giant P-CXR1 wheels.

Really making me question the Stan's wheels, I don't want a wheelset that needs constant truing. Nice thing on the Giant wheels is they can handle 60psi where it seems Stan's can only handle 45psi.

My cross bike wont ever see road duty anymore, I have two road bikes (Giant Propel Advanced and Giant TCR Advanced SL) so I am not worried about that. My TCX only has a purpose of cross and maybe a gravel grinder.


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## 417477 (Aug 23, 2011)

Have you thought about the Grail's? They are designed around both road and cyclocross. I've never had any denting issues with Stan's rims and that's all I've used for the last 6 years. I'm using some Crests/240s that I built up myself and have had no issues and I am right on the max weight limit. I only use them for cross and mtb riding.


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## atpjunkie (Mar 23, 2002)

they are 500 to 600 a set yes?
plus tires, plus sealant. So we're looking at 600 to 700 $

$260 with tires

Shimano Dura Ace Mavic Reflex Cyclocross Tubular Wheelset Challenge Limus Tires | eBay

$350 & tires

Velocity Major Tom Tubular Wheelset Cyclocross 10 Speed New Glued Schwalbe Tires | eBay

I just saved you $90, & hooked you into 2 superior wheelsets with tires

you are welcome


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## TJay74 (Sep 9, 2012)

Yeah, not running used wheels with no history. I have no interest in Schwalbe tires, plus my bike is 15mm x 100 on the front and QR135 on the rear.

Seems every wheel I find now has tons of negative feedback. Buddy turned me to American Classis wheels MTB Race 29'er, 1460g with 32f/32r spoke count. He is a Clydesdale and has several sets, was leaning towards them until I see several negative reviews of issues with the rims cracking and AC not warrantying the wheels.

The search continues, I may just need to bite the bullet and order the factory Giant carbon wheels and go that route.


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## tednugent (Apr 26, 2010)

When you ride off-road as they are intended, sometimes that happens. It's not a manufacturing defect.

Sometimes, imo there is too much emphasis on low weight.

If you're racing, you can't place if you don't finish

If your're out riding singletrack, saves you from walking.


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## Srode (Aug 19, 2012)

November wheels built with your choice of Stans or Pacenti rims or a couple other choices and hubs made for November by White industries are around $550 - build choices in number of spokes too. CLD wheelset for $650


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## atpjunkie (Mar 23, 2002)

TJay74 said:


> Yeah, not running used wheels with no history. I have no interest in Schwalbe tires, plus my bike is 15mm x 100 on the front and QR135 on the rear.
> 
> Seems every wheel I find now has tons of negative feedback. Buddy turned me to American Classis wheels MTB Race 29'er, 1460g with 32f/32r spoke count. He is a Clydesdale and has several sets, was leaning towards them until I see several negative reviews of issues with the rims cracking and AC not warrantying the wheels.
> 
> The search continues, I may just need to bite the bullet and order the factory Giant carbon wheels and go that route.


230 plus pounds, running at least 5 sets of used wheels with no history. Even have beater / training / poor condition tubs. Only issues I've had with them is when I run them into something. When that happens, I can re-true them myself. If it is so bad the rum is destroyed (happened twice in last decade, one where I hit a root so hard I broke the rim) I have found plenty of replacement rims to rebuild. Oh and I can get them rebuilt in a day, vs the set of Ksyriums my friend had where he had to send the wheel back and didn't get it back until long after the season.

Understand they won't fit your spacing. Find some Hubs and lace to Major Toms or keep searching. My hunt took all of 7 minutes.

but horse lead to water noted.


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## TJay74 (Sep 9, 2012)

atpjunkie said:


> 230 plus pounds, running at least 5 sets of used wheels with no history. Even have beater / training / poor condition tubs. Only issues I've had with them is when I run them into something. When that happens, I can re-true them myself. If it is so bad the rum is destroyed (happened twice in last decade, one where I hit a root so hard I broke the rim) I have found plenty of replacement rims to rebuild. Oh and I can get them rebuilt in a day, vs the set of Ksyriums my friend had where he had to send the wheel back and didn't get it back until long after the season.
> 
> Understand they won't fit your spacing. Find some Hubs and lace to Major Toms or keep searching. My hunt took all of 7 minutes.
> 
> but horse lead to water noted.



Not really leading a horse to water when I don't want used wheels and the wheels wont even work on my bike. Money is not the issue, with that I also don't plan on spending over $800 for wheels at this time either as I would love to but just dropped some money on carbon wheels for my 2nd road bike so I am trying to not end up in the dog house with the wife on another set of carbon rims.

I have a couple of options as of now, just got to make some calls and narrow it down. Hopefully the negative reviews are from older versions, but I should know here today after I make some calls.


