WANTED FRONT WHEEL 29": 2019 Merida 160 900E

[Husky430]

Well got my tyre, goo and digital pressure guage from the UK in record time, ordered them and the wheel at 2.30pm (AET) which would be 5.30am in the UK. Must have been sent on the Friday and flew all weekend as turned up at my local PO on Tuesday arvo. Unreal as you can't get a letter from Melbourne in under a week.
Wheel turned up on the Thursday which again is brilliant service!
Was off to a MX weekend on a mates farm down in northern NSW so took it all along to have a go at putting the tyre on the rim, which came ready for tubeless. Low and behold the mates son was there who works at 99 bikes and he fitted it in about 5 minutes flat.
Didn't really get a chance to ride it over the weekend, only from the pits to the house and back but will go for a ride tomorrow night and a more serious ride over the weekend.
Will post pictures and a bit of a report on Monday, cheers Steve

 

[HORSPWR]

Well got my tyre, goo and digital pressure guage from the UK in record time, ordered them and the wheel at 2.30pm (AET) which would be 5.30am in the UK. Must have been sent on the Friday and flew all weekend as turned up at my local PO on Tuesday arvo. Unreal as you can't get a letter from Melbourne in under a week.
Wheel turned up on the Thursday which again is brilliant service!
Was off to a MX weekend on a mates farm down in northern NSW so took it all along to have a go at putting the tyre on the rim, which came ready for tubeless. Low and behold the mates son was there who works at 99 bikes and he fitted it in about 5 minutes flat.
Didn't really get a chance to ride it over the weekend, only from the pits to the house and back but will go for a ride tomorrow night and a more serious ride over the weekend.
Will post pictures and a bit of a report on Monday, cheers Steve

I'm hearing you, I ordered some Miranda cranks on 1/8 from Spain, they were delivered yesterday (6/8) to my front door in Alice Springs. Australia post can take 10 days to get an express post item from MTB Direct in Brisbane to Alice Springs. Fedex may be expensive but every single time I've used them they get me my stuff in record time!

 

[Husky430]

What size cranks did you go for? I'm half keen to get some shorter ones, or at least order them through the Fathers' Day fairy, from Miranda myself.
Though thought I should ride it first with the new front wheel which theoretically(?) should give me an extra 3/4 of an inch ground clearance... that combined with a bit of 'pedalling style' modification hopefully decrease the amount of pedal strike I was getting when I first started riding the ebike.

 

[HORSPWR]

What size cranks did you go for? I'm half keen to get some shorter ones, or at least order them through the Fathers' Day fairy, from Miranda myself.
Though thought I should ride it first with the new front wheel which theoretically(?) should give me an extra 3/4 of an inch ground clearance... that combined with a bit of 'pedalling style' modification hopefully decrease the amount of pedal strike I was getting when I first started riding the ebike.

I went with 155s, I'm just waiting on the alloy bolts/cups to come from the UK before I fit them up. I don't normally have a lot of pedal strikes but the ones I do piss me off big time and I would like to be able to pedal up some steep rocky jump ups we have here rather than try and wind up heaps of speed and coast up. I run my suspension settings fairly soft/plush so that means I have to stop pedalling during G outs and I'd much rather keep pedalling through them.

I'm figuring the 15mm won't be noticeable and if it is I'll just up my assist settings 10% to compensate via one of my apps.

 

[Husky430]

155 is what I was looking at, seemed about $150 delivered to over here but didn't know I needed other stuff to fit them. I thought they just fitted straight on to Shimano crank? Are you fitting them to a Merida?
You have some awesome country out around Alice, we where there last year around this time in both the west and east MacDonald ranges and loved it. Especially Ruby Gap, would have loved to have the ebike out there then and hope to get back there asap.

 

[HORSPWR]

155 is what I was looking at, seemed about $150 delivered to over here but didn't know I needed other stuff to fit them. I thought they just fitted straight on to Shimano crank? Are you fitting them to a Merida?
You have some awesome country out around Alice, we where there last year around this time in both the west and east MacDonald ranges and loved it. Especially Ruby Gap, would have loved to have the ebike out there then and hope to get back there asap.

