I’ve been looking at getting some Hope Hoops as these seem great value for money and can’t decide on the 4.2 or 5.1 rimmed versions. Normally I’d have gone for the lighter set – I’m not a jumper or downhill madman and have never destroyed a rim, but now I have a longer travel 6/5″ full sus machine I find myself riding a bit more agressively, faster and getting the odd bit of air (air for me would be 6 inches of a little hump on the trail, not talking about 6 feet drops :oops:) would the lighter 4.2 rims be ok for this type of riding?

I did wonder about getting some custom built one’s with 719 rims or even 317 rims, the 317’s work out a lot cheaper and these have been fine on an old Heckler – or they did at CRC but all their ‘wheels – custom MTB’ have mysteriously disappeared! 😕

I think Hope Hoops can be built with other rims but I can’t find anywhere that supply these, anyone know where?

Cheers.

I would be careful not to overbuild your bike – although nothings going to go wrong if you do! For example, assuming you ride the same ‘style’ on both bikes, you would arguably need stronger wheels on a 4″ travel hardtail than on a 6″ full-suss, because the suspension will act to protect the wheels. Of course… if you ride harder and more aggressively on the full-suss (as you say you do) then that makes everything a lot more complicated, but you get the idea!

Personally, for 6″ of air you definitely wouldn’t need more than XM719’s, and XM717’s would probably be fine too (Mavic user here).

If you’re riding rocky sections get the 5.1’s, much stiffer and less skittish.

You can now order hope hoops with Ztr Flow rims, speak to your LBS, they should be able to order them?

Weight wise, the Flow’s are in between 4.2 and 5.1.

review\info here

I dented a 4.2 quite badly. It was on a HT in the alps, but it put me off buying them again.

been runnning a 5.1 for over a year now and love it, they’re a great weight and no issues for me.
I’m in the clydedale class of riders, and that decided it for me…

You should be able to get hope hoops built up on mavic rims now (though only a couple of different rims I think). The mavic and stans rim options can be ordered through your local hope dealer. I am awaiting delivery of mine as we speak 🙂

I went for 4.2 in the end after much the same though process as you. I ride a 5 inch travel bike, mostly XC but with some trips to Afan etc with bigger rides. I’ve had no problems at all. I went with Aireal hubs, which are not made any more, but the importer still has some in stic and offers a 2 year warranty with them. They are fantastic. Front and rear hand built wheels with DT spokes, 4.2 rims and the hubs (20mm front with QR adaptor) and QR rear with 12mm adaptor £250 all in. They also do a lighter XC hub. I cant reccomend them more highly. Evolution cycles in Eastbourne.

loads options now- just to make it worse to make a decision:

http://www.18bikes.co.uk/news.php?articleshow=288

pictures of the hope factory on our flickr site too

POPPA , i dont agree mate . If you have a 4″ trail bike , its a trail bike . If you are doing drop offs, jumps and rock gardens you probably shouldnt be riding a trail bike ( eg…read the website on the new 4″ PIVOT , NOT FOR FREERIDE or DOWNHILL)
If you buy a 6″ bike you build the bike according to the capabilities , if you buy a 4″ bike you build it to its capabilities.

You try and tell a hardtail elite racer he need heavy duty wheels to compensate for his lack of suspension !?!

Kojak, if you are a 200lb man not picking your lines and plowing through trails get the 5.1’s , if you are 140lbs and pick your lines the 4.2’s will be more than enough .

Buy the wheels that suit your riding style. If you buy wheels that are too light you will mangle them , if you buy ones that are too strong (strong=heavy , unless you spend shit loads) you will curse them everytime you ride uphills.

In your case with the 6inch jumps i would go the 4.2 anyhow !

BTW: i am 200lbs and minced the 4.2’s in 8 months , i now have a set of DT E2200 and they are sweet . I needed the heavier rims for my style of riding .

Simon, great photo’s, added you as a flickr contact, cheers.

