Newly added to Halo's line-up is the Gravitas wheelset. It's been developed over two years with extensive testing in the World Cup Downhill series and uses a new alloy that claims to be stronger, crack and dent resistant, light, and recyclable. 

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The Gravitas wheelset uses Halo's proven asymmetric design which offers a more equalised spoke tension, allowing the brand to build a strong wheel while cutting down on excess bulk.

Throughout those years of testing the brand has taken from rider feedback and in-house testing, settling on an alloy that Halo claims is 30% stronger than what was used on early prototypes of the wheel.

The wheelset gets thick, square bead hooks which are designed to cope with impacts and hang onto the tyre extra securely, ensuring that you can give the wheels a proper hammering down the gnarliest of tracks without blowing the tyre off the rim.

Halo has built the wheels with a 27.5mm internal width, believing it to be the goldilocks of gravity-based rim widths. It's claimed to offer loads of sidewall support while keeping narrow enough to snake through rocky sections.

The Gravitas wheelset is built around a pair of the brand's MT and MTC hub ranges, offering a 120 point pick up, sealed bearings, and super-wide space flanges that offer increased stiffness and durability.

They achieve the 120 point pick up using a wedge pawl mechanism paired with Halo's Supadrive system featuring 12 micro teeth per pawl. The freehubs now feature precision machine Cro-Mo steel construction which the brand says prevents cassette bite and allows for larger internal bearings.

Those hubs will fit any modern mountain bike with Shimano HG, MicroSpline, and SRAM XD freehub fitment, along with Boost adaptor kits, Torque Cap adaptors, and 6-bolt rotor adaptors.

As for the spokes, they're Halo's own J-bend triple-butted, black stainless spokes chosen for their easy availability from many local bike shops.

From the box, the Gravitas wheelset is available in the signature double anodised Stealth colourway and in true Halo fashion, there are aftermarket decal kits available in six different colours.

The Gravitas wheelset comes in both 650b and 29" wheel sizes, Boost, Super Boost and traditional spacing, and with XD, HG or MicroSpline freehubs. A 29" set is set to weigh 2,270g.

Prices start at £500 and a decal kit will set you back £20.

• www.halowheels.com

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