Spin Industries DM845 Super Fat Boys wheelset

Fast, durable and designed for wide tyres, the Spin Industries DM845 Super Fat Boys feature a 45mm deep and 28mm wide carbon fibre rim that is ideal for road and adventure bikes. At just under a grand, they represent good value too, and the wheels can be customised to suit different rider requirements.

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Construction

Built in the UK, the DM845s are designed and ideal for road tyres that are 25mm or wider, and that rim width makes them a good base for wider gravel tyres too; I tested them with 32 and 36mm gravel tyres during the time I had the wheels in for review.

The rim measures 28mm wide externally and 20mm internally, which compares well to the most progressive rim designs in the marketplace at the moment. Spin uses a full carbon fibre rim, with a clincher design and tubeless compatibility. These disc brake wheels use the same rims as the rim brake versions – you can see the telltale brake track – Spin hasn't taken the opportunity to develop a disc brake specific rim. That didn't impact the performance of the rims when riding, but it does slightly spoil the aesthetics on a disc brake bike because the decals don't go right to the rim's edge.

The hubs and rims are laced together via stainless steel spokes with Sapim Polyax alloy nipples; 20 radial laced spokes in the front wheel and 24 laced 2-cross in the rear wheel. Spin can customise the spoke count, and builds wheels to suit three different rider weights: 70, 90 and 110kg. As well as increasing spoke count for heavier riders (up to 28), Spin will alter the spoke type and lacing pattern to provide the desired wheel stiffness. Spin even uses two different rear hubs, one with asymmetric flanges for lighter riders and one with symmetric flanges for heavier riders.

At the centre of the wheels are the company's own SPN Precision hubs, with aluminium hub shells with Centrelock disc rotor attachment and a Shimano/SRAM-compatible freehub. I've used Spin's own hubs on previous wheelsets I've tested and never had any issues, and there were no problems with this wheelset during my time testing.

The hubs have replaceable end caps, as is increasingly the norm with disc brake wheelsets, meaning you can easily specify the wheels to any axle standard you might be using. I used them with a 142x12mm and 15x100mm setup. The only thing I will add is that you have to be careful you don't lose an end cap when installing and removing wheels, as they're not fixed very firmly into the hubs.

Ride and performance

I tested the wheels on an endurance road bike with 28mm tyres where they felt right at home, providing good aerodynamic efficiency at high speeds. The 45mm-deep rim has the rounded shape that is now a familiar sight on carbon fibre wheel. Stability in the wind was good with great balance on the descents and when dealing with strong crosswinds.

Swapped over to an adventure bike with gravel tyres fitted, the wheels shrugged off all the abuse I could point their way. While it's more difficult to detect flex with wide gravel tyres at lower pressures, I was able to feel some flex through the front wheel during heavy braking or diving into rough and fast corners. It was less of an issue on the road, so if I was buying these wheels purposely for off-road use I would probably specify a higher spoke count.

As they have tubeless-compatible rims, I took the opportunity to ditch the inner tubes. The tubeless-ready tyres popped up and sealed immediately with just a track pump required, no need for any dedicated tubeless pumps or air chambers. Spin doesn't supply tubeless tape and valves, so you'll have to factor the cost of those in if you're buying the wheels.

At 1,580g the wheels are a good weight for a deep-section, wide-profile carbon rim, and climbing performance was good with no visible lag when tackling steep gradients.

Competition...

There's a growing choice of reasonably affordable carbon wheels, with £1,000 becoming a popular price point. These DM845s sit alongside some really good wheels, and make you wonder why you'd want to spend more.

Prime's RR-28 carbon clincher wheels don't have an on-trend wide rim profile, but that aside, the performance with a road tyre is good and at £625 they're extraordinarily cheap.

> The pros and cons of carbon fibre wheels

If it's a dedicated off-road gravel and adventure wheelset you're after then Hunt's new 30Carbon Gravel Disc wheels, with the 10/10 review and £999 price tag, are definitely worth a closer look, though they don't offer the aerodynamics of the Spin wheels.

And if you're prepared to ignore the attraction of carbon and aerodynamics, the Kinesis RaceLight Disc wheels are the same weight but less than half the cost of the Spin wheels.

Verdict

Fast and stable wheels at a good price, but slightly flexy for extended off-road use