XC / trail wheels

teacherman

Mmmmm, crimbo I love you

Eyeing up these:

Fulcrum red metal 3 - £359/1,840
Spesh Roval traverse - £499/1,582
Bontrager racelite TR - £280/1,918
Mavic Crosstrail - £322/1,810

plus the ususal Hope options. Am I missing anything?

Looking for a compromise between trail tough and XC light - tubeless is a bonus. Any thoughts appreciated.

*AL*

teacherman wrote:

Spesh Roval traverse - £499/1,582

AL or EL ?

I had the EL's and can thoroughly recommend them.

If you're quick, my LBS has a real good discount on them atm.

Roval Traversee AL

Roval Traversee EL

teacherman

Aye, cheers buddy AL I'm thinking

That is a good price!

*AL*

teacherman wrote:

That is a good price!

The Roval Traversee EL's are a gift at that price.

The front hubs (DT Swiss) are QR, 15mm & 20mm ready (all hardware supplied) and the rears are DT Swiss 240s hubs.

teacherman

I take it they're 6 bolt & not centrelock as well.

probably can't run to the EL's at the moment - £500 for winter car tyres - has the world gone mad :twisted:

AL's still a top price - great reviews as far as I can see

supersonic

These are worth a look too:

http://www.discountcyclesdirect.co.uk/p ... s_id=11269

Is a lighter, 1486g model, but costs more.

handful

supersonic wrote:

These are worth a look too:

http://www.discountcyclesdirect.co.uk/p ... s_id=11269

Is a lighter, 1486g model, but costs more.

+1

I've got AC wheels on my flat bar road bike and they are superb. Really nice hubs on them.

TimB34

supersonic wrote:

These are worth a look too:

http://www.discountcyclesdirect.co.uk/p ... s_id=11269

Is a lighter, 1486g model, but costs more.

There's an even lighter "Race" version for 2012 : http://www.amclassic.com/en/products/mt ... ace-26.php

1321g and the rim is 2mm wider - slightly odd that they've done this, as looking at the ZTR range it's the heavier duty rims that are wider.

Maybe AMC are planning on going wider for all their wheels in the next year or so?

Supersonic, have you had a pair of these to play with yet? It'd be really interesting to know how you think they compare to the Tubeless 26 (you've mentioned that they impressed you on test)

Northwind

Big fan of the Traversees here, just bought a second set of ELs in fact... They're not the strongest, but they're strong enough- in one of the innerleithen enduro dh races I flatted about 1/3rd of the way in and rode out the rest of the stage (through all the rock gardens in the black) with a flat front tyre. Every bong and clonk sounded expensive but at the end the wheel was almost as round as it was at the start, and nothing that didn't tease back out easily.

I've broken a couple of spokes and dented the rims from time to time but then, they're sub-1600g wheels and they've had the bejeezus knocked out of them (big dent from riding one of Learnie's famous rock gardens with hardly any air in the rear tyre, broken spokes in the rear from riding the hardtail down bits of fort william dh...)

All this and tubeless ready too. Fab. Maybe not for the heavier rider since they're just a tiny bit flexy under me and I'm only 10 stone- not really obvious in the hardtail with its revelations but slightly noticable in the full suss with lyriks. Doesn't bother me in the slightest.

Oh, other downside is hard-to-find spokes and silly alu nipples.

allthegearnoidea

i'll jump in with Support of the Am Classics! ive got the tubeless versions and have been running them all year, Absolutely Spot on! i'm a heavy rider with a Heavy riding style, 100kg unkitted, and riding on a HT frame, the wheels themselves (tubeless) have a rider weight limit of 240lb compared to most at 180lb! so n instant bonus! i ride my local route weekly, very rooty, muddy, couple of small drops etc, small section of steps, the wheels have been truely Faultless, minor issue witht he rear and sealing the hutchinson tyre quite as much as i like (drops 10psi over a week yet the front is fine!), but otherwise great! highly recommend them! the tubeless obviously come tubeless ready but minus the valves, but they are available from the dist. for a tenner a pair i think, and they are annodised Red!

teacherman

Thanks for the input all - the ACs were very tempting but went with the Rovals in the end

Nice understated looking wheel set.

Does anyone know how they cope with the alu/steel cassette dilemma?

Northwind

A wee bit tougher than Hope freehubs but still a good idea to use an SLX or higher cassette.

neninja

The Sun Ringle Black Flag Expert wheels on CRC for £175 for the pair are a total bargain.

Pretty light and come with the Stans kit to set them up tubeless.