Evolution – I was only in there last week! 🙂

I can’t help thinking maybe the 4.2’s are a bit light and the 5.1’s a bit heavy, so something inbetween – reason for considering the mavic 317’s and 719’s as they are about 440/460g ? Don’t know anything about the stan’s rims, a quick look put’s the flow at 470g but they say max pressure for a 2.3 is 38psi 😯 isn’t that a bit low – I usually put 40-50 psi in mine?

Simon, seen the hope factory on your flickr site, amazing, I’d like to work there.

Cheers everyone.

Ozzy, I’m about 180lb, and used to pick my lines, but on the newer bike I’m finding myself changing lines and going through and over stuff just for the hell of it as the suspension just handles it better than the short travel bikes, so I’m kinda having a bit more fun. So, like you say I don’t want to go light to find I ruin them or too heavy I’m cursing them on the hills?

I reckon I’m gonna look into something about the 450g weight with a good build to be on the safe side.

Mate , i pick em if i have time , but usually a plow to go fast . I would call myself an AM rider , i ride XC tracks , downhill , freeride …. anything for a buzz . But more importantly , wherever i start , i finish , so if i go on a ride that has 1000m of decent , i have pedalled up there to start with. So the E2200 (2200g) are sweet for uphills too.

I would probably go the 5.1 now hearing what you say . At the end of the day an extra 100-200g on each wheel weight can be offset by good tyre choice .

Heres the PLOW with the E2200’s

Yeah, kind of making sense really, bit stronger just in case and it’s only something like 150g extra in total …

ozzybmx:-

Fair enough. I just reckon that if you were doing, for example, 4ft drops on a hardtail you would need stronger wheels than doing 4ft drops on a 6″ full-suss.

I reckon I’d go with the Flow rim on Pro2 in that case, the flow is lighter than the 5.1 and stronger than the 4.2. I just got them for my Fuel EX9 and was wondering if I’d over wheeled but i’ve got massive strength with average weight now.

Pops – its not really about the wheels , if you have an XC hardtail you will not be doing 4-6foot drops to flat regular , you would take the “B” line .

All im saying is if you buy a 4 inch bike , build it to its capabilities , if you buy a 6inch bike build it to compliment the frame , and the same with a FR bike .

I would have loved the NICOLAI HELIUS FR , but my riding style has NICOLAI HELIUS AM wrote all over it , the FR builds come out at around 36lb , yet the AM build comes out around 32 despite the frame weight being only slightly less.

Basically the bottom line is …. build your bike to its capabilities . Your riding style and your weight.

Me: You need stronger wheels on a hardtail to do the same stuff as on a full sus.
You: You wouldn’t do that stuff on a hardtail.

Both true.

got to be the Stans 355

Correct mate . we agree 😀

Quick questions about stans rims: Never looked at these before, are they all tubeless and are they easy to put tyres on, ie. none of that messing about with BMX tubes and sealant like ghetto stuff and all the kerfuffle that goes with doing that or the stans no tubes kit? Seeing all that mucking around puts me off. Are they simply mount the tyre pump up and go?

And I usually run pressures about 40-50psi, stans rims recommend less, 38psi, will that not feel more ‘draggy’?

I’ve been trying to find out some stuff about them on the net but still not sure?

Thanks.

Stans rims can be run with tubes too – i.e. normal set up. If you run tubeless you need to install stans tape and possibly a stans rimstrip. You would normally put in sealant too. However, you dont need UST tyres – any should work.

I’m going to run mine with tubes initially, until I decide what tyres to put (and leave) on for the summer at which time I will do the sealant thing.

There is info and videos at http://www.notubes.com – go to the support page…

Oh – and apparently the stans tubeless will be easier to pump up if you install the rim strips. That way you’d just need a track pump to do it…

In your case I’d go 5.1 over 4.2.
The 4.2’s are great rims and perfect on a 4″ bike, but for that extra travel and apparent extra confidence and enthusiasm that you have, the 5.1’s would be the more appropriate rim.

Its tough too and will stay straight, round and true.

Get them laced with supercomp’s or aerolites and you’ll have a nice lighter build. All out wheels (aside from DH) are built with alloy nipples and we’ve had no issues from that weight saving direction.. even on the 3 year old Ransom guide bikes that do take a hammering year in year out.

