Stan's, of Stan's No Tubes fame, have been slowly building a good reputation for themselves with their low weight, high strength ZTR rims.
Several top cross-country racers are now using their super-light ZTR Olympics, which weigh about 350g, and we've been amazed at how much abuse the 545g ZTR Freerides can take with a big set of treads fitted.
>Stan's rims have a lower sidewall than most others. Instead of the usual tyre bead hook, the rim shape works like a ball and socket joint on the tyre bead, holding the bead lower down, giving the tyre a little more air volume and enabling you to use lower pressure for extra traction. Pinch flats are a problem of the past if you use the rims with Stan's rim strip tubeless system and a liquid latex sealant instead of an inner tube.
These rims are easy to set up as a DIY tubeless solution with most tyres, but they're a real pig with a select few: log on to www.notubes. com for recommendations. You can still fit an inner tube if you want to, though, making these the most adaptable, hard riding, lightweight rims we know of.