Wanting a pair of these but keep wondering that a traditional built wheel would be better.

Anyway the weight and strength is a big plus on the SX (OK and the looks) but what comparable traditional wheel builds can equal them in weight and strength?

And no Chris King please!!!

get some hope hubs and DT spokes much better in anyway than the SX specialy for going down at triora 😉

But roberto has a shiny pair he keeps dangling in front of me.

Trying hard not to resist, and I know a normal wheel would be better…..but they look so nice!!

Hope's are relatively speaking heavy, if you're to go by the weights they post on their site.

Personally i'm on my third set of Mavic's only major problem i ever had with them was getting hit by a van. Make of that what you will.

I swapped my hope hubs, DT swiss spoked wheels for SX's. Not dissapionted. 8 months old, loads of hammering, loads of mud, jet washing and 14 1/2 stone rider, still running true and strong.

I had XL's in past and had the freehub go south, said id never have mavic again but got drawn in by the looks.

Love them.

Light, strong, bling – what more do you want? The latest SX's are the nuts! OK – so would be nice if they were a little cheaper, but CRC had them below £500 recently and one or two pairs have been turning up on fleebay.

No no no you know I make sense, go and see alain and françois and get them to build you a pair off hope/dt/mavic rims. If they use them it's for a reason. They are much better than mavic.
You would not believe the amount of maintenance they have to do on mavic wheels.

Go for the Mavics, i have a set of ST's. Plenty strong enough and i pound the sh*t out of them….. and they look soooo sexy (i need to get out more!)

I prefer traditional wheels. There's more chance of getting spares the night before a big ride. Find me a shop with a 24 hole rim in stock!

Mate has some Mavic wheels and the disc mounts cracked. He was told 2 years was a reasonable life for a hub by Mavic! I've had Hope replace a freehub drive ring in a ten year old hub at no charge!

Juan could you poss email me re Jan trip?

I swapped my hope hubs, DT swiss spoked wheels for SX's. Not dissapionted. 8 months old, loads of hammering, loads of mud, jet washing and 14 1/2 stone rider, still running true and strong

Checked the freehub?

My crossmax get the same ill treatment, one freehub service in 2 years of riding (70km+ a week), and they are so easy to service too, the pawls are held in by little clips so don`t ping everywhere when you pull the freehub body off…

Freehub checked. As I said I had a set of XL's in the past and even though I looked after it (no jetwashing and regular strip downs) that still failed. The new ITS4 Freehub appears to be much better desgined for mountain bike abuse, I beleive the old XL one was based on their road hubs.

Al ygm on your visible address

Hope/DT/Mavic

Hub – Serviced/fixed/replaced with ease.

Spokes – Any bike shop in the world will have spares.

Rim – See above.

Don't belive the hype about "factory" wheels for real world riding 😀

Don't belive the hype about "factory" wheels for real world riding

amen

It all hinges on spares and serviceability for me. You can have Hope hubs serviced anywhere and likewise you can source spokes easily enough.

Agreed the Hope are easier to get spares and very easy to service, I love them. Have a set on my hardtail

But the SX's look way way cooler (and dont do that very loud ticking thing)

But the SX's look way way cooler

Well I think it depends what you do with your bike.
If you take a garden shot and post on STW then the SX are good. If you actually ride it…

If blowing spokes is such an issue just have a couple of spares in the shed. Unless your touring the ability to source spokes at a whim is pretty irrelvant anyhow. I live in Oz and a number of my LBS's sell Mavic spokes off the shelf, not that i`ve ever snapped one.

Hubs also dead easy to service, cartridge bearings and i'm finding i need to service the crossmax wheels far less frequently than my old hopes.

Well I think it depends what you do with your bike.
If you take a garden shot and post on STW then the SX are good. If you actually ride it…

Tosh, I ride my bikes, have 3 mavic wheel sets. Service them myself. Keep spare spoke in the tool kit. Hammer the crap out of them and rate them very highly. How many do you own? You seem to be an expert

I have own one set that needed constant care. I spend all my lunch time at my LBS and I see countless mavic wheels coming back for repair.
On the other hand I see very little hope/dt/mavic set in the workshop save the odd truying.

If you take a garden shot and post on STW then the SX are good. If you actually ride it…

😛

To be fair my bike does look fantasic on STW and in the shed…. but it looks even better covering in mud being hammered on a trail, where is spends a good number of hours every weekend.

When I was looking, my choice was either SX's or DT1750's.

To be honest if your looking for value for money you can't beet the hope/DT/Mavic option. I got mine from Merlin and I think they were half the price of the SX's and very reliable (although the SX's have stayed straighter, hand on heart). A bargin of a wheelset.

But the orignal post was about sterngth and weight and the SX's (even with out the looks) win on those grounds, add in cost and its the hopes everytime. Add in loud ticking noise mind… 🙂

Juan, which wheelset did you have? If it was the old XL's I couldnt agree more.

Also thanks for the excuse to post a pictute of mine looking good "by the shed" posted on STW

Also on the trail

Its Friday I'm bored

Interesting, I had seemingly endless freehub problems on my XL's so switched to Hope. Been fine so far but "feel" heavier – I dont know if they are.
Tom

Got some and there I liked them until I tried to get spares.
Bloody nightmare mavic service centre down south not helpful, if you twist there arm they may give you a part number, very negative customer experiance.
Like I say great wheels spoilt by poor back up when u need it.
Gone back to pro 2 with dt spokes and xm819,s