A good set of wheels can make a great bike even better. What makes it even more enjoyable when riding, is when you built the wheels yourself. I had a chance to review a set of Astral Wanderlust rims, and they were kind enough to connect me with White Industries, who added a set of pink XMR hubs. I was excited to take on the challenge of building my first wheelset and then put them through their paces through a season of gravel and cyclocross. Check out the review below, followed by a little bit on the build process.
The Wheels
The Astral Wanderlust is a gravel and adventure rim that is just as at home on the road as it is on a cross course or on a gravel climb. The rim’s 22mm internal width makes it perfect for running wider tires between 28 and 62mm wide. The external width is 25mm wide, with a 23mm depth, so they should easily fit on a wide range of bikes.
Astral uses their ASYM asymmetrical rim design, which offsets the spokes by 1.8mm, allowing them to keep a straight spoke line from the hub to the rim. This keeps the wheel stiff and durable by preventing any unnecessary bend on the spoke. From a build perspective, the asymmetrical design also helps to balance spoke tensions, making for a stronger overall wheel. The aluminum version is available in both 650b and 700c and is drilled for 24, 28, or 32 spokes. The carbon version is 700c only and 28 spokes.
The White Industries XMR hub can handle it all as well. It is their 6-Bolt ISO hub that comes with a titanium freehub body in either Shimano/SRAM, Campagnolo, or XD/XDR. The frehub body uses 3 pawls and has an upgraded 48 point of engagement ring versus their previous 24 point of engagement ring, though the 24 is still available by request. The hub shell is made from 6061 aluminum and the front hub can be easily be swapped between quick-release, 12mm or 15 mm thru-axle configurations. More on that later. If centerlock is your preference, they have the CLD hubs as well. All the same specs, just in centerlock.
Options come in the form of color and spoke count. For colors, you have the choice of bare silver or anodized black, purple, red, pink, blue, or gold. Spoke counts available are 24, 28, 32, 36, 40, or 48 spokes, covering anything from road and gravel to mountain and bike packing. There is also a Tandem specific version of the XMR rear hub too.
Both the rims and hubs are made in the US, with Astral’s operations in Eugene, OR, and White Industries in Petaluma, CA.
For the build, I went with the 24 hole version of the Wanderlust in aluminum and the XMR hub set, along with DT Swiss Competition 2.0/1.8 spokes and their Pro Lock Squorx Pro Head nipples. For the spokes and nipples, my goal was a balance of durability, weight, and cost. DT Swiss offers lighter options, but Competition spokes are very durable and easy to find at most local shops. The Pro Lock Squorx Pro Head nipples allow you to use a traditional nipple wrench externally or a Torx nipple tool through the spoke hole in the rim. The Pro Lock version adds a thread lock compound to help increase the strength of the build. At 1,697g for the wheelset, I’m not too far off of Astral’s stock build for the Wanderlust, but with CLD hubs and Sapim CX Ray bladed spokes. The CLD hubs alone are about 63g lighter than the XMR (thought you make up the difference in the discs) and the Sapim spokes are lighter than the DT Swiss.
I talk more about the build process later, but once they were built and stressed, I ran the wheels with a wide variety of tires, mainly Schwalbe’s G-One 38mm wide gravel and X-One 33mm wide cyclocross lines, along with a set of Pirelli Cinturato Velo 35mm wide road tires.
The Ride
I will admit, I was a little apprehensive about riding the first wheelset I have ever built. I was afraid maybe I had done something wrong. They looked right though, so I took them out. Apparently I was spot on, because I have not had any issues with the wheels all year, and haven’t even needed to true them after they were stressed.
The Wanderlust rim makes a great platform for wide tires. The internal width allows the tire to keep a rounder profile than the lightbulb shape a narrower rim would force. This made them incredibly stable, regardless of the tire width and air pressure I ran. Astral rims have a thicker spoke bed than usual, which makes them more durable, and helps keep tensions stable. Even with taking some big hits on some gravel rides, they are still as straight and round as they were when I first built them.
The White Industries hubs have continued to roll incredibly smooth since day one. The hubs were beautifully machined to begin with, and look just as good when built up. I went with black spokes, but silver spokes contrasted on the darker pink hubs would have looked great as well. They have rolled very smoothly, with no play or grinding from the Enduro bearings at any point in the review. I’ve put a few thousand miles on them so far, and they have many, many thousands left.
I’ve run them as 12mm thru-axle on the stock Van Dessel fork and 15mm thru-axle with the Lauf Grit suspension fork. To swap end caps, there are three small hex bolts that need to be loosened inside of the hub. There is a small hole in the hub body that you use to access them. I used the hex wrench to find them by sticking it in so it makes contact with the outside of the axle and spinning the hub slowly until I feel it hit the bolt. I then would lift the hex wrench just a little as I turn the axle slowly and line up the wrench into the bolt and loosen it a turn or two. Repeat this two more times, and you should be able to pull out the end cap from the axle. The axle is attached to the disc side end cap, so remove the whole set up and replace with the other size, using the same process to reassemble and tighten the bolts. It probably sounds more complicated than it is, but I didn’t have any issues with swapping the axle multiple times.