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## atpjunkie (Mar 23, 2002)

TJay74 said:


> Not really leading a horse to water when I don't want used wheels and the wheels wont even work on my bike. Money is not the issue, with that I also don't plan on spending over $800 for wheels at this time either as I would love to but just dropped some money on carbon wheels for my 2nd road bike so I am trying to not end up in the dog house with the wife on another set of carbon rims.
> 
> I have a couple of options as of now, just got to make some calls and narrow it down. Hopefully the negative reviews are from older versions, but I should know here today after I make some calls.


I understood those wheels won't work when you explained your hub spacing
it still took me under 10 minutes to find 2 sets of wheels, I'm sure given the hub specs I could find another set in short time. But you don't want used, but you also don't want to be in the dog house, but say money isn't an issue. Do you see the contradiction there? Why have 2 road bikes? IS one for training, the other for racing? Sell one road bike and buy a pit bike and some decent wheels for both. Let me guess, you don't buy used bikes either.
You don't want to hear any of this, you aren't really looking for advice. I'll stop.


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## TJay74 (Sep 9, 2012)

atpjunkie said:


> I understood those wheels won't work when you explained your hub spacing
> it still took me under 10 minutes to find 2 sets of wheels, I'm sure given the hub specs I could find another set in short time. But you don't want used, but you also don't want to be in the dog house, but say money isn't an issue. Do you see the contradiction there? Why have 2 road bikes? IS one for training, the other for racing? Sell one road bike and buy a pit bike and some decent wheels for both. Let me guess, you don't buy used bikes either.
> You don't want to hear any of this, you aren't really looking for advice. I'll stop.


Why have 2 road bikes, because I wanted to and can afford to I guess. One was my build that I did last year and the other was one I bought when a teammate wanted out of road riding. Bought it for crappy weather and to use for road crits next year.

So with that, not selling any bikes as I don't need to.

American Classic seems to build a decent wheel from speaking with them today, only bad is their hubs are only 12pt engagement so they are out as I don't want anything less than 18pt, all of my current wheels are DT Swiss based with 36pt hubs.

Stans is back on the radar, but then I went to Prowheelbuilder.com. Found I can build a set of wheels with Stan's Iron Cross rims, DT Swiss hubs in a 32f/32r build and will come in at 1470g and $670 which is with in my budget.

Plus I get the wheels built for my needs and they will be brand new. Now to make a call and get the order setup hopefully this week.


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## atpjunkie (Mar 23, 2002)

TJay74 said:


> Why have 2 road bikes, because I wanted to and can afford to I guess. One was my build that I did last year and the other was one I bought when a teammate wanted out of road riding. Bought it for crappy weather and to use for road crits next year.
> 
> So with that, not selling any bikes as I don't need to.
> 
> ...


hand builts with Stans rims , DT 32 /32 is a smart choice. I'd choose those over factory wheels any day. I'd still go with the Major Tom Tub rim though. 

I have 3 road bikes, (Rando/ Commuter, my Merckx MXL and a Pegoretti) I own 2 cross bikes and a track bike ( I live blocks from a velodrome) I understand needing more than 1 bike, but I'll still stand by 2 cross bikes is better than 2 road. A pit bike will save many a DNF. Nothing like dropping from top 5 to top 15 because of a mechanical, swapping bikes and battling back


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## TJay74 (Sep 9, 2012)

While that may work for you and some others as far as the desire to have 2 CX bikes, I have no need for them. I am a Cat 5 CX/Roadie, Cat 2 MTB and only doing this for fun. I wont travel anywhere outside of the state I live in to race as I don't have the time to be gone for days with my job.

If I was worried about backup bike I would bring my MTB, it is more than capable to handle a CX race.

I was able to play some more with the build this morning, changed up the spokes some with a stronger set which dropped the cost to $560 for the wheels and only added 85g to the end weight. Should come in at around 1560g total.


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## weasy (Feb 7, 2004)

pretender said:


> With their lightest products, Stan's really pushes the envelope of robust design. They can push the weight down with low spoke count, alloy nips, etc, but then you can't build it up with much spoke tension. That's why you can't run higher PSI, because it would totally slacken the spokes.
> 
> It's not that they make bad product, but they definitely are playing the gram game, so a wheel with more spokes, brass nips, a stouter freehub, etc, might make you happier in the long term.


I have these wheels. My understanding when I bought them is the low PSI rating only applies when run tubeless. If you run tubes, you can run whatever the tire is rated.


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## tednugent (Apr 26, 2010)

weasy said:


> I have these wheels. My understanding when I bought them is the low PSI rating only applies when run tubeless. If you run tubes, you can run whatever the tire is rated.


Nope. Max pressure is max pressure, regardless of tube or not


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## caad4rep (Jul 30, 2011)

tednugent said:


> Nope. Max pressure is max pressure, regardless of tube or not


I've talked to Stans multiple times on this. The low max pressure applies only when running tubeless because the tires can blow off the rims

Per stans, this isn't a problem with their rims it has to do with the tires not having a tight enough bead. When you run a tube it keeps the bead pressed into the sidewalk so much higher pressures can be run.


