New bike build,
Starting with a marin 140 frame but this may change later on depending on how I get on with it.
Planning on Marzocchi RC3 Ti forks. Loving the idea of coil fork with near air fork weight. 15mm axle
other bits include Hope M4 brakes (203/183), thompson stem, easton EA70 alu bars, slx double+bash cranks, x7 short cage mech, wellgo mg1 ti pedals and after a bit of saving an uppy downy post.

wheels though…
Loving the Easton Haven wheelset for more than just looks but cringing slightly at the price. 1650g for the pair. £650.
Am I better off with the adjustable axle but heavier hope pro II/Stans flow setup? I’ve read 1900g for the pair? £300 inc axle changes.

Similar strength but £350 for 250g weight saving?

Pro II’s – much more serviceable and relaible IMHO You won’t be racing on a your bike, so assuming you ride for pleasure 250g’s is a couple of energy bars and a tube

I wanted a new wheelset a week or so ago, considered both these options but ended up buying 2009 Crossmax SX from CRC for £450.

Seem very stiff and strong, bit lighter than the pro2/flow wheels, proper UST and nicely blingy if you like that sort of thing.

Might be worth considering.

We have both in the shop if you fancy a pair give me a shout and I’ll get a good price, both are very good

We have a set of Havens being built onto a nice Yeti in the shop.

They are very bling. If I’m being honest, I’d say they look a bit too bling – especially the engraved” hubs.

My advice? Have a good look at a set in the flesh before you make up your mind.

The new pro2 sp’s look good, about 1700g’s on stans rims iirc

interesting responses, thanks.
Hadn’t thought about the havens being too blingy. maybe i should check them out in real life.
sale prices on older rims had passed my mind too.
pro II SP – any disadvantages to the straight pull thing with hope hubs?

Apparently they are a lot stiffer,

Hope Pro2/Flow with DT comp spokes are not that heavy – less than 1800g

Hope Pro2/Crest would be lighter than the Haven or Hope/Arch about the same weight

Is it still the case that they don’t do a 20mm Haven? That’d rule them right out for me, they look like great wheels but that’s pretty limiting.

Haven’t got a bad word to say for my Flows on Pro 2s, but I’m sure you can get the same strength for less weight, if you don’t mind paying more pounds.

Pro 2’s all the way so easy to strip and service, I swapped my crossmax SX’s for Pro 2 with Flow, didn’t fancy buying a new freehub everytime the bushing wore out. SPokes easier to get hold of with the Pro 2’s as well.

They do 20mm havens but you can’t swap between 15mm and 20mm which is a bit of a negative for me.
weight for pro II/flow = Front: 880 Rear: 1006 – 1886g
weight for pro II/crest = Front: 765 Rear: 888 – 1653g
but think the crest rims will be too light weight for what I want to throw at them.

So seems like I will be going pro II/flow at the moment! not SP though, disadvantages seem to outweigh the advantages.

I don’t know any info about it, but there is a new Pro2 Evo hub coming out in the new year. I have no idea if it’s any lighter than the Pro2, but presumably it’s better in some way. Maybe engineered better to take all these new standards. The Pro2 adapts to most of them anyway with the appropriate Hope conversion kit, but they’re mostly retro engineered to take new standards on the original pro2 (presumably proof that it was a pretty good original design from Hope, especially at their price). Maybe try some internet research on the Evo hub, the downside being that it will certainly be more expensive, even if just by the 2.5% on VAT.

Argh VAT rate. Can I find the money before christmas!!

Pro 2 EVO hub makes it like the Pro 3 hub as used in the SP wheels… which is better(er). Bigger axle hence stronger… Pro 2 hubs have a known axle weakness especially when used with the 12mm Maxle set up (but you will need to ride hard to find the weakness).

I love the support I get from Hope when I have problems, especially when I compare that with the 3 month wait I once had for Mavic Crossmax spokes. It’s kind of hard for me to contemplate fancy wheelsets again but the Haven and DT wheelsets are tempting (My concern would be who imports Easton/DT and do they do good customer service… because if I buy them I will likely need it).

I would probably go SP-AM4 with Flow’s – but I need new discs anyway.