Synergy: rim and tyre form one extremely wide unit.
Synergy: rim and tyre form one extremely wide unit.

Review: The Syntace C33i Carbon Enduro wheels

Rainer got his hands on the new Syntace C33i Carbon wheelset. Here are his impressions after a few months of racing.

With the new season I got a new Enduro bike. Great! After 4 years on Liteville, I switched to a Transition Patrol and with it I needed new wheels. With all the hype around MTB carbon wheels, I had gotten curious. No wonder that I jumped at the opportunity to try out the new Syntace C33i wheelset.

Wide and durable, the Syntace C33i Carbon wheel.

Specifications

Wheel size 27.5"
Application All Mountain, Enduro, Freeride
Weight 1580 g
Brake Type Disc 6-Bolt
Freehub Options 9/10-speed Shimano/SRAM, 11-speed Shimano/Sram, XD convertible
Rim Material HM Carbon
Outer Width - Rim 40 mm
Inner Width - Rim 33 mm
Rider Weight Limit 110 kg
Spoke Hole Count 28
Tubeless system Tubeless ready

First Impression – What’s in a name?

Syntace’s naming convention is simple and straight forward. What else would you expect from a German manufacturer of premium components? The C stands for Carbon and the 33 represents the inner rim width. 33 mm is a hell of a rim. These wheels are super wide! On the outside, we are even talking about 40mm. Syntace was using that outer measure before, but maybe they ran out of paper with their monster rims.

Rainer has a lot of fun playing in the dirt with the Syntace Carbon wheels.

Rainer has a lot of fun playing in the dirt with the Syntace Carbon wheels.

You might think that such a wide rim would be heavy. No, it just looks that way. The 27.5” wheelset weighs in at 1,580 grams. The wheels look and feel is of premium quality. The rim itself has smooth edges all around. The guys from Bavaria know their Carbon layering. The Syntace MX Straight Pull hubs are laced with straight spokes, as the name suggests. This translates into less strain on the spokes themselves and improves their longevity.

The Syntace MX Straight Pull hub.

The Syntace MX Straight Pull hub.

In addition, since the 28 spokes are basically „free floating“ without rubbing against each other, truing the wheels should, in theory, become a lot easier.

The rear wheel’s freehub body is provided by American Classic and contains 44 proprietary Syntace ratchets. This means 8 ratchets more than Syntace has used before, resulting in a smoother and more direct power transfer.  No worries though, the freehub is not extremely noisy.

First Outing – Enduro racing in Belgium

The first time I put the wheels on the trail was at the Enduro season opener race in Esneux, Belgium. I had had a busy week and since I was still unsure of my final tyre choice, I quickly set the wheels up with 2.4” Continental Baron tyres and tubes. Due to the extra wide rims, the tyres offered a lot more usable surface area, providing extra grip. And yes, it looked awesome. The wheels were ready for their first race!

Rainer and his Transition before the Esneux Enduro Race.

Rainer and his Transition before the Esneux Enduro Race.

The Esneux Enduro stages are not the most demanding, but soft and muddy sections on the trail required reliable tyres with a lot of grip. Due to the wide rims, I was able to lower the tyre pressure to around 1.4 bars in the front without risking the tyre jumping off the rim. This would have been impossible with other rims.

Nice match: Continental Baron tyres and the Syntace C33i.

Nice match: Continental Baron tyres and the Syntace C33i.

It turned out to be the ideal recipe for great performance with ample grip and loads of extra security. The Syntace C33i wheels also provided a lot of stiffness whenever horizontal forces set in. There was no awkward flex, but here I need to wait for more rocky and gnarly terrain.

Tubeless set-up

A couple of days later, I switched the wheels to tubeless. It went as smoothly as one can possibly imagine. One just has to make sure that the two parallel edges in the rim bed are completely covered by using a wide-enough tape.

Wide rims + Low tyre pressure = Loads of grip.

Wide rims + Low tyre pressure = Loads of grip.

Racing season for the Syntace c33i

The last months have been busy and the new wheels literally never stopped turning. From gnarly, rocky downhills at the Scott North Lake Enduro in Italy to the German Enduro Championships in Willingen with its root covered descents and technical turns and two bike-components TrailTrophy Enduro events in Latsch and Hahnenklee, the Syntace C33i did it all without complaining once. Be it speed, rocks, turns and jumps, they took many beatings without letting me down.

Wider rims, less pressure, more grip.

Wider rims, less pressure, more grip.

I did perform a closer inspection after the travelling between races slowed down. The wheels are still true vertically and horizontally. The bearings still run smoothly like the first day – I did expect that from Syntace as it’s their quality standard. The rims themselves have only suffered some minor scratches, hard to believe after so many hard landings and impacts from all sides.

My verdict

So far, I love the Syntace Carbon C33i wheelset. I am convinced that Carbon wheels are more durable than their aluminium counterparts. Especially heavy impacts are less of a concern. Their stiffness felt a little awkward at the start, but soon made me adapt my riding style, making it even more aggressive, hence more fun.

Don’t hesitate to contact me should you have questions about these wheels. Call me on the customer service line, write to me or simply chat me up on the trail.

See you and keep rolling!

Hail the trail!

Rainer