Keep the Alex Double wall rims or go for En521 rims ?

Using 2.1 + tyres

the Alex rims are good, however, a Hope Hoops pre-built wheelset will probably cost you about the same as the cost of a set of Pro2’s and a good builder to do it, especially if you need new spokes (and probably will).

then at least that way you’ll have an excellent choice of rim and a spare set of wheels/ebay fodder.

alex, no
mavic, no
stans – yeah!

get some flows, perfect for a pitch 🙂

Dave

Another vote for hope hoops with Stans flows.

i swapped from oe 2010 pitch wheels to flow ( pro evo ) hoops, hoops feel a lot better and faster, however this may be because i like to chat and ride, i struggle to talk over the Hope free hub so maybe im pedaling more.

Flows if you dont want tubeless 😛

Why Flows? Convince me why tubeless?
Tyres are more expensive and your gonna be 3 tubes lighter
Anything else.

Less rolling resistance – no friction between tyre and tube to overcome
More grip – trade off against the above, you can either run lower pressures and get more grip, or the same pressure as you had with a tube and have less resistance.
Fewer Punctures – fewer, not none, you can still get a cut, or a big snakebite, but you’ll avoid most snakebite flats and almost all thorn punctures if you run sealant.
lighter weight – On race day you could run tubeless tyres without sealent and with only the thin rim strip, but thats a risk, add in the thick strip and sealent and its circa 100g, an innertube (generic spesh/bontranger/conti no the superlight or super heavy ones) weighs 150g.

edit: I’m getting flows/pro2 for Christmass I reckon, first upgrade will be an uppy/downy post.

plus with almost all ‘tubeless’ rims, you don’t need to decide at this point that you are going to run tubeless; they run just as well with tubes.

you should choose flows because wider rims give you much better strength (benefit obvious) and tyre shape (for better grip and handling). Flows are so light that you can get these benefits in a rim which is actually lighter than the mavic rims that used to be the norm (like the super heavy 521s mentioned above).

Dave

so if I were to get flow rims would they require special nippled spokes? £££££

No, just normal spokes IIRC, it’s not actualy a tubeless rim, its just a normal drilled rim with a slightly different bead holding design, short sidewalls with a kind of channel to hold the tyres bead.

The light weight comes from thinner materials and no eyelets, which I’m suspicious about, but it seems to work for load of people.

Hope Hoops are ~£285 for standard hubs and black rims, you won’t get your current rims built onto new pro2’s with new spokes for that money, not when you think a pair of stans rims retails at £130 on their own!

Hope Hoops with Flows on my Pitch too – perfect. Can’t believe people are still faffing around with inner tubes these days tbh 😉

[scepticalmode]

3 tubes lighter

So you wouldnt pack a tube & bit of shampoo bottle as an emergency measure should you badly gash a tyre ?

And this rolling resistance thing, I didnt notice any difference when I tried tubeless, (albeit ghetto method). 😕

[/scepticalmode]

That £285 is a good deal though, the hubs & spokes are £206 on CRC.

I’ve had Alex rims on my hardtail for around 8 years and they are still true today despite commuting with the bike for several thousand miles, dirt jumping with the bike and generally giving it a hard time. I am more than 90kg as well. The Shimano hubs on mine have needed 3 bearing replacements in that time but still work OK today. Never had a wheel set last so long, I am reluctant to get rid of them.

So you wouldnt pack a tube & bit of shampoo bottle as an emergency measure should you badly gash a tyre ?

but you’d take that if you were running tubes!

When I’m using tubes, I have 3 tubes on me, 1 in each wheel and one in my pocket.

When I’m tubeless, I have 1 tube, in my pocket.

Dave

So back to my original question Alex jobbies or EN521?