Race Face Turbine wheelset review

Raceface’s Turbine wheelset is the Canadian brand’s top-tier alloy offering designed with aggressive trail riding and enduro racing in mind. The wheels utilise the brand’s well-proven and fast-engaging Vault hubs, paired with front and rear specific rim profiles to simultaneously reduce the chance of pinch flats and boost on-trail performance with a grip-enhancing, trail-smoothing ride feel. Durability has proven excellent for a relatively lightweight set of hoops, too. Only the fairly high price and slightly finicky spoke trueing keep them off the top spot. 

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Race Face Turbine wheelset – Technical details

Evolving from the brand’s hard-hitting Turbine R wheelset, the latest incarnation of the Turbine wheels has been designed to withstand the demands of enduro racing and hard riding trail shenanigans while adding a little extra vertical compliance for increased on-trail comfort in the rough. 

Raceface only supplies complete wheels, and they are available in both 27.5” and 29” formats, Boost and Super Boost and the option of Sram XD or Shimano Microspline freehubs. The rims themselves are 30mm internal/35mm external front and rear, and are laced in a three-cross pattern to the brand’s dependable Vault hubs by 28 straight pull Sapim double butted spokes. 

2025 race face turbine wheel front hub.jpg, by Liam Mercer

To ensure durability, Race Face has opted for a durable 6069 alloy blend for the Turbine rims, which offers a superior strength-to-weight ratio compared to the 6061 alloy used in the brand’s lower-end wheels. 

Also present is Raceface’s clever Anvil Edge technology, where the top of the rim sidewall flares out subtly to create a broader and more rounded edge where it meets the tyre. This creates a larger surface area that they claim better dissipates impact energy and greatly reduces the chance of pinch-flatting in harsh terrain. 

One of the key selling points of the Turbine wheelset is the brand’s promise of improved damping and control in the rough stuff compared to carbon counterparts and rival wheelsets. Raceface aims to achieve this through the use of front and rear-specific rim profiles. Although both wheels are the same width, the rear has been designed with strength in mind and features a deeper 20mm profile, whereas the front uses a shallower 18mm depth to allow for a little more compliance and steering control. 

Additionally, Race Face has chosen an asymmetric rim profile and offset nipple bed to allow them to build a wheel with more even spoke tension compared to a traditionally laced wheel. Although the straight pull spokes do require a special tool to prevent them from spinning when making adjustments with a spoke key. 

2025 race face turbine wheel rim.jpg, by Liam Mercer

Race Face’s distinctive Vault hubs feature a durable oversized shell for stiffness and durability, and house smooth spinning, large diameter 6902 bearings with low drag labyrinth seals to guard them from the elements. Add to that a unique six-pawl inverted driver with two teeth per pawl meeting the 60 tooth drive ring to give 120 points of engagement, and three degrees of pickup, and you’ve got near instant power delivery with very minimal lag. 

I was stoked to find the Turbines come truly tubeless-ready, with good quality rim tape and tubeless valves fitted as standard from the factory. 

Another bonus is that Raceface offers a lifetime warranty, including crash damage on these wheels, which is a rare treat. This should give hard-charging riders peace of mind, and goes some way to justifying the fairly high price point. At £818 a pair, there’s no denying the Turbines are a premium price for an aluminium wheelset. 

Weight is very reasonable for an all-alloy wheelset at 1895g a pair in 29er format. 

Race Face Turbine wheelset – Performance

When unboxing the Turbine wheels, I was immediately impressed with the build quality and level of finish of the Turbine wheelset – the cone-shaped Vault hubs in particular look awesome with neat laser etched graphics and a glossy black finish lending them a premium aesthetic.

A cursory spin of the wheel revealed both silky bearings and an arrow-straight build, testament to the well-balanced spoke tension thanks to that offset spoke bed. Also evident was the fairly vocal freehub buzz – it’s not obnoxious by any means, but the 120 poe means this hub is far from stealthy, emitting a whine somewhere between DT Swiss and Industry 9 on the angry wasp scale! 

When it came to tyre installation, I was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting the shallower rim profile and Asymmetric spoke bed to give me grief as it has in the past, however, I managed to pop my Maxxis Exo Plus and DoubleDown tyres on pretty easily with just one tyre lever needed to tease on the last section of the less malleable DoubleDown casing. Once on, that tighter fit meant they seated easily with just a standard track pump, and they hold air very well, just requiring a little top-up every few weeks. The secure fit meant I had no issue with burping or tyre roll either. 

2025 race face turbine wheel rear hub.jpg, by Liam Mercer

Having replaced the rather portly Nukeproof Neutron V2 wheels on my Vitus Sommet enduro bike, fitting the relatively lightweight Race Face Turbine wheelset saw a healthy weight reduction, lopping off close to 200g (1,890g vs 2,094g) of rotational mass. As you’d expect, this made for a discernible improvement in acceleration and general nippiness on the trail, and they were noticeably easier to pedal during longer days in the saddle. 

