[Closed] Road/All Road/Bikepacking wheels - Stans Grail or Pacenti SL25

I bought the Grails on the recommendation of my wheelbuilder. Mine are only 24h but seem very tough.

I have SL25s as a set of road wheels for my cross bike. I'm very happy with them. The only criticism I have of them is that the joint on one of my pair isn't all that neat - very minor issue that isn't at all noticeable unless you go looking for it and would have been hidden by the stickers had I not removed them.

I have had the 32h Stans Grail rims on a set of novotec disc hubs for just over a year now and they have been superb.

I am a heavy rider at approx 16 stone and the disc's put all the braking loads through the spokes. I have not had to touch the wheels at all, lots of very rough potholed devon back lanes later and they are still perfect.

SL25 on mine, they give a 30mm gravel tyre a really nice profile.

My wheelbuilder mate recommends stans over pacenti, he said the pacentis are bit thinner and the grails a bit tougher.

I've got grails can't fault them

Only one experience with Stans road rims; the Alphas. They were poor.

I'd go Archetype; solid and cheap.

Bigsurfer, I have the same setup (rims great so far OP)

How's your free hub? Had mine a couple of months and the cassette has chewed through the free hub and the bearings are catching and not rolling freely. Supposed to be the model with the anti-British guard, but clearly not working!

Thanks for all the replies everyone, seems like it's still a pretty even split between the Grail's and the Pacenti's! Time to decide which ones I prefer the look of now 🙂

Grails came on my GT Grade, front one has gone back as it rattles. I assume it's the pin that joins the rim, doesn't manifest itself until the tyre is pumped up. Would be very annoying if you'd just built it into a wheel.

bob_summers - Member

Grails came on my GT Grade, front one has gone back as it rattles. I assume it's the pin that joins the rim, doesn't manifest itself until the tyre is pumped up. Would be very annoying if you'd just built it into a wheel.

I had the same problem on one of my Grails so I just punched the marks at the rim joint a bit deeper which stopped the rattle. I have to say that the Stans Grail rims were one of the easiest rims I have ever built up as well. They were really true to start off with and stayed that way right up through the tensioning process. Both wheels went together really quickly. No problems with them since actually riding them, on road only though. I have no experience of the Pacenti rims.

If you want to use tubed as well as tubeless tyres I'd go for the Pacentis, the bead seat works easier / is less tight than the Stans design ime. I have some CL25s for this use and they've been great for both tyre types.
Are Grails a pinned join? That's a bit basic, I would have thought they'd be sleeved or welded. The Pacentis are welded.

I've got grails on my cx bike for racing and trail riding, cracking wheels set up tubeless.

If it's a tie between those two rims why not go for aileron velocitiy rims. Had them on my cross bike for a while now, go up tubeless easily and tough enough to cope with my cack handed riding

Grails are great, but I've got some serious dents in my rims from some rocky CX rides. Wish they were a little bit tougher.

I've just gone through this and decided on the Pacenti as it's 30g lighter than the Stans. My wheel builder steered me towards a new rim from Kinlin. https://fairwheelbikes.com/kinlin-xr22t-700c-clincher-rim-p-7016.html

Like this but with no machined brake track and it's got off centre drilling. The reason is that with road tubeless tyres the beads are so tight that the tension significantly drops on the drive side spokes and can unwind. He's measured this and says the offset spokes reduce the problem.

If you're not going tubeless then the Pacenti would be great.

If you want to use tubed as well as tubeless tyres I'd go for the Pacentis, the bead seat works easier / is less tight than the Stans design ime.

I found that the tyres went on the Grails very easily - tried Michelin Pro4 and Conti 4 season. However, it's very important to get the tyre worked properly into the channel and make sure they seat properly - there should be a loud crack when they are inflated.

i have grail's, does the tubeless bead mean non tubeless road tyres work tubeless? like their xc rims? i assumed i need tubeless tyres

lodger the free wheel hub has marked up a bit more than I would have liked. Its probably 4 months since I last removed the cassette, but it still works fine after a year. Might get a tougher key made at work when I can be bothered. The free wheels aren't particularly expensive so I am happy.

i have grail's, does the tubeless bead mean non tubeless road tyres work tubeless? like their xc rims? i assumed i need tubeless tyres

No, you need to use the proper tyres for road tubeless.

I use CL25's. Work fine and easy to fit tyres to. 30mm Challenge Stada Bianca's come up at about 33 mm

I found that the tyres went on the Grails very easily

You can't go wrong with either, both look good on paper and in the flesh. I have Grails, they look nice, reasonable weight and seem be holding up well so far. If you can find one much cheaper than the other that would sway it for me.

[b]Happybiker[/b], there seems to be a couple of places listing 430g, but most sites say 450-460g (same as Grails). Have they changed over time\batches?. I remember H+Son doing this on the Archetypes, a later version was beefed up a bit. Might help sway it a bit if they're that much lighter.

bob_summers - Member
Grails came on my GT Grade, front one has gone back as it rattles. I assume it's the pin that joins the rim, doesn't manifest itself until the tyre is pumped up. Would be very annoying if you'd just built it into a wheel.

[b][u]Stans Website[/u][/b]
[b]Rattle noise in rim[/b]
You may have a loose weld sleeve. This is used in the weld process as a heat sink. It is crimped into place with a dimple in the material being visible at the weld junction. Occasionally the crimp does not hold and the plate comes loose. It is not a structural element of the rim so the best solution is to remove the rim tape and apply a little non-water based glue between the weld plate and the rim. Tubular cement or super glue will do the job. All rim makers use a weld plate and run into this situation on occasion. Please call NoTubes if you need yellow tape to reapply to the rim or if you are not comfortable gluing the weld plate on your own.

Not personally weighed one fibre, I was going off manufacturers weights.

Just found this thread after looking into some gravel rims. Any updates would be appreciated.

I run hope XC 29er wheels, as I've found CX wheels to be cheap/heavy/weak road wheels.

for a given amount of money, that is.

gives confidence when stuffing into things