Weight without skewers 1,818g / No skewers supplied
Contact: www.ison-distribution.com

The 6-Drive rear hub of the Halo Excite-D wheels takes it name for the fact that it has six independent pawls. Most hubs have three and they are usually mounted on the freehub body. Halo flips this by having all six pawls housed inside the hub body and the ratchet ring on the freehub body. This allows you to remove the freehub body without the pawls falling out. Freehub pick-up is the second fastest on test and because each pawl is independently sprung there is very little chance of the freehub ever slipping. If you ever need to replace the pawls or just want to give the hub an overhaul, you can strip the rear hub down with a couple of Allen keys in a matter of minutes. The same goes for the front hub.
This is the only wheelset here to come with a rim pre-drilled for Schrader valves. It might not seem like a big deal, but if you’ve ever run out of tubes and needed to borrow one, there’s nothing more frustrating than not being able to fit a fresh tube because your rim isn’t drilled for Schrader. Unfortunately, there is a slight burr around the edge of the valve hole that we recommend removing with a small round file before fitting your tyres.
Spoke tension on both wheels was well balanced but we developed a slight buckle in the rear after a couple of rides. Nothing we couldn’t rectify with a spoke key, and while we had the wheel in the jig we upped the overall tension in the rear wheel to give it more rigidity. We are not sure why Halo has opted for long 16mm brass nipples, as we have never had any issues with wheels built using standard 12mm nipples. Being the cheapest wheelset on test, the Halo Excite-D was always going to be at a disadvantage on the scales. But at £200 a pair it is pretty good value for money. Pick-up on the freehub of the 6-Drive rear hub is almost as rapid as XTR, and after a quick once over with the spoke key the rim stayed true. Hub bearing quality is also good but the Halo hoops face a lot of competition at this price point.

MBR RATING: 8/10