xc rear wheels

alexkerrblack

hi all
started a project building a xc bike and need some advice on rear wheel.
looking for a second hand qr 9mm 135mm for no more than 50 quid.
would i be able to get a better wheel if i bought all the parts seperatley and built it myself?
are there any makes that i should stay away from?
i'm a true noob so any info would be grande.
cheers
alex

The Rookie

You could just about build a decent wheel for sub £50, spokes will cost you circa £20 minimum, with a bit of luck you can get a rim for circa £15, leaving you £15 to get a used XT hub or similar, although be sure of condition as you could end up spending more on that bringing it up to scratch.

On the other hand if you keep an eye on eBay or the classifieds you can get a pretty good wheel for that.

Standard rear axle is 10mm by the way, not 9mm (that's the front).

rockmonkeysc

You can get a Shimano Deore rear wheel for around £50 new. I quite like Shimano's budget hubs, they aren't the lightest but well sealed and with good quality serviceable bearings. I have a set on my commuting bike which have done around 15k miles and are really smooth spinning with the original bearings. I service the bearings less often than I replace the sealed bearings in my Hope hubs.
I wouldn't build a wheel unless you have a trueing stand and tension guage.

The Rookie

Plus one for Shimano unburstability!

You don't need a truing stand, I just use a frame with a plastic ruler blue tacked across it, tension you can do be ear (ping).

poah

got an XT hub and mavic rim going for £55 - not done many miles

peter413

Another vote for cheap Shimano hubs. So long as you look after them they go forever and ever and ever. They're a little heavy and the freehub is a bit slow engaging but for £20 there isn't anything that comes close.

Take a look at the Deore M525 Hub for £20 and the WTB Frequency i19 rim for £25 26" or 29". £10 will easily get you a set of Sapim Leader spokes. Spend the extra on the Race's though if you can, double butted spokes are an easy way to save a bit of weight.

The hub should also include a nice Shimano QR skewer, arguably the best QR skewers available. The rim is also tubeless ready which is great for this price. I'd pick this wheel over anything already built for the same price.

The Rookie

No argument the Shimano ARE the best QR skewers, all the main bikes in the house use Shimano if they are on QR.