CrankBrothers Iodine Mountain Bike Wheelset Review - BikeRadar

If nothing else, these ‘inside-out’ wheels are a talking piece, and are certainly made for the modern day fans of luxury items such as the Tioga Disc Drives and the Tri Spoke wheels of old.

Designed for all-mountain riding, the Iodine’s 1,865g weight per pair is similar to the Mavic Crossmax SX or a pair of Hope hubs on DT 5.1D rims, but these wheels are strong enough to take a huge hammering.

The minimal 24-spoke design uses an upside-down system, in that the nipples are at the hub end and the spokes hang from the rim, on ribs, rather than piercing the rim and sitting in an eyelet. Despite the confusing looks, it’s a simple setup and truing the wheel is easy – although we haven’t yet had to. 

This system allows an incredibly strong seamless one-piece 6061 T6 aluminium rim to be made – most rims are joined or welded, leaving a weak point. It’s also advantageous in that it’s tubeless compatible, and rim tape isn’t needed for running inner tubes.

Another point worthy of mentioning is that the nipples are not at the outside of the wheel – where rotational weight counts. In this case the rim has been made stronger for how light the wheel is, in order to be suitable for all-mountain riding, but it’s still a very strong system with minimal rotating weight.

At the centre of these wheels are beautiful hubs. The front features cartridge bearings and is adaptable for quick-release or 20mm fittings, but the rear is a talking piece.

Featuring 4 high-quality sealed bearings and a 6-pawl cassette body, it means business. Ours has been fending off months of deliberate sand, salt, mud and Muc-Off abuse without even a creak. 

Included are the lovely split quick-release levers utilising a 2-stage fastening for security and ease of use.

In use, the wheels feel ultra stiff – thanks to the rim, as opposed to the lack of spokes, and they do inspire confidence. 

Nothing is unbreakable, but we’ve been pummelling some really horrible flights of stairs and rock sections with nearly flat tyres and so far, there are only scuffs on the anodising –and we haven’t even needed to true them. They laugh at hard riding.

The only niggle we did notice is that our front wheel has a slight squeal when the seals dry out – although a squirt of Teflon spray sorts that out.

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