I am in the market for some new wheels and can’t decide between the Hope Hoops enduro and the Crossmax XL WTS. The hopes are obviously cheaper by about £200 but 300g heavier.
What’s everyones thoughts. Will i really notice the extra 300g on the hopes

Rab

Riding through mud…no.

In fact you won’t notice the extra 300g at all unless you try them side by side.

My head says hope my heart says Mavic. Has anyone got real world experience with both

In the fine Singletrack tradition of recommending something completely different from what you mentioned.

DT Swiss EX1501 – http://www.dtswiss.com/Wheels/MTB-Wheels/EX-1501-Spline-ONE-27-5

Same bombproof internals as the DT 240s hubs and the ‘Aaron Gwin’ rim that is apparently indestructible. Standard components as well, DT straight pull spokes which are (reasonably) readily available and the hub internals are the same as the aforementioned 240s

In the fine Singletrack tradition of recommending something completely different from what you mentioned.

Me too!
I ended up getting some Ryde Trace enduro/pro 2 evos from here;

http://www.bike-box.de/de/Bikeparts/Laufraeder/Hope-Laufraeder/Laufradsatz-Hope-Pro-2-EVO-DT-Comp-Ryde-Trace-Enduro.html?listtype=search&searchparam=ryde

£340 at todays rates. 29mm internal width, light and strong (I’m 95kg and they’re on a hard tail……)
That said, the mavic hubs are nicer to use, if more maintenance intensive.

My next choice of rim would be the DT swiss EX471. If only the mavic rims weren’t so narrow!

In the same vein… I don’t understand why anyone would buy the crossmaxes, when you can put lightbicycle rims on the hub of your choice for less and have a stronger, lighter wheelset made entirely of off-the-shelf, easy to find parts.

Is it really cheaper NW? with a comparable standard hub?
Those mavic hubs are a good bit better (to use) that pro 2 evos (I have both).
I only ask as I did the sums quite recently and it didn’t work.

I’m not entirely sold on buying from china, how do they deal with warranty etc, then there are customs etc on top.

Crossmaxes can be had for £560 from Germany

I would avoid crossmax like the plague. I had some crossmax St and whilst they were very good wheels they were a nightmare and very expensive if anything broke. Every part is proprietary meaning you generally can’t just walk into a shop and pick up a spoke for instance. I snapped one spoke on mine and because some of the spokes had seized into the rim i ended up needing a new rim and all new spokes at a cost of around £180. Then I found that some of the disk rotor mounting tabs had snapped. This would of cost £170 for a rear hub shell but I decided to bin them instead. My default choice now is hope hubs with whatever rims. At least parts are cheap and off the shelf if anything goes wrong but I have 4 sets with one set nearly 14 years old and nothing has ever gone wrong. Touch wood.

Speaking as someone who’s owned both Hopes on Flow’s and is currently riding the Crossmax XL’s I’d say it’s a trade off.

Hopes: Easier to service, easier to break but easier to fix, cheaper.

Mavics: Lighter, noticably stiffer, ridiculously tough but a bit more fussy to live with.

If you have a good local Mavic dealer and get the MP3 warranty the aftercare service will be at least as good as Hope with the added bonus of crash replacement cover.

Personally I’m a big chap so I really like the mega stiff feel of the Mavics if that wasn’t the case I’d be tempted by Hopes, maybe with a lighter rim.

Hatter+1

wrecker – Member

Is it really cheaper NW? with a comparable standard hub?

I paid about £450 all in for my set with used but refurbished DT240S hubs, Mavic have nothing on that tbh. But if you want new you could go with 350s and I reckon still be cheaper, stronger and considerably lighter than the Mavics.

i prefer my mavic crossmax sx and st. i ordered te hope enduro without realising they wasn’t tubeless rims. they need tape and the faff alone for changing tyres regularly is worth the cost of mavics#

I’ve got some Hope Tech Enduros and they’ve been rock solid so far. And I’m a fat knacker.

Went for the XL’s on the basis that they are UST off the shelf. I cannot see the point in tape etc on a new wheel seems daft. If the Enduro had a UST rim I may have bought them. The XL’s have more spokes than the ST and Enduro’s (Mavic) from memory so should be pretty stiff. Seem pretty light too. Also they look pretty trick as well but lets be fair all wheels at that sort of money will.

In terms of spares i’ll likely in a few weeks order a few spokes and keep them as back ups just in case… Wife has said they need to last at least five years!! before I can consider new wheels!

2hottie – Member

I cannot see the point in tape etc on a new wheel

Basically, it works pretty much the same, and makes a lighter (or stronger) rim- no wasted metal spent plugging up holes, and no complication with spokes/nipples. I’ve got various UST and tubeless ready rims and apart from very occasionally damaging tape when changing tyres, I’d choose tape personally, it has a little tradeoff of hassle but is better in use. As long as the beads etc are well designed anyway which these days they generally are.

OTOH if you’re buying a complete factory wheelset, Mavic are definitely the ones imo- it took a while but I got spares for a 2006 wheelset, try that with Fulcrum or others.

The hope tech enduros are a tad heavier as you say – although I understand that most if not all of the weight gain is in the hubs rather than the rims, so less of a rotational weight trade off.
I’m saying this as I have some arriving next week after also considering the mavics and I clearly must have made the right decision I possibly am sure I think.

Mavic hubs are superior in use; better pick up and much less draggy. But they do need some ongoing attention. The preload nut is a pain as it works loose and suddenly feeling the back wheel flopping on a descent is REALLY annoying. The rims are strong and tubeless is very easy indeed.
The hopes are cheaper and easier to maintain with bit generally off the shelf and they make a great noise!
Given a choice, I’d sooner have DT240s as NW says but £££££££££££ and not easy to get used for a decent price.

thegreatape – Member

I’ve got some Hope Tech Enduros and they’ve been rock solid so far. And I’m a fat knacker.

+1