Just found a good deal on some Stans rims for my budget CX bike build, but I can only get them in 24 or 28 hole variety

A quick glance however appears to show that unless I’m willing to spend a fortune I can’t find any hopes less than 32 hole.

Novatec apparently have some, but can’t find a seller, even on ebay.

any other options for something cheap (ie under 100 quid)

ta

I needed some to get rid of some nasty Zee Shimano hubs that kept failing and managed to buy a rear wheel in the CR clearance which was Easton and 24 spoke and swopped the rear rim. As for the front , I found a guy in Taiwan selling DATI hubs, which I bought for the front and arrived in a week. Not fussed about being the same, just got rid of the unreliable hubs and these go round are lighter and roll smoother too and most importantly not broken a freehub , which the old ones lasted under 100 miles each.

Ignore, sold out of my suggestion

You can get DT 350’s from bikestacja on eBay for around £75 in 28h flavour. Have a mooch on there’d eBay store, you can find some bargain 240’s sometimes if you don’t mind odd colours.

I would want more than 24 spokes for the way my cross bike is used

Hopes are available in 28h as thats what i have on my CX bike, though obviously above £100 (£125 for rear only). There are/were some WTB on ebay for less, no idea of quality

I agree with edric, maybe the reason that the rims are cheap and the hubs are rare is that no one wants them. Probably ok if you are a lightweight (but then you wouldn’t be on stw). It is possible to lace up wheels with non matching holes. I think there’s a few guides on SheldonBrown

stans own CX builds were using 28, for example iron crosses.

I have some Hope XC3 hubs with 24 holes and JRA reckoned they could build them up for the CX bike but wanted to use some single guage spokes for strength (although I though db spokes could build a stronger wheel?).

ive read about that nick…seems a bit of a bodge and id be worried about integrity of build

Is 28 to few for a cx wheel for road, gravel and fireroad duties? I’m currently using an old set of 24 hole road wheels on my current bulid!

I would want more than 24 spokes for the way my cross bike is used

I would have done done too, but then I picked up a stans alpha 24/28 set cheap. I’ve given them a lot of abuse on rocky mountain bike rides and they’ve been absolutely fine.

what about these? legit or not…

off ebay

laced to stans alpha 340s?

Alpha 340s are weak rims – no way would I ride off road on 24/28, I chose 32/32 for my road build (though TINAS uses low counts OK IIRC)

The early ones were, the later ones were beefed up – and no longer 340g.

If I was building/ speccing my own wheels, I wouldn’t have gone this low. I wouldn’t have got ally nips either. But they were a built set, cheap, so I took a chance and, like I said, they’ve been fine so far despite a fair bit of abuse.

But I’m 70kgs and I don’t tend to break stuff. Only things I’ve broken in 30 years have been a rear rim when I spent a few years riding round a campus with a huge amount of step drops to flat between 4-6’+, and a couple of old cranks that had hairline cracks in already. Maybe I’m smooth like silk on a bike, a massive mincer, or just lucky. Tricky for you to tell from there, though.

Alpha 340s are WEAK rims – no way would I ride off road on 24/28,

They would probably be perfectly fine racing cyclocross, never really anything to threaten a rim in a CX race. For riding CX on trails and mtb stuff, yeah they would probably die (under me, 200lb, not subtle riding).

I’ve a s/h 24 hub DT Swiss 240, no use to me as too flexy on my MTB.

Any good?

340s weigh 420 gm now…thats not that light is it?

I’ve a s/h 24 hub DT Swiss 240, no use to me as too flexy on my MTB.

Just one hub? or a set?

ta

I’d not worry about the low spoke count- I run 24 spoke Easton Havens on my 150mm bike which has been up and down big old mountains and is ridden in the Peak most weeks and they’re fine. In fact I’ve not had a set of wheels stay perfect for so long.