SANTA CRUZ RESERVE 30 I9 HYDRA
£1,899 | www.santacruzbikes.co.uk
Santa Cruz’s Reserve 30s have an accurate feel without being as harsh as most carbon fibre wheels used to be. However, they’re a tad less comfy than the Zipps (overleaf) and feel less compliant than many of the alloy wheels here, and the Zipps too, despite having only 28 spokes. Industry Nine’s incredible Hydra freehub has no lag – on our test hardtail, the instant reaction to pedal inputs made these some of the snappiest-feeling wheels around. Unfortunately, we cracked the rear rim while ragging it down a particularly rocky track, writing it off. It wasn’t the only hoop to suffer damage during testing, and under Santa Cruz’s lifetime warranty, they’ll replace a broken wheel for free. We’ve destroyed carbon rims from a number of other brands in the past, and this is the only Reserve wheel we’ve damaged since they started appearing on test bikes a few years ago, so we don’t feel there’s a reliability issue.