For a rear wheel on a geared hardtail, with an xc717 black disc rim and shimano deore 6 bolt disc hub.

Revolution are £5 more.

Depends what you want and what your riding.. rev’s save weight, I like em and dont have any trouble with them. Can also check Sapim Race, pretty much the same as rev’s I got them on one bike and rev’s on the other.

If you are light & light on kit and the build is good you should be OK on rev’s, but unless you are a weight weenie I wouldn’t bother.

For a wheel like that, go for the Revs for lower weight. £5 nothing compared with the total cost of the wheel.

Chain Reaction suggest that Revolution are for XC use only. So like cynical-al said, if you don’t hammer your bike you should be fine, but unless your bike is fairly light already it might not be worth it.

Well its a specialized rockhopper, not exactly the lightest. I ride mostly XC, but do ride as hard as I can, so sometimes it gets a bit of a thrashing. I weigh about 55kg.

I’m not worried about the extra £5, but I am worried about any loss of strength.

Can also check Sapim Race, pretty much the same as rev’s I got them on one bike and rev’s on the other.

I was under the impression that Sapim Race spokes were similar to DT Comp and Sapim Laser spokes were like Revs?

To answer the OP. If your lighter rider and looking to save weight, then go for Revs. If you don’t mind an extra 60g or so, then comps will be better.

I use Revolution spokes and find them great, although they do tend to start snapping after about 2 years of hard use.

How many spokes have you broken in the last couple of years?

They are weaker, they are bound to be, but as suggested if your not heavy on kit then why not take the weight saving.

IIRC there are cheaper (& safer) ways of saving that weight.

I’d go for the lighter spokes but stainless nipples rather than alloy. I had the same wheel build and the nipples started cracking after a couple of years, the spokes and rim were fine though.

Maybe I got the race bit wrong on the Sapim spokes, whatever I have are 1.5mm same as the Revs.

I am at 4 years on mine, broke 1 spoke at Thetford of all places, had a re tension after a week using the lifts in the Alps but no breakages.

Ride xc jeycore knarly shizzle an all wheelies n skids innit..

There is a 3rd option – Supercomps which splits the difference. Quite difficult to get hold of though.

I run Supercomps on my hardtail which gets some thrashing with no problems.

My SO’s hardtail wheels are built up with Revs (very light wheelset) and whilst they feel stupendously fast, they (to me) are terrifyingly flexy.(they’re laced as tight as the shop dared to go too)

One thing I would say – probably not worth going for fancy pants spokes if you’re using a boggo basic deore hub (nothing wrong with deore, but they ain’t in any way light)

stainless nipples rather than alloy.

I think you mean nickel plated brass.

and brass is also an alloy.

You mean aluminium 🙂