Hi guys
Quick question!
Hope hubs or Mavic?
Got chance of some secondhand Mavic Crossmax SLR for £300
Or buy new Hope hoops with stans/mavic rims?
Also..
Which Mavic rims for AM/Trail riding, Alps trips, Scotland etc
The new EN821 look ok?
Thanks all

mavic for me

821s look good, but they’re heavy when you take the specif nipples they se into account. Stan’s are ahead of the game, weight wise, and their tubeless setup is every bit as reliable as UST.

Newer Mavic hubs have none of the issues of the old ones, have foudn them very good – Hope are arguable less reliable, but much better customer service.

SLRs very light, more XC trail than an AM/Alps setup, and a bit narrow.

I’d lean towards Hope Hoops with a Flow EX/Arch EX rim. Very hard to beat for value.

I liked my Hope’s, but having just serviced my sons Mavic’s, I was impressed how quick they were to service. But they do have no sealing….having said that bearings are less than new cables and quicker to fit…

Hope = British
Mavic = French

Hope hubs, Mavic rims.

I’ve never used anything else in the past 20 years of riding.

😀

TurnerGuy – good point

The 821’s had some varying reports on weight but it doesn’t seem as lardy as the other 8s- the weight’s still crooked but seemingly not by as much. If weight bothers you I’d spend a bit of time trying to find numbers you can trust. Or, just buy Stans. But I’m expecting the 821 to be a bit more dent resistant than a Flow, Mavic are usually that bit “harder” if not neccesarily tougher.

If you’re looking at 821s then stop looking at SLR IMO!

Just got a set of Hope Pro 2 on Stans Flow Ex. Had 721’s before. Noticeable difference how much wider the Stans are. The new Pro 2 is much quieter than the old one – which is a little disappointing.

In the spirit of recommending what you have, then Mavic. Running Crossmax St and other Crossmax UST on all our bikes and have been fuss free and a very tough rim for all our riding, same as your list.

If the S/H SLR’s are the older hub there is a simple, cost effective kit that removes the plastic bush that was the weak point, replacing with a quality bearing.

Never had any problem and cant understand the sealing point above, as they do have seals.

For UST, I would buy a UST rim.. I have not had good results with rim strips and all that, IMHO.

Stans rims don’t use rim strips- I’ve used a few (and some copies) and once taped, the current ones are functionally identical to Mavic UST. (my older ones, maybe not quite so much)

I do like my Mavic hubs, it’s a good design but when I broke an axle it took a long time to get a replacement, and it was expensive. (out of warranty to be fair) Last time I broke a hope axle, I could have bought a new one for £20 but they sent me 2 in the post the next day for free. And changing axle specs etc on Mavic often isn’t easy when it’s possible at all which can be a big drawback.

I’m maybe overreacting to some bad experiences but I’m sick of “wheel systems” and proprietary spokes and stuff, just too much drawback for my taste, gradually replacing all mine and will be happy when they’re gone. I’m no Hope fan but some things they do very right, when DT aren’t affordable.

Whatever you do, get some hope hubs on your bike! Great bits of kit…

For £300 I’ll shortly be selling some Light-Bicycle wide carbon rimmed Hope hubs which weigh around 1500g…

Hope hoops with stans.
I’ve just swapped from Hope / Mavic combo.
The Mavic were harder to inflate tubeless(821’s) weighed more with the extra threaded nipple design and weren’t as wide as the Stans.

I can feel the weight/stiffness difference but I’m also putting that down what I think is a better wheel build (Sapim cx spokes now and had cheaper DT ones before).

Either way i’ll not be going back to Mavic rims again, while they were tough they were heavier.

messiah – YGM

I run SLR’s on my XC bike, and ST’s on my Enduro(TM) bike. However, i’m fairly light (~70kg with all my kit) and tend to ride in a style that sees me unweight/loft/manual rather than batter through the Gnar. As such, i find the mavic wheels strong enough for any riding i’m going to do (including the Alps/UK DH etc.

I’d imagine, giving that they use proprietary spokes etc, getting replacement parts will be harder for the Mavics, but to date i’m never needed any. All i find is that just occasionally i need to tweak the bearing preload a bit(5sec job, without removing wheel from bike), more on the ST’s than the SLRs (as maybe they get used harder)

Got Pro2 evo’s on Crests and Crossmax ST’s (both 29) on two hardtails, both the same weight almost to the gram but the ST’s are a UST rim and painless to go tubeless, and are a world of stiffness stiffer and faster rolling.
And almost double the price…