Spank Spoon 32 Rim: Rider Review

Our "Rider Review" article series features honest reviews from verified purchasers of Worldwide Cyclery. They contain the photos, thoughts, feedback & overall review you are looking for. 

26" is dead...or is it? Not if you are looking to build up a dirt jumper like our customer Jason. He was on the search for an affordable 26" wheelset to complete his DJ build and settled on the Spank Spoon 32 wheelset. Read on to learn more about it!

Overview

I searched for around two months for an affordable 26” wheelset that would round out my first ever Dirt Jumper and my first ground-up bike build. My standards weren’t too high (i.e. I didn’t need carbon wheels or Industry Nine hubs), but I did want blue or red rims that would offset the matte black frame and grey lettering and make this bike stand out at the indoor bike parks.

The Search

What made this search so difficult was the odd hub combination I was looking for since I was using a fork I had removed from an XC bike and because I needed a nutted rear hub for the Dartmoor 26 Player frame’s horizontal dropouts. After two unsuccessful months of searching in my spare time (and maybe a little at work, during breaks of course, not while I was at my desk responding to emails or anything like that) I decided I needed to take a new approach. The next step was to open a fresh Excel file and start plugging in estimates for individual wheel parts, which I then replaced with actual prices following hours of online searching.

After browsing many websites and considering the many options available to me, to my surprise, the calculations in my Excel spreadsheet showed that buying the individual parts and building the wheels myself wasn’t going to cost much more than buying already assembled wheels. Additionally, building the wheels vs. buying was going to allow me to customize every detail. If I wanted colored spokes, nipples or hubs, I could pick any color I wanted or multiple colors, the options were nearly endless.

The Decision

Having concluded that building wheels was a viable option, with help from my wife and kids (who didn’t seem to care very much for some reason), I finally settled on blue rims with black spokes and nipples. With a clear vision for my bike’s future, I started searching for the perfect rims when I quickly landed on Worldwide Cyclery’s website and was surprised to learn that they had the rims I wanted in stock. Twenty-six (26) inch Spank Spoon 32s. I placed the order for two rims without hesitation and was pleasantly surprised when two days later a fairly large box had arrived at my door. This was my first order with Worldwide Cyclery and I was not expecting the order to ship within two days let alone arrive in that time.

First Impressions

It was clear to me as soon as I opened the box that I had bought the perfect rims. Right out of the box, even without spokes, the rims were stiff to the point that I couldn’t make them flex by hand. I was expecting some movement, but there was none. The quality of the paint and stickers was flawless as well. The rims were so clean that I decided to protect them temporarily with masking tape during lacing to ensure that they remained scuff-less and shiny. Lacing and truing the built-up wheels was a breeze as well.

Final Thoughts

Now that they are on the bike I’m really pleased with the look and the ride quality. I would highly recommend Spank Spoon 32s rims for anyone looking to build up their own wheels.