Can anyone recommend a stiff, but light(ish) wheelset please.

For info, I weigh about 88kg/195lbs in full riding kit and am currently using some Pro2 Crest 29er wheels – whilst the weight of the wheels is very good, they get pretty flexy in more techy Peak District terrain (spoke tension seems OK).

At the moment, my ideas are either to have the wheels rebuilt with something like Stan’s Arch rims – or, when I have the cash, splurge on some thing up to £600ish – custom build or Mavic etc.

Any sensible suggestions much appreciated.

Cheers.

Stans Flow or i have some rather nice Velocity P35 rims mounted to my Pro2 hubs. They seem pretty stiff laterally and get good reviews however i’m not sure how well they hold the bead judging by the splodges of man milk on the sidewall of the nobby nic in the rear. Just Riding Along can help you with both rims and were very helpful with me.

I recently bought a set of Stans Arch Ex rims on Hope Pro 2 Evo’s.

All seem great but my only complaint is that some tyres can be hard to fit.

Stans arch or flow, but speak to a good wheelbuilder and get them to use nipple washers, that will allow to add extra tension on the spokes which is really what creates a stiff build.

thanks for the suggestions. Having just found out that my car is due for a major service, including timing belt change, I think I’m going to be limited to a rim change rebuild – rather than the spangly Crossmax 29er wheelset that I had my eye on….drool 😉

[/quote]speak to a good wheelbuilder and get them to use nipple washers, that will allow to add extra tension on the spokes which is really what creates a stiff build.

This is an interesting tip – and I’d wondered if an Arch EX rim and tight build would give a nice stiff wheel (I’ll ask the fella that does the wheelbuilding at the LBS about the washers).

That suprises me I’m a similar weight possibly a bit more, and my Crests seem bomb proof, no noticable flex and they’ve been pushed trust me!

That suprises me I’m a similar weight possibly a bit more, and my Crests seem bomb proof, no noticable flex and they’ve been pushed trust me!

I’ve found that (perhaps unsurprisingly) it depends on the terrain. On trail centre type stuff I’ve only very occasionally noticed ’em flexing. However, I do quite a bit of riding on local Dark Peak trails, and on the more nadgery bits of those it can feel like the rear skewer is loose – keep expecting to see the back wheel overtake me 🙂 This is on my 29er HT, I tried ’em on my FS 29er and they felt ever more noodley in the rough stuff.

FWIW, I’ve got Pro2/Crest wheels on my 140mm 26er FS, and they’ve been superb.