This is almost covered in Stooo’s 29er thread but not quite, so don’t want to hijack it.

Have recently acquired a Haro Mary XC 29er and intend to put an Alfine wheelset on it.

What spec would you recommend in terms of spokes, rims, tubes/tubeless etc?

Anyone used a wheelbuilder they would recommend?

Anyone got a 2nd hand 8 speed Alfine wheelset/shifter combo they’re thinking of getting rid of? Or s the 11 speed worth the extra £££ and worth waiting for and shelling out for?

Hijack away my good man… certainly worth a link to here from my thread…

From my (very little) research…
The 11 speed looks nice in terms of smaller jumps between gears, but way more expensive. Not worth it for a winter type training bike IMHO.

Best wheel builders I know are Steve at iCycles up the road from me in Innerleithen and Andrew at The Bicycle Works in Edinburgh… both my neck of the woods, might not be yours.

I reckon a well built 32spoke wheel should be pretty tough unless you’re doing serious off road touring on it. (or even on road maybe).

Mine will be Flow rims, which look pretty good for weight/strength and are tubeless compatible. I think I’d go for something tubeless compatible in any case, so you have the option. Heard good stuff about stans rims – Flow or Crest both good I reckon.

Anyway – there’s my 2ps worth.

What sort of dosh are you talking about for a new, custom built wheelset, or have you not researched that far yet?

Any good wheelbuilder can build an alfine, it’s no different to a normal hub. So just use who you usually would (in my case myself)…

Rim wise, your choice entirely… If you’re light and want to in narrower tyres, you can get away with something light and narrow. If you’re heavier on kit, and/or want to run wide tyres, you’ll need bigger rims. I like the mavic TN719 as it’s not too narrow but not too wide, and it’s a good stiff rim.

Spokes wise, I just used what I could get my hands on, which was some sapim double butted spokes. Anything will do though, but double butted are better. No need to spend mega bucks on bladed or anything though…

If you can hang on til the 11spd finally hits these shores, i’ll be selling my 8spd fully built up on a TN719 with shifter etc as soon as I get one… If you can’t wait til then, 8spd hub is about 150 quid from several places online, shifter about 25 quid, fitting kit 10 quid and a cog about 6 quid… Then a rim and spokes of your choice, plus the wheel build.

On the tubeless tyre front, I’m a great believer in it, others not so much. For me the ghetto system has been totally reliable, though careful tyre choice is required as some are known to be more reliable than others…