Build or Buy?
When it comes to pricing, the wheelset isn’t exactly cheap, but it was a solid value for a premium workhorse wheelset. White Industries’ hubs go for $169 (silver), $176 (black), or $189 (colored) for the front, $332.25 (silver), $339.25 (black) and $352.25 (colored for the rear). The Astral Wanderlust aluminum rims are $135 each, or $599 each for the carbon version. For this build, that already puts me at $811.25 before tax. Then you have to factor in the cost of the spokes and nipples, which can be about another $50-100. If you don’t have the tools, it just continues to climb. Plus, does it make sense to buy the tools if you are not going to be building multiple wheelsets, or maintaining your wheels? That’s where a friendly bike shop might let you use their stand and possibly help coach you through the build. If you are lucky enough to have this option, be sure to thank the shop and supply them with a nice thank you gift. It is greatly appreciated.
Astral sells the Wanderlust as a wheelset at $799 for aluminum, $1599 for carbon with their Stage 1 hub. Upgrading to the Approach Hub, which is made by White Industries, adds an additional $200. Going up to White’s CLD hub, which is the centerlock version of the XMR hub, adds $400 to the wheels.
For me, it is a toss up. I haven’t had a chance to try either the Stage 1 or Approach hubs though, but I really enjoyed building the wheels and would love to build another set in the future. The custom colored White Industries hubs are a great addition to the blue and white of the Van Dessel Full Tilt Boogie, and are definitely worth the cost.
Final Thoughts
If I had to do the project all over again, I honestly don’t think I’d change a thing. The Astral Wanderlust/White Industries XMR wheelset has been incredibly durable for the adventures I’ve been on this year. Some might argue that the White Industries hubs might be a little overkill, but I completely disagree. For gravel and cyclocross, it pays to prioritize durability over weight at times, and your hubs are one of those areas. Not that the XMR is a heavy hub set, but they definitely are durable, and well crafted. Whether it is road, gravel, cross, or moutain biking, the XMR’s are definitely up to the task.
The Wanderlust rims were extremely easy to build up. Since I built this wheelset, I tore apart another that needed a hub replaced, and found it was much harder to rebuild than the Astral/White Industries wheelset. I also ride happy knowing that if I do break a spoke, I can stop in at most shops to get a replacement.
But, if building isn’t your thing, you can always pick up a factory-built wheelset from Astral at a good price.
Wheel Building
A little bit of background to start. I consider myself a bit of a bicycle mechanic. I’ve worked in a few shops on the side to help some friends, and I do most of my own maintenance. I’ve stripped down and rebuilt bikes and trued some wheels, but building a wheelset is what I consider to be next level. If it is something you are looking to take on, one of the best pieces of advice I can give would be to reach out to your local shop, let them know you’d like to try building your own wheels, and see if they would be willing to give you some guidance along the way.
A few years back, I purchased a .pdf from WheelPro on wheel building. I was able to download their latest version, which has updates for things like disc brakes. It was a great tutorial and guides you through every step of the way, including theory, part selection, building, rebuilding, and even building your own tools. At $12USD, it is a great value. I also used the DT Swiss Spoke Calculator Tool to determine spoke lengths needed and also get an idea of potential weights.
For the build, I went with DT Swiss Competition Spokes and their Pro Lock Squorx Pro Head nipples. It was a good balance of value and performance. I wasn’t looking to build the lightest wheelset in the world, but it also doesn’t need to be downhill bombproof either. When you put it all together, the DT Swiss products, along with the Wanderlust aluminum rims and the XMR hubs ended up creating a solid wheelset that has taken me on many adventures throughout the year.
The build was pretty straight forward. After figuring out everything I needed, I worked with my local shop to pick up spokes, nipples, and the additional tools I needed. I already had a truing stand and wrenches for trueing, but I also wanted a dishing tool and spoke prep. Once everything was in hand, it was time to start.
I’m not going to go too deep into the actual building process, but being patient and taking the time to understand what I was doing helped the build go smoothly. To be honest, I don’t feel qualified to actually teach how to build a wheel, but the WheelPro book guided me through every step. Let’s just say that it was a rewarding process to build the wheels that I put through the wringer in gravel and cross events, and they came through like a champ.
Heckling Editor, Image Taker, Crash Test Dummy, and Beard Master at Bikeworldnews.com
~Veggie Powered Athlete~
Location – Lancaster, PA
Current Testing Rigs – 2024 Van Dessel Arch65, 2019 Van Dessel Full Tilt Boogie, 2018 Van Dessel Motivus Maximus LTD, 2016 Van Dessel Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, 2015 Bianchi Sempre Pro, 1978 Trek TX900
Dream Bike – I’ll tell you when they make it
Discipline – Cyclocross, gravel, road and duathlons (ride/run)
Favorite Rides – Quiet country roads of Amish Country, some of the best roads around.
Food of Choice – Sweet potato roll
Beer of Choice – Unibroue Grand Reserve 17, aged four years
Bourbon of Choice – Widow Jane 10 Year