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## fotooutdoors (Nov 15, 2010)

caad4rep said:


> I've talked to Stans multiple times on this. The low max pressure applies only when running tubeless because the tires can blow off the rims
> 
> Per stans, this isn't a problem with their rims it has to do with the tires not having a tight enough bead. When you run a tube it keeps the bead pressed into the sidewalk so much higher pressures can be run.


Yep. If you dig around enough in their faq pages, you can find this info (I did at one point for some mountain bike rims that I use with wide slicks and tubes part time).


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## krisdrum (Oct 29, 2007)

TJay74 said:


> I was able to play some more with the build this morning, changed up the spokes some with a stronger set which dropped the cost to $560 for the wheels and only added 85g to the end weight. Should come in at around 1560g total.


Huh? Hold on here... are we fully understanding the impact of that decision? Go look at the tensile strength numbers of single, double, etc. butted spokes.Expensive spokes aren't only more money because they are lighter, but because they are stronger (and harder to make). They can be tensioned higher without breaking, because they stretch more, which ultimately makes a stronger wheel. They won't be as stiff laterally, but for compression they will be stronger, which is typically where you see failure.

Or have I totally missed the point of all the spoke conversations I've been privy to?


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## mudge (May 15, 2010)

Hubs and spokes of your choosing, laced to Pacenti SL25 rims. Just that simple.


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## TJay74 (Sep 9, 2012)

Thanks, but those rims are 1mm narrower than my stock ones and considerably heavier than I am after. Rims alone those are 900g, my total build came in at 1430g.

I am not after something that is heavier than my stock setup, if I was I would just buy another set of the stock Giant wheels as they are pretty much bullet proof and I can get warranty issues handled pretty quick on Giant stuff.


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## mudge (May 15, 2010)

Rim weight is a red herring (sort of). You can a) spend a bunch of money and save a few grams, or b) buy a reasonably priced rim that is a reasonable weight AND really well built, which handles road or cross tire tubeless setups perfectly, or c) just ask for suggestions and then shoot them down based on as yet unmentioned criteria. 

I'm betting you'll go with A and C.


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## pretender (Sep 18, 2007)

mudge said:


> Rim weight is a red herring (sort of). You can a) spend a bunch of money and save a few grams, or b) buy a reasonably priced rim that is a reasonable weight AND really well built, which handles road or cross tire tubeless setups perfectly, or c) just ask for suggestions and then shoot them down based on as yet unmentioned criteria.
> 
> I'm betting you'll go with A and C.


:-D This is why I've all but given up on giving advice on forums like this.


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## TJay74 (Sep 9, 2012)

mudge said:


> Rim weight is a red herring (sort of). You can a) spend a bunch of money and save a few grams, or b) buy a reasonably priced rim that is a reasonable weight AND really well built, which handles road or cross tire tubeless setups perfectly, or c) just ask for suggestions and then shoot them down based on as yet unmentioned criteria.
> 
> I'm betting you'll go with A and C.





pretender said:


> :-D This is why I've all but given up on giving advice on forums like this.


Or people can actually read on the forums to what an OP is looking for instead of trying to make suggestions that don't fit the guidelines of what a person wants.

AS I said several times now, IF I wanted a bullet proof set of wheels that was heavy, disc compatible, wide and can handle tubeless I would buy another set of the Giant P-CXR1 wheels that I already have, but since I wanted input on Stan's Ironcross wheels and wanted a lighter disc brake wheel I asked for input on that scenario, not "hey can anyone throw 15 different suggestions from super heavy wheels to used wheels that I will need to spend money on to even get to work on my bike or wheels that are rim brake when I need disc brakes?"

Plus I have already ordered a set of wheels, they will be here in a week and based on the input the builder suggested will be more than capable of handling my needs based on the information I gave the builder and will be lighter, wider, built with high quality parts and came in well below the budget I set for myself.

So thanks for the input, but if you are going to give input and then smart off or bash on someone because they are not open to your input because it didn't fit the specs they are looking for then maybe find another post that is more keen on your subject knowledge and help that OP out.


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## mudge (May 15, 2010)

I knew you wouldn't let us down.


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## sagatme (Jul 28, 2015)

Ryde Trace XC 21. These rims are 21mm internal widht but lighter than Stan Iron Cross and stiffner (with asimmetric profile).


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## namaSSte (Jul 28, 2004)

I just bought a set of HED Ardennes + SL wheels that are listed as 1600g. Got them for just over $600. 25mm wide and tubeless ready. Haven't ridden them yet but I bought them for some of the reasons you are mentioning. My Stock DT wheels (Specialized E5 X1 rig) are boat anchors so these should save big weight and be durable (based on reviews) and not break the bank.


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