More-or-less the same dimensions, Arch heavier. Is it significantly stronger?

http://www.notubes.com/ZTR-Rims-C18.aspx

As you can see from the rim profiles the dimensions are very similar but the Arch EX rim is reinforced both in material density and structure.
If in doubt go for the Arch EX. Even my missus has dinged her Crest rims and that has never happened on any rim before.

I recently got arch ex on Hope Pro 2 Evo SP,I got these as I wanted to go tubeless plus I’m About 100kg kitted up.

They seem a lot flexier than my XM719’s, whether that is down to build quality or rim strength I don’t know. But my opinion is they won’t hold up to the abuse my 719’s have had, without a trip or two to the wheel builder.

If in doubt go for the Arch EX.

Thanks – that confirms what I thought. Flows seem a bit overkill for JRA…

I had ZTR355 on Hope but built by Wheelpro for around 4 years on my FS. Coped with wheels on the ground type riding at trail centres and peaks etc with my 90Kg.

I got to 100Kg and the front folded going down a tame run at Sherwood.

Now ride Pro 2 evo hope hoops with Arch EX and they seem strong enough for me.

At the mo I’m 112Kg and although losing it slowly the bike seems to be holding up.

I weigh 100kgs all up and ran crests on my turner flux. They stood up to Afan etc okay, but I felt much more comfortable with the arch ex rims I had on my subsequent yeti asr5. I now have another pair of arch ex (with the new hope hubs) on my ftm.

For xc work, I had a pair of 1450g 355 / hope pro 3 wheels which were fine for my weight.

All depends what you are going to do I guess.

I have both in 29er (jn fact one of each on the bike at the moment), I don’t really notice any difference in weight so if you think you’re going to be hard on them then no good reason not to get the Arch Ex. The rim weight difference isn’t much compared to the tyre and a bit of clag.

That said, for southern softy Surrey Hills riding, Crests have always been fine too. I’m 80kg in birthday suit, not super aggressive.

One observation: I put 2.35 Hans Dampfs on these, they went on fine but the tyre profile is very bulbous (‘light bulby’ shaped), I decided I wasn’t happy with that from a burp risk POV so took them off. I’d say if you think you want to run bigger tyres than maybe 2.3 (check the Stans site for that), get a wider rim.

I’ve now got 2.3 Spesh Butcher Controls, they look and ride fine. I uses 2.25 Schwalbes too.

Edit: the Stan’s site says Arch Ex is 80 grams heavier than Crest in 29. x 2 (both ends) x 3 (effect of rotational mass at the end of a 29er spoke compared to static frame weight) = the equivalent in terms of effort of adding 480 grams, about a pound, of frame weight, if my figures are valid. Less effect in a smaller wheel size as the rim is closer to the axle.

Campfreddie:

I weigh 100kgs all up and ran crests on my turner flux. They stood up to Afan etc okay

I bought those wheels off you about 20 months ago, the bearings still don’t need replacing after a *lot* of miles. The front rim is still in brilliant condition, the rear got destroyed on a waterbar in Skye, so replaced with an Arch Ex. All the spokes are the same still though.

That was a very good purchase 🙂 Although I did sell the Flux, and buy a 5-Spot.