RCMXracing wrote:
Taking a hard look at Faster, seems like good bang for buck and uses stock components. I question the spokes they use because ...more
RCMXracing wrote:
Taking a hard look at Faster, seems like good bang for buck and uses stock components. I question the spokes they use because they don’t say they are stainless steel. They are excel spokes, with aluminum (not spline) nipples. Having said that Ages ago I re-laced a Honda wheel with Bulldog SS spokes and they were so beefy I had to drill the hub. So, more weight. I am interested in overall weight since going on a 250F and I can tell, Bigly, when riding with stock wheel vs. a Tusk wheel. On 450 weight nbd. I run X ring chain and Supersprox sprocket. 250, all Aluminium sprocket and regular chain.
Thoughts on Excel spokes that Faster uses?
I like DID rims, originals fine but for not a lot more can go with STX. Guessing LTX is their “original” or they don’t use that designation anymore. Website not clear.
Thanks for all the input!
BTW was there a merge of companies...something with TCR maybe? Dubya absorbed one of them I think.
Give FasterUSA a call, ask for Vince. That's me. We don't only use Excel spokes. The spokes you're referring to are a Carbon steel spoke with square headed STEEL nipples. This is the standard spoke kit we use on majority of our wheelsets as most don't have any issue with quality. We can also sell you the stainless spoke version with the aluminum spline nipples, or Bulldog stainless spokes with square headed aluminum nipples. The Bulldog spokes we use are the same gauge of spoke as OEM, they are not oversized. We can do whatever you'd like.
Also, I don't recommend turning down your stock hub as suggested by some people. Majority of them don't break, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. We've seen it happen multiple times, and that's why even with multiple machines in house we refuse to do it. Plus, your stock KTM rear hub is so weak to begin with, a lot of people (if they're lucky) find hairline cracks on the stock rears near the sprocket side around 30-40 hours. The unluckier bunch don't catch this in time, and have their hub (which uses a single bearing on the drive side because everybody is so worried about saving weight on the hub) completely grenade, sending them over the bars, chain through the case, you get the picture. DO NOT shave anymore weight off of those hubs. I'm actually genuinely concerned for your well-being haha. The only thing Faster changed on the KTM hubs is we switched to three bearings in the rear as opposed to two (same size as OEM still), and beefed up the aluminum on the drive side to completely eliminate any chance of anything like that ever happening.
DID has three rims. Dirtstar Originals, DID STX, DID LTX. STX and LTX are same price. STX= Strong. LTX= Light. Both are superior strength over the originals.
And finally, Dubya didn't absorb TCR. They sell Talon and Kite stuff, and they're good people to deal with.