Race Face takes carbon hoops to the Next (SL) level

Race Face is looking to up your cross country, or “down-country” game with its new Next SL Carbon wheelset.

Like Race Face’s Next SL crankset, the newest wheelset from the Vancouver-based company is XC-light, weighing in at 1,555g for the set, but they are also trail-tough. With an internal width of 26mm (31mm external) the mix weight savings with the increased traction and stability of a wider tire footprint.

Backing up the claim that the lightweight wheels are tough enough for long days of aggressive riding, Race Face covers the Next SL wheelset with its 2 year, no fault guarantee.

The new XC-trail wheels are built around Race Face’s Vault hubs. Six individually sprung pawls offer 120 points of engagement (or 3 degrees), making sure you can put the power down exactly when you need to. The Next SL is currently only available in 29″ diameter.

Race Face Next SL wheelset has a Canadian MSRP of $1,000 for the front wheel, and $1,100 for the rear, or $2,200 for both.

Claimed weight for the 29″ wheels is 1,555g for the pair. The Next SL uses 15×110 Boost spacing up front, and 12×148 Boost spacing out back. The wheels ship tubeless read, with tape and valves installed.

You can find more details on on the Next SL wheelset at Race Face’s website. If you’re just here for more pictures of Rupert the trail dog, here’s what Race Face has to say about their canine companion:

“Rupert enjoys spending time in the Race Face office, but he lives for mountain biking. As a rescue from Northern British Columbia, his life started out rough and he doesn’t hold back when it comes to voicing his opinions. Rupert believes all creeks are for swimming, all squirrels deserve to be chased, and all trails should be hit at speed, because going through the woods fast is what is ancestors did. Rupert dislikes hot weather, big scary German Shepherds, and excuses for not going mountain biking. But most of all, Rupert hates a slow ride, because noodling up the climbs or pushing to the trailhead means less laps before dark. Rupert always wants to do more laps. Rupert loves when people ride Race Face Next SL wheels because then he knows it’s going to be a fast ride door-to-door with awesome descending and no stopping for wheel issues or flat tires. He doesn’t care how people classify the wheels – down-country XC, trail, marathon, xc-race – all Rupert cares about is that you have them on your bike and his goggles are left at home.”

Don’t just take Race Face’s word for it. Watch the launch video for the Next Sl wheelset to hear what Rupert thinks: