This time around, it's really the hubs that are the main talking point. There wasn't any harshness, and they were nice and comfortable on chunky, brake-bump filled trails. Aluminum wheels tend to have a slightly more damped quality than stiffer (and more expensive) carbon options, and that was certainly the case here. Still, I could notice the slightly softer ride quality of these wheels compared to the carbon WTB CZR wheels I'd had on previously. Suspension and meaty tires do a lot to disguise wheel attributes, and it takes something dramatically different to deliver a tangible difference. Now, 'middle-of-the-road' may not be a marketer's dream product description, but when it comes to wheels that's a good place to be. They're not crazy soft or crazy stiff, which makes them one of those wheelsets that doesn't dramatically the ride feel of a bike. I've reviewed several different iterations of the Flow wheels over the years, and every time 'neutral' is the word that I end up using to describe the ride feel. Tire installation was a breeze, and everything popped into place without any fuss. My typical pressures were around 21 psi in the front and 23 in the rear, changing slightly depending on conditions. For the majority of the test period is was on a Stumpjumper EVO alloy, with a Maxxis DHR II DoubleDown rear tire and an EXO+ Assegai front and no inserts. This wheelset saw action in the wettest and the driest parts of the year here in Washington, so it's been exposed to the full gamut of mud puddles and moon dust. 52-degrees between engagement points, but it's not far off, and is up there as one of the quickest engaging hubs on the market. It's not as quick as I9's Hydra hubs, which only have. In other words, there's minimal crank rotation to engage the hub. The 6 pawls are oriented so that two at a time engage with the 72 tooth drive ring, which equates to 216 points of engagement, or 1.7-degrees of rotation between engagment. Personally, I'm a huge fan of the fact there aren't any miniature springs underneath each pawl, since those seem to pop off and bounce into the darkest recesses of my shop exactly when I don't want them to. And yes, it's based on Project 321's design – the Oregon-based company manufactures the freehubs for Stan's. Small circular neodymium magnets pull the 6 pawls upwards into the drive ring, a design that Stan's says provides better engagement with less drag. What makes the new hub stand out is the use of magnets on each pawl. The internal rim width is 30mm, a number that's pretty much become the norm for trail and enduro wheels, since it works well with tire widths from 2.3” to 2.6”. I prefer brass nipples over alloy, since they're less like to round out during truing, but they're not as common on pre-built wheelsets these days. They're laced up to the hubs with a three-cross pattern using Sapim D-Light spokes and alloy nipples. Those 32-hole rims are constructed from 6069 aluminum, with a welded joint and a reinforced spoke bed. The new Flow MK4 rims have an asymmetric profile, which makes it possible to use the same spoke length for the entire wheelset, eliminating the need to have multiple spoke lengths on hand just in case.
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