In the early design phases of our Traverse Fattie 650b, we recognized that the number of aluminium wheels that had the prowess to both shred rowdy descents and to provide the efficiency required of our Northern California testing grounds' relentless climbs were far and few between. We also came to realise that trail riders expect certain features in a proper, send-it-ready wheelset, and for the price, we found that alloy hit many of these expectations, while also keeping enough jingle-jangle in your wallet for a post-ride beverage.

Let's talk about those expectations. They include everything from the ability to stay true after launching off drops to being light enough to efficiently pedal to the top of a climb—and they all begin with the rim. In the search for a new approach to rim design, our engineers took a 45-millimeter-wide fat bike rim and began testing modern sized, 2.3- to 2.4-inch tyres on it to see what, if any, benefits could be found. And while 45mm ended up being too wide, they were amazed at the benefits provided by increasing the rim width.

From there, we took the traditional 19- to 23-millimeter standard and moved it out to what we found worked best in testing, and this was the whopping 29mm “Fattie” width. A wide rim does a variety of things for ride performance—it better supports the tyre for increased confidence and grip, and it affords you the ability to run lower pressures to aid in the aforementioned, as well as spreading impact out over a larger surface area to reduce the risk of damage during impact. And when you combine this girth with the notoriously nimble and playful 650b platform, you’re left with an incredibly stiff, quick to accelerate wheelset that climbs just as well as it shreds descents. We also added our Zero Bead hook design to the mix, and this ultimately aids in preventing “burps” during hard cornering, while making tubeless set-up quick and easy.

After designing the perfect trail rim, we kept our lightweight and durable design properties in mind with the wheel build, hand-lacing the rims to our own alloy hubs via 24 (front) and 29 (rear) DT Swiss Revolution spokes and Pro Lock nipples. Inside our hubs, you'll find sealed cartridge bearings and DT Swiss 360 rear internals that'll keep you rolling smoothly for miles. We also wanted to ensure that each wheel was built correctly, and we found that this could only be achieved by hand. Machines, we found, have a tendency to miss little mistakes that humans would otherwise catch.

Each wheelset comes packaged with a SRAM XD-driver, 11-speed freehub, 142mm end caps, and 142mm drive-side end caps for a 10-speed freehub body, and a tubeless valve stem in order to make tubeless set-up a touch easier. Please note that freehubs are sold separately.