Eyup,

Love the look of the cross rides and just been building up a bike for someone with them on and they seem to be a great wheelset.

However, I’ve heard good stuff about the XC717s too and they’re not too bad on CRC at the mo custom built.

I do trail centre riding, single track and XC. Building up a Genesis Latitude and want some good wheels.

Crossrides with the Mavic hubs (£175) or XC717s with XT hubs? (£200).

Cheers,
H

XT hubs with 717s are reliable,and have the benefit of being easier to source spares and spokes for.

Nothing in it weight wise between them and Crossrides.

I might have a pair of Merlin built XT 6 bolt hubs with 717s going spare if you are interested………..

i’ve used XT hubs and 717s for years – been very reliable and robust and put up with little maintenance and lots of abuse.

Dont buy Crossrides! I know loads of people will tell you they are fine but I broke both wheels in different ways. The front went pretzel shaped after a fairly low speed get-off. Due to the different no. of spokes I couldn’t get it rebuilt with a rim from LBS and would have had to wait for a specific replacement from Mavic. The rear hub actually broke at the point where a spoke fitted and was of course useless as you couldn’t repair it. This was as a result of ordinary wear and tear, no dramatic jumps or anything similar. I replaced them with XT hubs and Stan’s rims and have had absolutely no problems since.

I would also go with 717 on XT hub after seeing a cross ride that came into the shop for work after a race. Many spokes at the rear has lost tension and unless you local shop is mavic dealer then they cannot buy spares.

Unfortunatley it not the only cross ride that has gone wrong. If your XT + 717 rims break a spoke then it will be cheap and quick to fix.

If you go down the Mavic wheel route they were doing a reduced price MP3(mavics own if you break it we’ll fix it for free for 2 years insurance thing) which would be well worth looking into.

Of you go down the shimano XC717 route take a look at merlincycles prices, they can be cheaper than CRC for wheel builds.

Forget about XT hubs go for hope.

Nothing wrong with Shimano if you are on a budget.As long as you keep on top of cup and cone adjustment and regrease them regularly they will go on for years.

Yeah, I am intending to look after them well.

Jolly Green Giant – Im after centrelock im afraid… Ta though.

I really like the Crossrides and have a set which I’ve used for years but as others have said, getting spare parts can be a really PITA – even spokes – if you don’t have a decent local Mavic dealer. On that basis I’d probably go for the XT option.

Am I right in thinking that xc717 rims might be a tad lighter than crossrides?

I think that’s right…my Crossrides are the older version but are quite beefy.

It will depend on whther you go for 6 bolt or centrelock hubs and what model XT.

The older XT M756 6 bolt hubs that many builds come with are a fair bit heavier than the newer M765/m775/m785/centrelock versions.

Having said that my set which are M756 6 bolt hubs with ACI db spokes are around 1940g which puts them in the same ballpark as Crossrides at 1920g.

xt centrelocks are likely to be substantially lighter.

Im going for new, M776 XT Centrelock 20mm maxle hub, DT Swiss Champ spokes, Brass nips and XC717s so hopefully light-ish?

Have seen mixed reviews for XT centrelock 20mm hubs but IME, I have seen more broken hope hubs than Shimano so have confidence in the big S…

I have crossrides and 717s – the crossrides are pretty old now but have been brilliant, no broken spokes or truing needed. And they were well cheap.

The pair of 717s I use most of the time now are a bit more flexy but have also performed flawlessly. Front hub is a pro 2, rear is an XT. I also have a spare rear that has developed a bit of play – can probably be sorted with some cone spanners in a couple of mins, so no biggie.

I think the newer XT 776 hubs will be much lighter.Just the rear hub alone is about 100g lighter than the M756 that I have,so would guess you will be in the 1800-1850g region,which will make them a fair bit lighter than Crossrides.

XT hubs with Stans ZTR

By the way have you considered these?

nice. but need a 20mm front.