Long story short, my bike came with Easton haven wheels.
The free hub died.
Its all a bit of a mess in there.
They are out of warranty.

I expect it to cost quite a bit to fix, and an debating if I am better off buying a new rear wheel instead of fixing it.

Preferably a wheel that you can get spare parts for and service easily.

is “the standard” for performance/weight/price still Hope with Flow (~£200), or is there a new king on the block I should be looking at?

Without wanting to open a can of worms, I bought a set of Flows on Switch evo hubs from Superstar in 2011, and they’re still going strong. They needed a new set of bearings last year.

If you’re just replacing the back wheel, it’ll set you back around £130- £150 depending on the options chosen.

Light bicycle wide hookless rims seem to be the new king, not tried them myself yet but will be buying some soon.

The freehub is pretty picey at about £90.

Mine works fine after a bearing change but the exterior looks a bit rough after being eaten by my SLX cassete.

What has happened to yours out of interest?

Bit more than £200 these days 🙁

I have switch evo on flow on the 29 ht bought when they were on offer as a set for less than £200…

So not against going down that route, but as not on offer, I am looking at the hopes costing ~£35 more so that’s pretty tempting

I’ve only done a cursory investigation, as I knew to get spares I would have to go though a dealer….

was skipping under power, the pawls are shot, this has caused some damage to the engagement ratchet, whilst “your” in there, the bearings were getting a bit rough so they might as well be done…

Dave, £192
http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/product/67138/Hope_Pro_2_EVO_No_Tubes_Flow_EX_40T_Standard_Lacing_Rear_Wheel

the LB carbons, interesting, but has to be the pair, and tbh is too spendy right now, as have two trips to France and two trips to Scotland to pay for.

Sorry, quite right, I was thinking for a pair. Im sure I remember paying £225 for a pair not that many years ago.

I have flow ex with hope hubs and I think they are great but if you want to look like a king in the trail center carpark it’s CrossMax or nothing.

Ordered a pair of LB carbons this week but built on Pro 2s they will cost at least £600 so not that comparable to Pro 2s on Stans cost wise. Would think Pro 2 on Stans are best for value with customer support, Superstar on Stans if you’re willing to take a punt on CS

What is stopping you getting it rebuilt with a new hub? Is it a strange spoke count?

they are 24 spoke wheels, and they have special straight pull spokes and nipples….

you thread the spoke through the hub, then glue the nipple to the spoke, then screw the nipple into the rim.

I haven’t looked at getting a 24h hub, but it would then require new spokes and nipples assuming you could get them, then they would need to be built and I would imagine it would end up costing the same as hope hoops anyway….

off to google I go….

edit – computer suggests no….
there is some evidence of people lacing 32/36h hubs to 24h rims, but it seems like they all died in fire…
I’m a heavy rider and would rather not chance it, plus ~£130 for a hope hub + spokes + build costs, i recon better to buy a full wheel..
happy to told im wrong

I’ve just bought a pair of pro2 on flows in 650b from Freeborn for £307 which was the cheapest I could find and that’s with red hubs, 142×12 rear hub and a15mm front hub.

My last set of wheels were 26″ pro 2 on dt Swiss 5.1 bought in 2008 still going strong and have only been re-trued twice in that whole time and the bearings are still good.

I think Hope will still make you a custom 24 hub but spokes would probably still be difficult.

Hoops used to be brilliant value, these days, I’d suggest finding a cheap pair of used DT wheels, ideally with the worst rims you can find, strip em down and service them, then build them onto Flows- it’ll probably work out cheaper, and will definitely be cheaper in the long run as you’ll use about 1/3d as many bearings (ime)

Is anyone else a bit ambivalent about the flow ex? This might be unfair but I used an old Flow for years, finally cracked it in the dh bike, replaced it with a Flow Ex and without really doing anything different it picked up 2 horrible dents (into the body of the rim) in about 2 months. The old ones dented just as often but the new ones seem to dent worse.

They were both big hits, so I can’t exactly fault it for denting, but the old rim took big hits too and wasn’t such a drama queen about it.

Northwind +1

DT on something is the way to go as far as I’m concerned. I’ve got 2 sets of DT240s and they are both flawless and have been for 4+ years.

If your interested I may be about to shift my old set of pro2s on the dt Swiss 5.1 since the new wheels arrived today

How and when bits on bikes break is as such down to luck and chance as component quality.

