Hi All,

I need new wheels for my hard tail. I will be buying new & don’t know what I want TBH. Here’s what I need though:

Light – I’m running 1.8 KG set now & want lighter
Wide enough so I can use 2.3 Maxxis rubber
Strong – I’m 11 stones & regularly push the myself (not the bike), drops of 5 foot, fast loose, rooty etc.

I’d like to have the choice to run tubeless too without hassle.

I’m sure that a lot of you have strong wheels & could give me advice, please do – it’ll be appreciated.

Hope hubs? That new free wheel-less design?

Stans Arch on Hope Pro2 maybe? Check out [/url]

James: I’ve always liked Hope, I will go look. Any other suggestions?

I recently built up some dt swiss 240s hubs on stans crest rims with revolution spokes, come in at less than 1400 grams. My wheels are very strong and I run 2.2 tyres on them happily and i’m sure they’d cope with 2.3’s, very good for xc riding and can be set up in various bolt through arrangements. Do you really do 5 foot drop offs as its not really xc wheels you want for that.

@baron: they sound ace – yes I regularly drop that distance, it’s on a loop I do most weekends… why’s that not CX? My Macic Crossrides have coped fine with that drop for nearly 2 years but I am light…ish!

I’m going to have a look at your wheel set up mate.

EDIT: Why’s that not XC? 😳

You’ve pretty much described my xc riding style too (but I’m a stone lighter).

I’ve just rebuilt my Soda wheels – Pro2s onto Stans Arches with DT supercomps and ally nips. I can’t remember the exact weight, but it was around the 1700g mark. So far (couple of rides) they’ve been fine.

To be honest you won’t get superlight AND lonegvity if you want to ride hard and fast. A stiff rim and go light on the rest of the components is probably the best idea. Be a little wary of DT 240s – they have very narrow flange spacing and it makes for a sproingy wheel -the SO has 240/Olympic/Revs on her xc bike and I find it terrifying to ride – you can feel the front wheel flex when you push it into a corner! (other than that they’re fantastic hubs!)

Or look at the higher end crossmaxes – either the SX or ST is pretty light, or they actually do a bolt through version of the SL for Megavalanche type riders that’s VERY light, probably still pretty stiff and silly expensive…

@JonEdwards: Seems like sound advice. I’m hearing Stans every time…

Think I may go down the Pro2/Arch Route, seems sensible. Can’t believe the prices, excellent value, I don’t say that much. 😉

I would go for the Crossmax SX very nice wheels. I prefer Mavic Hubs to Hope they spin better!

I’ve got crests and I’m not sure i would want to do a 5 foot drop on them, thats quite a big force unless you are pretty damn smooth at landing, they are really pretty lightweight rims designed for xc rather than hooning off head height drops.