The 155s were $146 AU delivered. Yeah I'm fitting them to a Merida e160 900e. Apparently the alloy cups allow them to be installed tighter so that they don't come loose as the plastic Shimano ones can allow them to do, I'm just playing it safe by fitting these too.

Yeah spoilt for choice around the Alice for tracks to ride but sometimes I just wish I could ride a nice loamy grippy track that didn't have rocks in it. That's why I run my suspension soft to deal with all the rocks.

Did you see this wheel from MTB Direct it has a 30mm internal rim width.

Race Face Aeffect R 30 Front Wheel

Have you got a link to the front wheel you ordered?

 

[Husky430]

Yeah was looking at that wheel but out of stock at the time so went with the 27mm version. Will look for a link at work tomorrow for you

 

[Husky430]

Here you go, this is the link to the wheel I ended up with

wiggle.com.au | DT Swiss DT350 on RaceFace Arc27 Front Wheel | Front Wheels

Ended up just over $200 and with the tyre, goo, and pressure guage just under $340 delivered for the lot. Unreal to get it all in under a week as well.

 

[HORSPWR]

Here you go, this is the link to the wheel I ended up with

wiggle.com.au | DT Swiss DT350 on RaceFace Arc27 Front Wheel | Front Wheels

Ended up just over $200 and with the tyre, goo, and pressure guage just under $340 delivered for the lot. Unreal to get it all in under a week as well.

I pulled the trigger and got the 30mm wheel from MTB Direct, also got a Maxxis Assegai tyre and Shimano Icetech rotor to fit it all up. If it turns out ok I might not need the Miranda 155 cranks.

 

[Husky430]

Well first real ride with the new combo on the bike this weekend past, did about 15km both Saturday and Sunday mornings.
First impressions are that the positives outweigh the negatives. Positives are better at rolling over roots, rocks, ruts and rough stuff etc with the larger front wheel, has slightly elevated my pedals as did not get a single pedal strike on either day though that could also be due to changing my pedaling technique as well, plus the bike feels more like it's on rails over the serious stuff on the steep downhills.
The only drawback I could find was that it was turning a little slower and wider around the tighter (read almost and actual hairpins) corners. Loved it though and will keep it for now for a longer test period. Can't wait to get out again mid week for another blast and averaging about 100km a week at the moment and need to get as much riding in now before it's too warm to ride in our summer.

 

[HORSPWR]

Well first real ride with the new combo on the bike this weekend past, did about 15km both Saturday and Sunday mornings.
First impressions are that the positives outweigh the negatives. Positives are better at rolling over roots, rocks, ruts and rough stuff etc with the larger front wheel, has slightly elevated my pedals as did not get a single pedal strike on either day though that could also be due to changing my pedaling technique as well, plus the bike feels more like it's on rails over the serious stuff on the steep downhills.
The only drawback I could find was that it was turning a little slower and wider around the tighter (read almost and actual hairpins) corners. Loved it though and will keep it for now for a longer test period. Can't wait to get out again mid week for another blast and averaging about 100km a week at the moment and need to get as much riding in now before it's too warm to ride in our summer.

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Did your new rim arrive with rim tape or did you have to do it yourself, MTB Direct couldn't tell me if mine was or wasn't so I ordered rim tape just in case.

 

[Husky430]

Came ready to make tubeless with tape and a valve. Just so happened that was away on a MX weekend at a mates place in Northern NSW and his son was there who works for 99 Bikes and he put it all together in about 5 mins flat with disc rotor and all. Slapped it in and away I went. Didn't get a chance to ride it there except between the pits and his house but did managed to convert another couple of blokes to the joy of ebiking as the mates place is pretty hilly.

 

[Bravestarr]

Thanks for that, will have to check it out JChristo, but you'll have to excuse my ignorance but what is a BOOST KIT? I can get a
DT Swiss XR1501 PS 6 Bolt Front Wheel
for about $130 which has a 15 x 110mm hub which I'm pretty sure will fit straight on to my bike (if anyone can confirm that it would be good). I know it's a narrower rim than what's on mine already but figure I can still put a 2.5 DHF on it (again if anyone can confirm that for me it would be great) Just a bit new to all this to be certain for myself, and do I still need a boost kit? cheers Steve

That is the wheel that I bought. I had to get a 6 bolt rotor too. It is the perfect solution though!