Thankfully, this lack of heft isn’t at the expense of strength and durability – the 6069 alloy used in the rims seems very resistant to damage with no flat spots or dents despite my best efforts! At 95kg I’m pretty hard on wheels and tyres. I run pretty low pressures and prefer not to use inserts, and although I’ve certainly heard the telltale audible ‘thunk’ of rim meeting terra firma on several occasions, I’m yet to flat a tyre (done it now haven’t I?!!) and the rim edge has remained remarkably ding-free.

I can only assume there’s something in the Anvil Edge tech that puts added material where it’s needed, serves to reinforce the rim from flatspotting and that thicker leading edge is indeed dispersing the impact energy, lessening the chances of the rim slicing into the tyre’s sidewall. 

Race Face claims the different rim profiles front and rear are optimised to provide different characteristics for their intended purpose – the deeper profile rear boosts impact strength where it’s needed most, and the shallower profile rim up front gives a little more vertical compliance for better steering control and more comfort through the bars. 

In practice, I found this to be somewhat true. While the rear wheel feels pretty indiscernible from my previous wheel in terms of comfort, it’s taken the hits like a champ and has barely seen a spoke key and is still running all but perfectly true after nine months of abuse.

2025 race face turbine wheel spoke.jpg, by Liam Mercer

The front wheel, however, is a different story. There’s a perceptible softness that feels fantastic when charging hard through janky terrain or through root off cambers. Grip is enhanced, akin to dropping tyre pressures by two or three psi, and there’s a tangible boost in control and fatigue reduction thanks to the forgiving ride quality. 

Despite this compliance, I should note that the Turbines have never felt mushy or vague. They still retain plenty of lateral stiffness – tracking accurately through corners and accelerating promptly – hitting a nice sweet spot between handling response and damping very well. The rapid engagement hub helps here too – the near instant response from the 120 poe freehub making things a doddle when ratcheting up tricky tech climbs. 

In terms of durability, as mentioned previously, the rims are pretty much ding-free, with just the odd stone chip to the anodising, and are still well tensioned and running pretty much true after several months of abuse. 

As for the Vault hubs – they’ve been perfectly reliable. The hub bearings themselves are very well sealed and have required no attention, zero play, and are still spinning sweetly. 

Furthermore, I’ve had no mechanical issues with the unique freehub design, besides a little squeak when back pedalling after a particularly wet and mucky ride. Thankfully, it’s a simple task to access the internals and a quick dribble of freehub oil after pulling off the cassette was all that was needed. 

Race Face Turbine wheelset – Verdict

About the only real negative I can muster is the price – compared with much of the competition, the Turbines are looking a little pricey for an alloy wheelset. 

For just £380, you can pick up a pair of Silt Enduro Alloy wheels. These hoops are hand-built in Ireland and share the Turbines’ 6069 alloy rim construction and Sapim spokes – although these use the more readily available J bend spokes. Silt also markets these as ‘tuned to be compliant’, however, this is more through spoke tensions than specific rim profiling. At 1985g in the 29-inch guise, they just scrape under the 2kg mark, but they feel a little sluggish on the trails, and Liam found the hub internals weren’t as well sealed from the elements as expected, leading to a bit of freehub creaking. 

Another great value proposition is Hunt’s Enduro Wide wheelset, which is priced at £549. It’s a well-regarded pair of hoops, with a fast-engaging freehub; however, at 2,120g, they’re a good chunk weightier than the Turbines. 

At the higher end of the price range and more in line with the Race Face wheels, coming in at £649 with a DT Swiss 350 hub (other options are available at extra cost), we have the Reserve 30 HD AL Wheelset. Being a Santa Cruz subsidiary, the quality should be top-notch, and they, too, are backed by a no-quibble lifetime warranty. They come with Fillmore high-flow tubeless valves for easy tubeless setup, too. Weight is a few grammes north of the Turbines at 2,000g, and the Vault hub is much quicker to engage too if that’s a priority to you, but overall they are fantastic wheels for the money. 

All in all, Race Face has done a great job with their Turbine wheelset. First up, they look fantastic, with a classy finish that looks great on any bike. They’re also a good weight for a tough, enduro-capable set of alloy hoops, and alongside a rapid engagement freehub, they accelerate well and feel nimble on the trail. Additionally, they’ve proven to be very durable, resisting both wear and tear and aggressive/clumsy riding admirably and still look and feel great after an extended test period. The standout characteristic, however, is the tuned compliance and damped ride quality, which effectively reduces trail vibration and feedback, much improving comfort and traction over extended rides and in rough terrain. 

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