Spank Vibrocore Drop Bars and Wheels – Fast And Comfortable?

First impressions of the wheels is that they are light. Not crazy-light but at a claimed 430g for each rim, they’re just about right for some fast riding but not worrying too much about smacking them on a square-edged rock. With a 24mm inner width they’d be absolutely fine on an XC bike as well.

For some reason I thought that filling the rim with green shock-absorbing foam would add loads of weight but silly me, it’s only foam and it’s not heavy.

Both front and rear rims are 28-hole and are laced to Spank Hex Drive hubs. There are adapters available for 12/148, QR, 20mm , 15mm, 10mm – whatever you’re likely to need and to remind you of this fact, all the available adapters are printed on each hub. Flanges are large (I love a big flange, me) and the rear hub is LOUD. Wheelsets are available in 700c and 650b diameters. 

Personally, I like loud freehubs. In my head when I hear a loud hub I think “Ooo that sounds expensive”. Others might find loud hubs annoying. I suppose you could bung more grease in to quieten things down, but 102 teeth and 6 pawls is never going to be quiet and the pickup is as near instantaneous as I’ve ever experienced. Shimano and SRAM-compatible freehubs are available and the Shimano one features a “bite block”, which is supposed to stop your cassette from digging into the aluminium and causing grief when you need to replace your drivetrain. 

So, a well-made, high-quality, lightweight wheelset with some weird foamy goo injected into them. Are they as comfortable and buzz-eliminating as Spank claim?

In a word, yes. Don’t ask me how a foam-filled rim can be effective at eliminating vibration but these wheels are really impressive. A gravel bike, with its narrow tyres, high pressures and a rigid fork should by rights start to become quite uncomfortable towards the end (probably the middle to be fair) of a four hour ride along miles and miles of Scottish forest roads, but that isn’t the case at all. The best way I can describe how the Spank Vibrocore Flare 24s ride is that they feel like a much wider tyre is fitted. My bike feels like it has got much fatter, lower-pressure mountain bike tyres fitted rather than 40mm gravel tyres. More comfort, still as much speed. 

Flare 25 Spank Vibrocore Handlebars

It’s been ages since I rode a bike with flared drops. That’s a bit of a surprise really because I loved how comfortable my last flared handlebar was, especially when my hands were ‘in the drops’. 

All that natural hand position loveliness came flooding back within the first few seconds of the first ride with the Flare 25. I know it looks unusual and the flares put the brake hoods at a weird angle but you’ll get used to both the former and the latter. The main thing is just how fabulously comfortable a flared drop is and how much more confident and in-control you’ll feel when you’re riding fast and/or downhill, particularly off-road.

Spank offers the Flare 25 in three widths – 420, 440 and 460mm at the hoods, which equals 562, 582, and 602mm respectively at the bar ends with a 25 degree flare. In other words, they stick out quite a bit but like I said, you’ll get used to it. 

Reach and drop measurements are quite small (65/110mm) so even when you’re riding offroad in the drops, there’s none of that terrifying “Oh god my chin is waaay too close to that stem” feeling. The perfect shape for an off-road drop, in other words. If you’re dead-against a 25 degree flared drop bar, you can also get a more conservative 12 degree flared Vibrocore drop bar, also in three widths.

As for the effect of the Vibrocore, it’s probably fair to say that the effect isn’t quite as pronounced as the wheels (but there was a further improvement, in my opinion) but then the handlebar is a far less-expensive upgrade than the wheels. 

What I can say is that after fitting the Spank Vibrocore Flare 25, I went out and claimed a KOM on an offroad local Strava segment named “Shaken Baby Syndrome”, so even Strava thinks Vibrocore works…

Conclusion

Both the Spank Vibrocore wheelset and handlebars are a (very) pleasant surprise. Vibration-damping claims that on paper are pretty easy to dismiss as a marketing gimmick actually do work and work very well indeed. I’m highly sensitive to in-ride comfort due to the state of the nerves in my hands and this review has opened my eyes to products that genuinely help. If you suffer in the same way I do, or you just want to ride for longer before you get knackered, then I’d recommend you look here.