Need wheel advice.

Stu · **Posted:** Tue Jul 15, 2014 4:07 pm

Maybe some one here has the answer I'm looking for... . .

I need new wheels. The old ones aren't looking so hot anymore. I have a pair of Outlaws on my bike at present and I'm heading to the bear in a week. My wheels are just toast; flat spots, missing spokes, not so much round anymore, the bike shop just looked and them and laughed.

I'm having a real hard time deciding over wheels. I ride a firebird with some chunky components on there, I'm 200 lbs, I love to ride as fast as possible, I would say I have an equal amount of flow vs hack, I enjoy every trail that is single track. I live for the down but I push my limits on going up.

I sometimes race, I sometimes ride 50 miles of dirt. Please help.

What would you suggest? I don't think carbon is my kind of thing.

And for comparisons to decide, say I am looking at wheels between $400 and $1000 a set.

Lanceuppercut · **Posted:** Tue Jul 15, 2014 4:30 pm

I would recommend Hope hubs with WTB i25 or Stan's Flow EX rims. They are a good balance between weight and durability. You would drop a significant amount of weight from the Outlaws too.

avidtest · **Posted:** Tue Jul 15, 2014 6:23 pm

+1 for Stans Flow EX rims. I'm nearly your weight and after two years with 1-3 rides a week, I've never had to true them. Running Hadley hubs. Recently took one apart for cleaning and re-grease and it was a pointless exercise.

Sounds like you don't have time to wait, but I know another Treader here that rides pretty hard - he bought the chinese carbon rims last year and had only good to say about them.

325racer · **Posted:** Tue Jul 15, 2014 8:34 pm

I've been wheel shopping quite a bit also, I'm leaning towards a set of Chinese Carbon wheels. Supposed to be light and strong and available in 35mm external for 30mm internal dimensions, Also a 30/25mm.

Built wheelsets are about $550ish, with $65ish for shipping.

heck247 · **Posted:** Tue Jul 15, 2014 8:56 pm

Stan's Flow EX are great. Very light and seal up easy using a hand pump (with quality tires).
I'm about 230. For the past year and a half, I've hit about every big rock down Noble, Anderson, Iron Mt., and Mission Trails among others and haven't had any trouble with them.
Also running Chris King hubs.

DWill · **Posted:** Wed Jul 16, 2014 2:10 am

Sounds like you need a set of Enve's on CK hubs.

Dirtrider · **Posted:** Wed Jul 16, 2014 7:04 am

DWill wrote:

Sounds like you need a set of Enve's on CK hubs.

He stated "And for comparisons to decide, say I am looking at wheels between $400 and $1000 a set."

A_street · **Posted:** Wed Jul 16, 2014 7:14 am

Don't waste money on enve rims.

Check out light bicycle enduro rims. Do a lot of research and come to a conclusion yourself whether you want to go carbon or not. They are good rims and can take a beating. Check out the review that was on pinkbike recently about the new roval wide carbon rims. I have a suspicion that these are the light bicycle rims laced the specialized way and marked up 200% for sales to 'muricans. Mine are laced to industry 9 hubs with cx ray spokes. The build was about $1000, maybe a little less. The rims are more expensive now than when I bought them.

abzillah · **Posted:** Wed Jul 16, 2014 9:59 am

Stu wrote:

And for comparisons to decide, say I am looking at wheels between $400 and $1000 a set.

I would buy a set of Hope Pro 2 EVO Hubs with DT swiss EX471 rims.
I know you used to ride tubeless and these rims are wider (30mm internal width) and tubeless ready.
The wheels will cost you about $500, and just have a shop build them for you.
Total weight will be under 1800 grams for the set.
And you can get the hubs in the color that you want.

http://www.bikebling.com/DT-Swiss-EX-471-tubeless-ready-26-disc-rim-32h-p/dtswiss14-rtex47dpn32s011254.htm

http://www.bikebling.com/Hope-Pro2-EVO-disc-40-Point-R-Q-R-hub-10x135mm-32-p/hope14-rhpre32nqrxd40t.htm

mongooseboy · **Posted:** Wed Jul 16, 2014 11:01 am

One thing to think about is can you get parts (spokes, bearings, freehubs) for them if your out of town riding and have a problem. Some of the higher end Easton's, Enve's, and even Mavic's have proprietary parts, that can be hard to find in a small town bike shop, in the middle of BFE. I have found that like a lot of Mountain Bike components, when it comes to strong, light, and cheap, you can pick two, not all three. Good Luck

n10sive · **Posted:** Wed Jul 16, 2014 2:24 pm

If your on a budget get the hope hubs. They are pry the best bang for the buck. Hadley hubs would be my next choice, a little more expensive but they have very little rolling resistance and a great overall hub.

I just built up some wheels on the lightbicycle rims. So far they have been awesome. Taken a beating and then some. If you don't go carbon my next choice would be the stans flow ex.

DannyHuynh · **Posted:** Wed Jul 16, 2014 3:15 pm

mavic crossmax sx is supposed to be a very good wheel.

Lanceuppercut · **Posted:** Wed Jul 16, 2014 6:06 pm

I have a couple of WTB freeride rims that are used but in decent condition that you can have. They should lace up to your hubs using the existing spokes. The only reason I stopped using them is that I was blowing tires off them set up tubeless. I would offer to lace them up for you, but I'm not sure I could build a decent wheel in my current condition.

Stu · **Posted:** Wed Jul 16, 2014 8:36 pm

I'm pretty darn impressed with all the options! It looks like I'm going to settle on some white Stan's ZTR flow EX's with some black hope hubs and black spokes. I really need to go tubeless again, or get some better flow... . .

As for those ENVE's, DWILL, if you want to sponsor me some wheels I'll be glad to ride them in your honor!

And Lance... . . I may take you up on that offer as well if I can't get the wheels I want with in the next week. I'll let you know. And thanks that is a great offer!

Ohhh I'm excited for new hoops !!

Need wheel advice.

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