A new mountain bike wheel manufacturer has emerged in the Basque Country, Oquo Wheels. The brand introduces lightweight carbon fiber and durable aluminum wheelsets for cross-country, trail and enduro. On the five new wheelsets, you’ll see custom rims front and rear with asymmetric profiles, with spoke holes drilled at the exact angle that each spoke emerges from the reinforced rim base. The lightest of these is the Oquo MP30 LTD, which weighs in at a claimed 1,300 grams and sells for 1,999 euros.
“The best bike deserves the best wheels” is the slogan of Oquo’s marketing campaign. As a subsidiary of Orbea, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what they mean. We were invited to visit Oquo’s wheel factory, where technicians compared Oquo’s wheels to competitors’, while wheel builders on the assembly line were busy making new wheelsets.
With the creation of the Oquo, Orbea has announced its intention to offer ultra-high-end build options that currently cover the mountain bike lineup but are likely to cover other categories in the future. Like its parent company, Oquo is a co-op, partially owned by each employee, so they benefit when the company does well.
Oquo’s wheel manufacturing and testing facility is half an hour from Orbea’s headquarters in the Basque Country. There is a small but very busy wheel assembly team here that assembles the new Mountain Control and Mountain Performance wheels.
Using state-of-the-art specialty equipment, Oquo works with the wheel manufacturer to tension each spoke to achieve the correct tension for each spoke, resulting in a wheel with lateral and radial accuracy within tight specified tolerances. The mechanism is designed so that it does not release the wheel until the manufacturer adjusts it within the specified range. Therefore, a wheel that is out of tolerance cannot actually leave the factory.
The Oquo range of mountain bikes is designed for cross-country and trail riding. So weight was a top priority and Oquo engineers worked hard to keep the weight down without sacrificing impact and puncture protection. You can expect future Orbea Oiz and Orbea Occam models to offer the following features.
There are three wheelsets to choose from, two of which are carbon fiber and one aluminum. All models are equipped with front and rear special hookless rims designed to meet different needs. Oquo also opted to use an asymmetrical rim profile to keep the spoke tension equal between the drive and non drive sides. As a result, the spokes distribute the total wheel stress more evenly among their number; we are told that this results in a stronger and more reliable wheel.
Oquo’s high-end XC racing wheelset is the MP30 LTD, which claims a full 29-inch wheel set weighs 1300 grams. The car rides on carbon fiber rims which, as the name suggests, have an internal width of 30mm. Despite the same internal width, the front and rear wheels have slightly different rim depths and profiles, giving the latter a stronger and more impact-resistant design. The wheels are assembled around DT’s lightest hub set, the DT240 S CL, with 24 spokes at the front and 28 spokes at the rear, connected to a reinforced rim base with aluminum nipples.
The Oquo Mountain Control range includes two wheelsets designed for both trail and enduro. Lightweight mountain wheels now have some relationship to off-road use; customers can decide what is best for them based on their riding style, terrain, weight, and what wheel features they value most. You can expect future Orbea Occam and Orbea Rallon models to offer the following features.
To accommodate larger volume tires, the Oquo Mountain Control wheels have a wider 32mm inner rim width, at least on the front wheel. The rear wheel is 30mm in diameter, and in keeping with Oquo’s desire to make the rear wheel stronger and more durable than the front, it also has more spoke counts: 28 Sapim D-Sprint in the front and 32 Sapim Race in the rear. All Mountain Control wheels attach to 6-bolt hubs with Polyax Secure brass connectors.
The Oquo MC32 LTD wheels feature “Enduro Carbon Tuned” styling, which, unlike the carbon styling on Mountain Performance carbon wheels, has mid-modulus fibers that are more flexible but give the rim more strength.
Oquo Wheels will provide the owner with a new wheel if the wheel is damaged due to a manufacturing defect or within three years of intended use. This is the gold standard of warranty policy, which can only be applied by companies that are confident in their quality control.
However, there is a second warranty policy. This covers the damage that happened during the accident – maybe your bike fell off the roof rack (frown) or you dropped your boot on your lovely new carbon rims (oops). Oquo will replace the rims free of charge and rebuild the wheels at a subsidized price.
Jessie-Mae Morgan is the tech editor for Bikerumor in the UK and Ireland. For four years, she wrote about mountain biking and racing and all that weird and wonderful technology. Prior to that, she was a trainee at the Mountain Bike Center in Scotland, as well as a mountain bike coach and team leader in Tweed Valley.
Jessie-Mae lives in Innerleithen, Scotland and is often seen at the Glentress Trail Center and its adjacent enduro and downhill trails. She competes regularly in national level enduro events and has recently competed in some of the World Enduro World Series races.
Jessie-Mae tests the latest mountain bikes, gear and kits for Bikerumor, letting readers know what’s in style and what’s not.
I will order my LBS to investigate the MP30 team. I am very happy with the wheels on the Oiz M10. Unfortunately, on the way home, I was hit from behind and my wheels were smashed.
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Post time: Aug-06-2023