Been beasting my 4.1s (which are softer apparently) for almost 3 years and they’ve been great. They’ve been off everything, including some Alps trips. I’m 15 stone.

Been beasting my 4.1s (which are softer apparently) for almost 3 years and they’ve been great. They’ve been off everything, including some Alps trips. I’m 15 stone.

You need to go harder matey

I use Hope Hoops XC3s which are lightweight but have stayed true for well over a year of hard riding.

I don’t do big jumps etc but I’m not know as a delicate rider (described as ‘a clumsy oaf’ by riding buddies) and I’ve had no problems running them on my Stumpy FS (120 mm travel)

I have a set of 5.1s on my XC bike – I do a bit of jeystyle jumping and rocks – but I wish I had the 4.2s every time I go uphill. I don’t need the 5.1s

So it depends – do you want the security of knowing the wheels are stronger than you need or is the bit less weight more important?

I’d go for the 4.2s myself

A few more thoughts for the mix:
– 2nd hand 5.1 wheels come up on ebay pretty often so it might be worth a look here before buying new
– I looked into the Stans rims and the Flows get a lot of good reviews, and the lighter 355s are popular as well
– I ended up getting a pair of Roval Traversee wheels – Spesh bought Roval a while ago, hubs have DT swiss internals, wide rims, they’ve won several tests in mags, and a pair can be had for about £350. The good news is that they are just under 1600g a pair.
– make sure you’ve listened to a hope pro 2 rear before buying one – they are noisy and some people don’t like them for that reason alone
– justridingalong are a popular place to get wheels built up, as is Roger at Wheelpro

smurf

roger’s not building customer wheels any more, sadly

😆

Interesting stuff.

I keep changing my mind now 🙄

I think 5.1’s, but then someone says they find 4.2’s fine, so I think ok I’ll save weight and get those…

The current wheels are some re-labelled Alex DP17 rims that are supposed to be about 470g on heavy deore hubs, plain spokes, the ususal nothing special machine built things you get on production bikes, they’ve been fine so far even though they don’t get good reviews (yeh, I know, I need to go harder! 😉 ) so maybe something the same or lighter weight better built will be fine?

Thinking stans or 819’s now though as maybe it’s about time I went tubeless or at least it’ll be easy if I do in the future?

Cheers everyone!

sockpuppet,

I’m not doing custom builds but I’ll be selling Hope Hoops – the ZTR versions. Machine built in Bardoldswick, hand finished by a bloke next to the machine, and when they get to Wheelpro HQ I’ll check them before applying my little sticker as a mark of quality. I’ll also install Stans yellow sealing tape and pop in a tubeless valve (supplied without from Hope).

They represent great value, Hope have done a super deal with Stan! Their wheel making machine is pretty cool too.

Built plenty of ztr’s last year and they all worked fine.

Roger

Hi Roger, I googled your website after the recommendation above and it’s a bit, erm, basic … no prices or much details? Any idea of the costs?

Thanks

I thought I’d add to this thread rather than create a new one…

I weigh between 14 and 15st. I train with weights and can parallel squat 140kg fairly easily, and have cycled and weight trained for 20 years. I am now on my first ever full suss. I ride it hard, but I don’t jump much. The wilderness near me just aint jumpy enough. I do plough through roots, pine cones, the occasional stump I haven’t seen, and down the odd set of stairs. I have destroyed lightweight XC rims. I used to put a regular little wiggle in the front and rear Mavic 591 (480g) on my hardtail from regular XC use. The Pitch is capable of riding over what my hardtail couldn’t.. though generally I am going slower on the flat and uphills and faster on the downhills…

I was thinking either EN521 (540g) front and rear (cheapest option), or Sun EQ29 (520g) front and rear, or even Sun Ringle EQ 27 (482g) front and Sun Ringle EQ29 (520g) rear, or even Sun Ringle EQ29 (520g) front and Sun Ringle EQ31 (546g) rear. What say you?

In your shoes, I’d be getting the Pro II with Flow rims and a little bit of wheelpro love added to them.