Righty,

After the OEM rear wheel on my pitch siezed up

And my spare Hope XC/EN321 which has been on it’s last legs for over a year shed another 3 spokes and did a pringle impression last night in a very small jump/corner.

I need a new rear wheel. And I seem to break them aproximately every 2 years. Even having multiple bikes/wheelsets doesn’t seem to solve this!

Which options going to be best?

Hope hoops with Stans Flow – lightest option, but fragile by a lot of accounts. Looks good though, and the lightness would mean it could go on the SS over the winter.

Hope Hoops with EN521 rims – slightly heavier, but a known quantity, no cheeper than the more ‘pimp’ stans wheels though. But I’d get 2 years use form them easily.

Rebuild at the LBS with a EN521 rim – cheepest option, but by far the least retail therapy

On-One MAX wheelset – an unknown quantity, reading between the lines it seems to be a wheels on the ground type wheelset. But does combine retail therapy, a mantching pair of wheels and a low-ish cost.

Or….

Have the Pitch Rim built onto the Hope Hub, matching wheelset, cheepest option, etc etc etc.

Erm..

Only my opinion but you could do a lot worse than Mavic crossmax SX.
Seal up lovely with UST tyres (should you want) and only 1750g.
I’ve had flows, arches, dt51, 355s. I really like the SX’s and I believe Jedi has a set too.
As you’re going through wheels every couple of years, it maybe a false economy to buy cheap?

Strange.. I was thinking Crossmax too, but don’t really have a clue about this sort of riding (like to keep my wheels on the ground and my hoops lite). Crossmaxx’s look pretty bomber though..

Am I imagining that on-one had a MAX wheelset on at £150? Can’t find them now?

And Crossmax’s are wayyyyyyy over budget.

Hope hoops with Stans Flow – lightest option, but fragile by a lot of accounts.

I weigh 16 stone, and have used mine for rocky Lakes riding and uplift in Pyrenees with no issues. I don’t do crazy drops or anything but nor am I the smoothest rider in the world.

If your hope hub is fine then just buy your 521 rim and build it up yourself.

I weigh 16 stone, and have used mine for rocky Lakes riding and uplift in Pyrenees with no issues. I don’t do crazy drops or anything but nor am I the smoothest rider in the world.

For everyone who says that there seems to be someone who’s put cracks arround all the spoke eyelets or ripped spokes out entirely. although they are hugely popular in the club.

If your hope hub is fine then just buy your 521 rim and build it up yourself.

Considdered that, and I fitted some new SKF bearings to it last night after cutting what was left of the spokes out. But I’ve not the paitience to do more then true wheels up and even then I get to a ‘That’ll do’ point rather than getting them perfect.

I know what you mean, I hate truing wheels. I dont mind building them though, you’ve just got to get “in the zone” and forget about everything else in life for a few hours.

For everyone who says that there seems to be someone who’s put cracks arround all the spoke eyelets or ripped spokes out entirely

This is new to me. I’ve seen people talking about the lack of eyelets, but I can’t recall seeing any mention of either of these problems, let alone talk of it happening to lots of people. Any linkys?

http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?t=232984

And don’t Sunn give a maximum spoke tension for the stans rims, and maximum tyre pressures? Maybe its a handfull of cases rather than every other wheelset, but it just looks to me like they took a standard Sunn rim, lowered the sidewall and removed the eyelets and said hey, we’ve made a 100g lighter rim pay double for it. If it was 50g heavier with eyelets and strong enough not to have to state a max pressure then I’d buy into them, but they just look to me like an expensive patent (bead socket) on a very cheep rim.

This is new to me. I’ve seen people talking about the lack of eyelets, but I can’t recall seeing any mention of either of these problems, let alone talk of it happening to lots of people. Any linkys?

+1

I was considering dropping a fat wedge on Hope/ZTR Arch later in the year and would like the complete picture..

EDIT: too slow