I got a good deal on a pair of Pro 2 Evo hubs (any colour) and Arch EX 2012 rims (in 29er size) for £295 all in.

Got them from Dave Hinde and have so far been great.

I know people here don’t like to deal with DH but as his shop is about 1 mile from my house I thought I would take a go with them and am pleased I did.

I had a wheel built by them about 4 years ago and that lasted no problem.

Just thought id chuck this out as an option.

Moonglu built my Arch/Pro2 wheelset about 18 months ago. They are still well tensioned and straight after my ham fisted use of them.

They’ve been faultless apart from needing new bearings which is nothing to do with the build.

how do people find the quality of build on Hope Hoops (Hope built)? i’m guessing not as great as a really good builder, but consistently good? anyone compared Hope builds to Moonglu or Merlin? I hear ZTR rims need lower tensions, not sure whether that’s good or bad though, as normally lower tensions = weaker wheels, up to a point.

I saw some Flows today (on superstar hubs, think he was a bit annoyed when i said he could have got Hope for £40 more the pair) and they are pretty massive, and deep, almost look like a vbrake rim. so not sure now, it may be overkill indeed.

gone with a Hope Hoops Flow (standard spokes), cheers all.

Will consider a Crest for the front later (my front wheel is already Hope, but 717 rim)

I’ve been riding a hardtail with a real heavy old back wheel (one i had spare) and nice light front wheel, and love the handling. recently swapped that back wheel for a 350g lighter one and hardly notice a huge difference there. so for my style, it’s heavy/strong back, light front, and apparently that’s what some enduro riders are doing now? someone mentioned the side to side wiggling you get with a flexy back wheel and that convinced me to go Flow – i hate that feeling. anyway, looking forward to trying the new wheel 🙂

I got the Flows on Pro2 Evo straight pulls off Winstanleys. I’m a complete FB and they are great.

The Hope rim tape isnt air tight so you’ll need the wide yellow tape to seal them if you run tubeless, no need to use the rubber rim tape or drill the inner wall.

You made the right choice, nice one!

winstanleys – find the site v difficult to use, not sure they even have any now?

Wiggle will do a rear only for £166 + quidco = 161.02 if it pays out. can anyone beat that? please say today before it ships! The superstar option with cheapest spokes (could be Arch Ex though :/) works out at £140 i think, so £21 more for Hope, I think worth it. without a wiggle platinum account, add about £5.

FB=Fat Bastard?? I’m skinny as, but i ride pretty hard and often misjudge take offs and landings, so the Flow is insurance really.

Just ordered my set of flows on Pro2 eve from my LBS, price matched the online stores, would rather buy off him than online, I figure it’s great to have a decent mechanic up the road! Flows maybe slightly overkill but I’m not bothered about weight, if I was I’d be 10 stone and not 13! Looking forward to them, just need to decide what tubeless tyres to go with, currently on High rollers with tubes.

well, with Wiggle + Hope i’m not worried about warranty support. depends on your LBS though, mine hates me (not really!) for always trying to price match vs online, i wasn’t going to waste their time asking them to build me one for £160. the rear hubs alone should cost £140 right, can’t see them below £127..

Local shop is sound smiff, never had any issues, he’s really reasonable for maintenance, I was surprised he price matched but happy all the same! Excited!
😀