Im considering either of the following:

http://www.light-bicycle.com/650B-Hand-built-Endro-Downhill-MTB-wheelset-38mm-wide-27-5-inch-wheels-tubeless-ready.html

http://www.light-bicycle.com/beadless-carbon-650B-mountain-bike-wheelset-with-35mm-wide-tubeless-compatible-hand-built-MTB-wheels-27-5.html

Anybody god any experiences of these? Are Hope hubs worth the extra cash over the Novatech hubs or are you just paying for the name? Any advice would be great.

Also whats the difference between a clincher rim and a non clincher rim? And is there much difference between J spokes and straight pull?

Thanks

I broke one of mine after 12 miles.

The front lasted 6 months though, though it did need to be detensioned and rebuilt or that’d probably have gone ping too

whats the difference between a clincher rim and a non clincher rim?

Clincher rims take an inner tube and a tyre or just a tyre if you run them tubeless.

Non-clincher rims need Tubs – tyre and inner tube in one piece that is bonded to the wheel and are almost exclusively used in Road Racing. Can be a bugger to repair roadside etc….

I have some of the older 38mm rims. Very tough. Read here:
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/light-bicycle-carbon-rims/page/23

I was advised in the main Light Bicycle thread to look at some UK based suppliers of 35 mm, hookless carbon rims – chances are they come out of the same factory and you’d be dealing with someone in the UK if anything goes wrong.

I’ve got some currently being built for me by Blue Flow Bikes. Their price was almost exactly the same as Light Bicycle but without the unknown factor of import charges, long shipping, return to China for warranty etc.

Main Light Bikes thread; http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/light-bicycle-carbon-rims
Blue Flow Bikes; http://www.blueflowbikes.com/ (currently down as acknowledged on their Facebook page)
Blue Flow Bikes on Facebook; http://www.facebook.com/blueflowbikes/

As above, if i was going to go carbon again i’d get it from somewhere in the UK.

If you’re near Manchester then have a look at http://www.sixthelement.co.uk/ in Urmston*.

I’ve not had carbon off him Graham has built me up some nice wheels with EX471s. They lasted 3 days racing in Les Arc and are still straight as anything. I was pleasantly surprised!

*my only connection to them is that he built my current wheels.

I have a pair of the 35mm wide rims built by Light Bicycle (onto Dt Swiss hubs to keep the weight down)
I’ve been using them on my hardtail since November and have treated them pretty badly(I’m pretty clumsy ,all enthusiasm no technique!)
The front is still absolutely perfect
The rear cracked during a WGES race on a fast rocky section. LB replaced the rim for the shipping cost(£50 ish inc. customs duty) and were great to deal with
I’d recommend them but bear in mind if you are likely to be fairly rough then either go for the 38mm or the Heavy Duty option
My lbs said their wheel builder has had problems with spoke tension letting go with these rims but the wheels I’ve had have been perfect and are absolutely true
Also remember to add customs duty to the price of the wheels which is about £50 per pair

Abigale has been running Sixth Element 38 mm 650 b for most of the year and has given them some abuse over that time including the EWS in Ireland. They are still running as true as the day she got them. Out in Alps at the moment. Just got to La Thuile. They will be getting a month of use before we get back. As will my LBs

2 1/2 years on my 35mm 29er rims, which are hooked up to Hope hubs. They’ve survived a fair old thrashing in that time, including a few runs down the Fort William DH track, and as someone who has gone through a fair amount of rims in the past I certainly wasn’t expecting them to last this long, so on that basis I’m happy to recommend LB.

I haven’t had to use their warranty but a mate had an early 26″ rim replaced for the cost of postage even though it was over 2 years old.

No problems with mine, ober a thousand miles light xc usage but then I don’t exactly smash the hell out of them doing DH at low pressures.

I’d maybe get the spoke tensions checked by a trusted LBS if you buy a fully built wheelset, for peace of mind, but im perfectly happy and confident in mine. Even ran down a 200 meter bridleway of baby head size gravel with a flat front tyre once as I couldn’t brake too much, just went with it, not a mark on them.

They do have a few marks on them now, but only superficial scratches where they’ve been hit or scuffed.

I found lb really good to deal with,I was going to go for a xc spec 28 spoke set, but they asked my weight ..95kg and ride style, gentle xc, and pretty much insisted I go for 32 spoke all mountain spec, rather than the lighter xc lay up..they’ve not broken yet so im not complaining.

Collected my Sixth Element 38mm 650’s today. They look awesome and I can’t wait to hit the trails. I’d recommend dealing with Graham. He’s been mint throughout.

I’ve a set of 29er 35mmlight bicycle rims, imported and then built by big Matt at 18 bikes.

They have done 15,000km on a rigid bike, often with bikepacking kit on. Granted this isn’t DH abuse but I’ve smashed them in to a lot of rocks at 12-15psi. They have been checked a few times. Still true and no changes to spoke tension.

Bombproof!

Been running some 38mm wide 26″ rims since August on my full suspension bike and i’ve been really happy so far

Needed to true them up twice but that the same as on alloy rims – i hammer wheels pretty hard

Really happy so far and would buy more for my other bikes

Not 35mm but 30mm, cracked 3 rims in around 6 months, back to alloy again but if I went back to carbon I would probably go for Ibis or Enve where feedback relating to warranty replacements seems more positive.

I have been running some 650b 38mm lb rims for 6 months. Had no bother riding fairly ruff stuff in the Lake District.
I have had no reason to test the warranty system but my understanding is that they offer a warranty but you pay shipping cost and they offer a discounted crash replacement scheme.
Often the folk that say “mine broke after 2 weeks ” etc never say why they failed or what happened. I suspect people that weigh the average weight of a middle aged Brit shouldn’t run 22 psi tyre pressure!

I posted a mini review on Instagram at the weekend.

https://instagram.com/p/BHt_oS6hTgn/