Which Wheels

[Minnsy]

MTB, rider just over 13 stone.
XC stuff, bit of jumping, bit of falling off...

Looking to spend around £300 or so for a pair...

So assuming I want hope hubs... which rims to go for? Mavic, DT, Stans Flows...

Any difference, or all 'much of a muchness...'

Cheers

[P-Jay]

I've always used Mavic because they've never let me down (you can't put a price on reliability in my book) I currenlty use EN521's on Pro2's for my Trail Bike (6" 2.35 tyres) and 729's on my DH bike.

They make a huge and ever changing range, ask your wheel builder to recomend which ones.

[OneDs]

Go to merlin, and get them built.

BTW I got from merlin, Mavic XM719's on XT hubs for me with plain Gauge DT Swiss spokes very strong & reasonably light. Not full on DH but good enough to take 16st and anything I can chuck at it. Would have gone for Hope 2's if I could have afforded them at the time though.

£188 for the rear with hope normal QR hubs & Xm719s and £88 for same on the front. If you want different spokes/QR axle then select the option you want.

You basically get a reasonably good priced quality rim & hub with the spokes & build near enough thrown in for free.

Edited by OneDs on Thursday 24th March 12:59

[waughie]

I'd recommend Hope Hubs on Ztr crest rims.

very light and seemingly very strong!!

[Pablo16v]

I'm a little lighter than you without my kit on and I'm running Flows on my hardtail and on my 160mm "big" bike. They replaced Mavic 819 and 823 UST rims and so far, even after quite a beating, they've stayed true. I'm running both set ups tubeless with the correct yellow rim strips on the big bike and normal electrical tape on the hardtail. Non-UST and UST tyres are working fine on both.
The two main benefits I've seen with the Flows is weight saving (over a pound on the big bike) and a better tyre profile due to the wide rim, especially compared to the fairly narrow 819's.

[Minnsy]

Just to add, wheels are 2.1's, running tubed currently... numpy question, is the choice of going tubeless down to the rims + tyres, or just the rims (as in, currrent tyres will work)

[P-Jay]

Minnsy said:

Just to add, wheels are 2.1's, running tubed currently... numpy question, is the choice of going tubeless down to the rims + tyres, or just the rims (as in, currrent tyres will work)

I'd go with a Pro 2 with 719 rims then. Gives a good weight to strength ratio and the option for you to run a a narrower or wider tyre if you ever want to.

I think there's a Hope Hoop option for this combination. I only like the wheel builder in my LBS to build my wheels because he's a genius with wheels, but Merlin are meant to be good, as are CRC.

[village idiot]

hope with stans and go tubeless... £300 should just about do it.

don't go for a factory mavic wheelset, no matter how sexy they look... they are a bh to repair as they have silly spokes etc... there is no substitute to properly built wheels with traditional spokes.

these are VERY sexy indeed http://www.justridingalong.com/shop.php?product=72... and at 1,529g the pair are very light indeed!

but if you want to come in under budget, go for a set of these with some racing ralph evo tyres

http://www.justridingalong.com//shop.php?product=6...

[Gooby]

Hope pro2 hubs, Mavic XM819 UST rims and some decent spokes.

The hubs are superb and bulletproof. The rims are excelent, tubeless ready and ard' as nails.

After 2 years and tens of thausands of hard off road miles they are still going strong and just required a little tune to do another couple of years.

[.Adam.]

Hope hoops with Stans here and am very happy with them.