Which wheels: Crank Brothers Cobalt 2 or Hope Pro2 SP Flow

pablo-zesty

Dear All,

I am after some advice.

I ride a 2010 Lapierre Zesty 314 with the standard Mavic Crossride wheels.
I am wanting some new wheels, I have narrowed it down to two wheels for similar money - £300.00. Simply, which would you buy:

Crank Brothers Cobalt 2 or Hope Pro2 SP with a Flow rim.

I ride trail centers, Surrey Hills and then all day rides in the Pennies.

Any advise is really welcomed.

Cheers

Chunkers1980

What's up with what you've got? Decent wheels they are, excellent hubs.

poah

Chunkers1980 wrote:

What's up with what you've got? Decent wheels they are, excellent hubs.

do they not weigh almost 2kg though

I quite like the cobalts but getting it trued might be an issue. Flow with hope pro2 SP are about 200g heavier than the cobalts but then they are not XC rims.

Butterd2

Very pleased with my Flows on Hopes, have run tubeless with many different tires all no problem. Probably overkill for Surrey Hills but at least I know when I go off to Wales that they will be plenty tough enough. They are still straight and true after a year of lugging my 15st ass around.

njee20

The Flows probably aren't far off 2kg...

If you've not broken the Crossrides I'd be looking at the Hope Hoops with Crests to drop a bit of weight.

pablo-zesty

The Crossrides are fine, however, the rear is not running true and unless you keep on top of the maintenace the spline where the disc attaches can come loose and cause problems that cannot be rectified - this is my problem. Weight wise they are okay but reducing would help allot.

I ride Surrey Hills as it is on my doorstep and in honesty the Zesty is complete overkill, but when I visit family in Yorkshire, I ride allot more rugged terrain.

I have just been checking, I can pickup the Cobalts for £275 whereas the Hopes would be more £325.00.

jairaj

Not sure about the Cobalts, they use a special spoke and other propitiatory bits so getting spares could be an issue?

Also agree with Njee, the Flows are probably almost as heavy as your current wheels and a bit overkill. Unless you are heavy or are an aggressive rider, a Crest rim or Arch EX should be fine.

I'm 90Kg and have battered my Crest rims lots over the years. Spent a few days this summer at Aston Hill doing DH, riding 4X at Chicksands and used it a lot at the bike park in Woburn. I'm not a very good jumper so wasn't getting mega air time but on the flip side that does make me clumsy rider and I wasn't always making the nice smooth transitions. and as much I as wanted them to fail so I could get a new set of wheels they are still running fine.

jairaj

How about a set of these? Just slightly over the budget at £310

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/sun-ringle-black-flag-pro-wheelset-2012/rp-prod75705

***edit - or these which are slighter heavier than the ones above but cheaper:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/sun-ringle-black-flag-expert-wheelset-2012/rp-prod75706

miceden

I'd go with the Hopes but with Crest rims, maybe even Alpines.... Stans rims are brilliant, hope customer service is excellent and spares are freely available and reasonably priced, if you break a spoke it'll probably be a quicker and easier fix than the Cobalts.

njee20

if you break a spoke it'll probably be a quicker and easier fix than the Cobalts.

No probably about it!

poah

njee20 wrote:

if you break a spoke it'll probably be a quicker and easier fix than the Cobalts.

No probably about it!

straight pulls are more difficult to find

passout

Hope hubs are excellent, so the Hope wheels.

Jomox

Keep the Crossrides, not worth the change, unless want some weight loss, then the Cobalt.

Dick Scruttock

Hope hoops with Arch rims IMHO.

shindig

I have hope hoops and arch ex rims. Abused them for a year now and no problems at all. Highly recommend.

Woody80

njee20 wrote:

if you break a spoke it'll probably be a quicker and easier fix than the Cobalts.

No probably about it!

I've got a set of Iodine 3s and Crank Bros sent me some spare spokes "just in case". Can't fault them. LBS are happy to true as well for a tenner so I've not seen any complications with them at all.

njee20

straight pulls are more difficult to find

Ah yes, I was thinking standard j-bend.

ej2320

If you insist on getting some new wheels I'd get the Hope FlowEX or ArchEX combo
But I would say that after buying a set..

rockmonkeysc

I wouldn't even consider tge Crank Bros wheels.
Hope hubs with either Stans Arch or Mavic XM719 rims though personally I prefer Mavic rims.

Dick Scruttock

This sums up CrankBrothers wheels very well:
http://www.theteamrobot.blogspot.ca/201 ... ot_20.html

poah

Rick Draper wrote:

This sums up CrankBrothers wheels very well:
http://www.theteamrobot.blogspot.ca/201 ... ot_20.html

sums up nothing about the wheels TBH and quite possibly slanders the company.

pablo-zesty

Looking at allot of the comments, it seems no one has a bad word to say about the Hope/ Stans combination but the Crank Bros is indifferent.

In pure aesthetics the Crank Bros look amazing and really different, which is good. But it seems the Hopes do a job very well and if anything goes wrong it is an easy to have them fixed.

Defiantly leaning to the Hopes.

I have liked the Mavics but any reduction in weight, ie improvement in model seems to be very expensive upgrade.

Chunkers1980

I'd lean towards Super Star and save some cash

cooldad

POAH wrote:

Rick Draper wrote:

This sums up CrankBrothers wheels very well:
http://www.theteamrobot.blogspot.ca/201 ... ot_20.html

sums up nothing about the wheels TBH and quite possibly slanders the company.

But oh so true. And funny. And true.

poah

cooldad wrote:

POAH wrote:

Rick Draper wrote:

This sums up CrankBrothers wheels very well:
http://www.theteamrobot.blogspot.ca/201 ... ot_20.html

sums up nothing about the wheels TBH and quite possibly slanders the company.

But oh so true. And funny. And true.

I don't really see anything there that would put you off buying them TBH

Chunkers1980

More fool you then

poah

Chunkers1980 wrote:

More fool you then

why, point out the bits that are an issue

cooldad

The silly spokes - try finding replacements quickly. Or even slowly.

The odd rims to fit the silly spokes, which have bits added to hold the silly spokes (most rims have bits taken away, ie. holes.)

Issues with freehubs.

The grade of cheese they're made from.

cooldad

POAH wrote:

Chunkers1980 wrote:

More fool you then

why, point out the bits that are an issue

You might have missed the really subtle hints in the article.


ps they were not really subtle.

rockmonkeysc

Chunkers1980 wrote:

I'd lean towards Super Star and save some cash

Superstar are ok but cracking freehub bodies isnt uncommon.
As much as I dislike the noise of hope hubs I think my next wheels will have them.

Chunkers1980

Even if that is the case, they are cheap, replaceable parts