As a Mavic die hard I wax reluctant to buy Flows but they have been faultless and I ride like a drunk elephant.

As for hubs Hope are easy to service and get spares for. DT seem to be well regarded for quality too but never had anything g but OEM ones

Winstaeys had 20% off Hope hoops, whether they still do..

Is anyone else a bit ambivalent about the flow ex? This might be unfair but I used an old Flow for years, finally cracked it in the dh bike, replaced it with a Flow Ex and without really doing anything different it picked up 2 horrible dents (into the body of the rim) in about 2 months. The old ones dented just as often but the new ones seem to dent worse.

Have you got a lot fatter recently? 😉

I’ve battered a Flow into uncorrectable non-roundness after a few years on the back of my hardtail. My Flow EX rims are new so I’m hoping they’re similarly tough. The width, stiffness and tubelessness at reasonable weight is great.

I can’t fault my Hope hubs and I’m one of those weirdos who is (almost) completely oblivious to the weather and allergic to washing his bike (though I do clean the chain and stanchions). Still running well on original bearings, just like my Hope headsets and BB. On those grounds, especially as the pricing is good as a Hope Hoop I didn’t consider anything else for the new bike.

Buying an old wheel to strip down and build onto new rims is a completely different proposition. Each to their own but I cannot be bothered!

I’ve got thinner! But faster and you never know, possibly clumsier 😉 It could just be the Curse of the New Parts at work of course, just really feels like the old rim took just as big hits and didn’t seem to mind. Ended up wondering if the lower rim edge might mean the main structure has less protection.

But like I say, not a harsh criticism, I think given the choice I’d be quite tempted to stick with old Flows but I’d still be happy to buy Exes.

Hope pro3 AM hubs are 24h 🙂

Update…

the distributors have come back with a cost of, as near as makes no difference £170 to fix the wheel!

So looks like its time for a new wheel, probably Hope one as not found much else better for less.

there must be loads of people selling there obsolete 26″ wheels, some nice condition pro 2 evo on flows… anyone….

I suppose the key thing for me is supporting companies that resist throwaway capitalism. So with a Hope with standard spokes you know you can build it and rebuild it and fix all of it, well into the future. I’ve just rebuilt an old XC hub. It was easy to do and made this apparently “knackered” old hub as good as new. That’s the kind of gear I like.

Ebay, i’m watching a fair few now just to pick up as spares as the current bids are so low.

so…

I have ordered a set of hopes with 721s…

Still not sure if I have made the right call, but the lbs price matched, and advised me that based on my riding, they would be more appropriate than Flows, as they wouldn’t be strong enough.

I shall pick them up and try to get them set up tubeless, that’s my main concern about them, and if they don’t go up take them back for flows I recon.

If I were in the market for a new wheelset, I’d be having a close look at the new Hope Enduro’s

Are they Enduro-specific?

They only rotate if you are wearing goggles with an open face and a bum bag apparently, so maybe?

Are the hope enduro rims really any better than Stan flow ex rims? They have a smaller internal diameter for starters.

I’ve only used Flow Ex so not sure?

there must be loads of people selling their obsoleteunwanted 26″ wheels

Are the hope enduro rims really any better than Stan flow ex rims? They have a smaller internal diameter for starters.

Jedi has a set, so we shall see….

the flows are still strong enough ive ridden on them and a mate who has them currently who rides, you can ding them depending how hard you ride and where, but i only had a few minor dings by the time i sold mine

my mavic crossmax st’s on the other hand…….id not go back to them, far too narrow, even the new yellow ones are far to narrow out back, 19mm isnt enough width for bigger tyres and the rim just gets ripped to bits on rocky stuff

the hopes look decent, but bloody heavy as jedis 26’s are circa 1900 grams, god knows what the 27.5 and 29ers are, but at least the internal size is decent at 23mm like most brands now (bar mavic!!!)

finding the wider and deeper the rim, and a decent sized volume tyre, the less hits your rims take (ie no dings!) ive hit my sram rail 50’s quite hard at times and not a single ding anywhere (few scratches though which proves they are being hit hard when i think they are)

id not ride anything less than 21mm ish internal now TBH, though i think anything 23 upwards is far more suitable to peak district rock bashing personally, especially given the way it gives a tyre like a trail king/hans dampf/high roller etc a nice big wide volume protecting the rims