Bontrager King Earl Wheelset review

These wheels seem to work with almost any bike. The broad 32mm rims are fat enough for tyres beyond 2.5in and didn’t bend. The wheels have a 20mm bolt-through front hub and the rear hubs are available as quick-release, 10mm boltthrough or 150mm versions, so they’re DH compatible. That said, the hubs are actually alloy ribbed with carbon fibre centres and they help provide a wheel weight (1.012kg front, 1.26kg rear) not far off many XC setups.

This makes them superb all-round hard riding choices, and bolt-on adaptors to convert the six-bolt hubs to Shimano’s Saint Centrelock fitting are available; they aren’t tubeless tyre compatible though.

After months of riding we’ve only had to tweak the bearings on the front wheel. Otherwise, they’re showing no signs of age, and they’re impressive value.