wheels wheels wheels

Ferrals

Having done an XC race on Sunday and reminded myself how much I enjoy it, I'm beginning to think all the money I've been saving/hording for a dropper would, after all, be better spent on lighter wheels. [DISCLAIMER: I will probably change my mind again half a dozen times before actually parting with the money ]

Are there any other better wheels for general xc, xc racing and trail riding (live close-ish to afan) out there for the money than the stans crest / hope hub wheel sets you can buy for around £350?

My other thought was to save up more money and get a custom built set from just riding along or similar with the stans no-tubes hubs as being a bit lighter than hopes. Has anyone had experience with the Stans hubs?

The Rookie

For XC the Alpine rims are a bit lighter than Crests, the various Chin Haur made hubs are excellent for XC riding and about 160g a pair lighter than Hope (A2Z and American Classic are both made by CH as are others - I beleive Stans are CH but with mods to the freehub though there is contradictory info on this) but for an off the shelf wheel set the Hope/Crest combo is good and will cope with Trails a bit better.

If you read the last 2 pages of my Kraken thread (link in sig) I just built an all new 1430g wheelset for £180 with a bit of luck.

Ferrals

Ah sorry should have said 27.5 inch which rules out the alpine. probably better to go crest for a bit more durability at good weight anyway. I wouldn't be comfortable building my own so its got to be either stock shop bought or custom built by someone.

njee20

Crest/Hope hard to beat for that price.

If you spent a bit more you could get Light Bicycle carbon rims on hubs of your choice - I've used American Classics, which come to 1370g for 29" wheels, but more like £550, using Novatecs would probably be more like £450, and not vastly heavier.

Ferrals

Cheers, I could hold on and save more /ebay more and get new wheels in early spring which wouldn't be a bad idea in terms of saving wear from the worst of winter going straight into new hubs and 1370 for 2 is very impressive! I'm a bit confused about light bicycle rims I've read about them but i dont understand do you order them from china and take them to a a shop to get built or are there places in the UK that have them in stock?

njee20

Order from China and build yourself (it really isn't hard, it's a useful skill and it's very satisfying), or take them to your friendly local wheelbuilder who'll build them for you (obviously for more cost).

They're not actually that light, but they are very stiff with it. Light aluminium rims get more flexy. My 29er wheels are a lot stiffer than the 26" aluminium wheels that preceded them - although they only weighed 1246g.