New Wheels For My Marin Gestalt X12

Huh? Another set of hoops? Didn't the bike already get new ones in November? Yes, but they didn't work well with the tires I wanted to use on the MGX12. So, I spent a week testing between the holidays and concluded that I needed to build a new set of wheels with Light Bicycle AR25 low-profile rims. The new wheels:

• Light Bicycle AR25 rims, paintless UD carbon, 28H, drain holes, laser engraving
• Light Bicycle 25mm rim tape
• Sapim CX-Ray spokes
• Red aluminum nipples
• Red tubeless valves
• Hope Pro 5 Centerlock front hub, 28H, 100x12mm, red
• Hope Pro 5 Centerlock rear hub, 28H, 142x12mm, XDR, red
• Hope Centerlock lockrings, red
• Bucklos RT-MT760 Centerlock rotors, 160mm
• SRAM XPLR XG-1251 cassette, 10-44T
• René Herse Antelope Hill 700C x 55 TC tires, standard casing, tan sidewalls
• Orange Seal regular sealant

Off-topic: I have been lusting after a new frameset for a couple of months. The manufacturer had already created the product page for the 2024 model but made those pages unavailable to general website visitors. Somehow, however, Google's search engine crawler managed to index it. I stumbled upon it while doing an image search. I liked the bike in its previous iterations and absolutely love the colors they picked for 2024. Since I have reached my “N+1” limit, currently seven, I thought about sending my Nordest Albarda frame into temporary retirement and using its components to build the new bike. I changed my mind. The Nordest Albarda, with its recent 1x12 update, is still a sweet-looking bike. With the additional AR25 wheels, I now have a total of four wheelsets that can be mounted to either the MGX12 or the Nordest. Now that the Nordest no longer has a front derailleur, I can mount larger 700C tires. The limit of the frame is probably 48mm. The fork, surprisingly, can accept a 55mm Antelope Hill. I will keep a sharp eye on that frame kit, however. If an online retailer has my size and massively drops the price at the end of the season, I might swoop one up.

Tool-topic: To install the Hope Centerlock lockring on the rear hub, the black thru-axle end cap needs to be removed. Unlike many other hubs, the end cap can be taken off and installed while the brake rotor and lockring are in place. However, it can be quite challenging to remove the end cap with just two fingers, and there is nothing for a tool to safely grip onto. To solve this problem, I purchased a Wheels Manufacturing 12mm bearing extractor, which can grab the end cap from the inside. It is extremely simple to pull the end cap off with such an extractor. I should have bought one a long time ago.