I need some new rims to replace my ageing Sun Singletracks, and currently the Flows appear to be the favourite.

Now I know some World Cup racers use them, but I’m more concerned with real world, average person-type usage.

They would be going on my all-mountain Banshee, so I am attracted to the low weight of them, but I am also taking the bike to Whistler Bike Park in the Summer and would be interested to know how they would hold up there.

I also do DH here in the UK; not racing, but just sessioning places like Rogate, Tilgate, PORC, Cwncarn, Gethin etc.

Cheers all.

Would you run tubeless or tubed?

I had a set of flows for a while on my DH bike, taco’d one rim and stuck ex721s on instead. Might just have been unlucky though, they were really good trail wheels.

They will be fine. I had a set on my DH bike & they were no better or worse than a 721, just a bit lighter.

If you are a fat git or a hack the fact they have no eyelets may be an issue if you case jumps to death or hit the Gethin rock garden at warp factor 10.

The wheels now live on my Zesty, and probably have just as hard a life & are still nice & straight, despite a few cracks around some of the eyelets (over ambitious jumps on a small bike).

Would you run tubeless or tubed?

Tubed.

Those 721s look up to the job, albeit a little heavy, but I guess that is the price to pay for the extra strength.

I’m not heavy (around 165-170lbs), but there are probably smoother riders in the world.

I can’t see a problem with DH on Flows, tubed if you are quite a smoooooooth rider – I’ve dented rims a few time, poor landings, ladning on roots, catching lips / edges of rocks and slabs and thats tubeless.

Just gone to Flow’s for trail* riding. With Tubeless

We’ll see-

I use them on my DH bike, tubeless. No issues whatsoever during 10 days in the Alps last year and numerous courses over here (including Rheola), but I did ding the rear quite badly in Malaga whilst out with Switchbacks. Saying that, the trails there were proper rocky.

For what it’s worth, when I got back, I straightened the rim out with a pair of adjustables in about 2 minutes and it has been fine ever since and holds air perfectly.

Thats good news

I may have to get some then.

Pretty pricey though 😯

Any good deals to be had? The cheapest I’ve found so far is Wiggle @ around £60

I’ve had some flows on an alpine five for several years. Admittedly the rear hasn’t been round for ages, but it still holds air and easily handles even more abuse! They’ve done four weeks in the alps, plus a year or so of regular uk DHing. Tbh they’re probably stronger than some spank DH rims I bought for the DH bike, they were ludicrously soft with the rear only lasting a month or so from new! I’m not heavy (75kg), but not known for my smooth lines!

Just bought a new set of Flow shod Hope Hoops for my new bike.
I’ve had a set on my Blur 4x for a year. After only a couple of rides I punctured on a rocky descent and the rim wall folded in on itself at one point. I thought it was a gonner, but I managed to get it looking rim shaped again with adjustables and have been fine and holding air ever since. (although not pretty)
Good enough for me. (I wasn’t saying that when I first bent them)

There’s someone on here that wasn’t happy with them for DH use… They’re a very, very tough trail rim but still a trail rim. But then you’ve got the likes of Rowan Sorrell using a pretty old set, and I know people say “Oh Sabrina Jonnier probably gets a new set every year” but she was using a well used set at the IXS…

Mine have certainly never put a foot wrong but then I’m not hard on wheels. I’ve ended up with a set of 721s for DH use anyway rather than swapping tyres all the time but the Flows were up for it

I’m not particularly hard on wheels either: I’ve have my Singletracks for 4-5 years.

Better save up the pennies.

Any suitable alternatives to the Flows? I baulk at paying £120 for a set of rims. I can almost get a whole wheelset from Superstar for that.

In fact, I am tempted to get a set of their dh wheels, and just keep my ageing Sun Singletrack-clad wheels for pedalling duties.

Any suggestions?