I’m considering getting some Carbon 27.5 wheels. I can’t stretch to Enve or Eastone etc so my search is at the ‘budget’ end of the Carbon Spectrum.

The SuperStar AM look like great value but I know that there have been doubts over the quality of some of SuperStar’s previous components so am a little wary of them. These ones: http://www.superstarcomponents.com/en/am-carbon-switch-ultra-edition.htm

With that in mind for a bit more I could go to JRA for their TrailDogs but I cannot find any reviews or feedback from folk with have ridden them. they use the Derby rims which seem to have a good rep: http://www.justridingalong.com/jra-traildog-derby-carbon-wheelset.html

Has anyone got any feedback on either of those sets or other options I could consider? Have to be fully built ready to go as I’m not able to build them myself. Will be my first set of carbon wheels so really want to make a good choice!

Cheers
Will

Light Bicycle are the obvious choice. Give bits to local builder to build.

light-bicycle without a shadow of a doubt

Couple of points which may help:

1) JRA have been excellent with a few wheel builds I’ve had them do.
2) Derby rims have a very good rep, have a look on mtbr as they’re well covered on there.
3) Are you set on carbon? I only ask as I was looking at the 29er Derby JRA package and noticed it is only marginally lighter than their aluminium traildog with the wide Rhyde rims. That kind of put me off the carbon as the rhyde rims are meant to be plenty stiff (and I’ve never noticed any flex in my velocity p35/blunt which is similar width)and if you do bash/bend them they’re a lot cheaper to replace than the carbon variant. The Specialized roval traverse sl as the next step up comparable is 200+ grams lighter so clearly a weight benefit there. All based on 29er flavour.

Watching thread with interest on hubs though as i’m tempted by the rhyde package. Suspect standard pawl design and it suggests stainless steel bearings on their website.

njee – can you recommend a local builder to us for LB rims? I’ve always used strada or JRA in the past but neither want to touch LB.

Don’t get Ryde rims!!!!!! Made of cheese!
How wide are those trail dogs?

Don’t get Ryde rims!!!!!! Made of cheese!

Interesting. At 90kg i’ll give them a miss then.

Wrecker – 650b – 40mm external I believe. 29er is 35mm

njee20 – reason I want to get them fully built is that no-one round here wants to do the build. They’d rather sell me a set that they stock which is fair enough.

can you buy LB fully built?

I’m recently purchased the Superstar AM’s and thus far have been nothing but impressed. Delivered 2 days after order (late afternoon order) kept abreast of delivery and tracking provided, well packaged and really do look the business outof the box.

Riding wise they feel a lot stiffer than my old Crank Brothers setup, have a loud rear hub (if that’s your thing) with a good pickup, easy to set up tubeless with the right tape and vales they also sell at a good price.

My only gripe so far, was that and it could be my tyres, but they were an absolute sod to get on the rim, very tight fit and I ended up wrestling with them for a good few hours and pretty much utilised every expletive known to man!

Don’t forget Bird.
Been very happy with mine.
I went for the TR30 as I’m light: 1520g

They also do AM35: 1605g

http://shop.birdmtb.com/wheels.html

My husband just had a set of wheels built by the Spokesman – Mark Pollard in Devon. excellent build and a very nice man. It is worth talking to him about rims as he can source them too, also does mail order.

http://www.spokesmanwheels.co.uk/

So you can source your own hubs and rims and he will build with your choice of spokes, or talk to him about what he can get hold of.

Thanks AlexSimon – hadn’t seen them before.

CovertBaz – what tyres are you using out of interest?

njee – can you recommend a local builder to us for LB rims? I’ve always used strada or JRA in the past but neither want to touch LB.

Beyond Mountain Bikes in Cranleigh have a great wheel builder, he built all of mine until I started DIY, highly recommended!

Beyond Mountain Bikes in Cranleigh have a great wheel builder, he built all of mine until I started DIY, highly recommended!

Great, thanks

Anyone know what brand of hub that JRA are using?

Im running LBs on Hope hubs built up by 18 Bikes and Abigale is on the Superstar AMs bought when they had the extra money off code. Just comming to the end of our first week in Verbier . Both sets have had a hard week but still looking good. Still got a week left here then on to Pila and then Finale so will have a better idea at the end of the trip.

Definitely give these wheels a look.
http://www.blueflowbikes.com/
The carbon Kevlar rims are very tough,built onto Hope hubs & about £675 a pair.

jfb01 – do you use the blue flow carbon or kevlar?

Tracey if you get a chance could you do a quick comparison of the 2 wheel sets – what if any are the noticeable differences between the 2?

I’m using Vee Tire “Fluid” and “Flow” tyres.

Excellent tyres, been really impressed with them for a newer brand, but as I said above I did have a battle to get them onto the rim of my new wheels.

those bird wheelsets look lovely –

Don’t forget Bird.
Been very happy with mine.
I went for the TR30 as I’m light: 1520g
They also do AM35: 1605g
http://shop.birdmtb.com/wheels.html

I have the AM35s. First set of carbon rims. Seem very stiff indeed. Mine seemed to scuff up quite badly at first but don’t seem to be getting any worse. Maybe I stopped caring about it 😉

Can anyone advise me how/where I can but a set of the Light Bicycle 35mm wide rims fully built on Hope Pro2 Evo hubs and how much it might cost?