I’m in need of a new front wheel. It looks like it’s going to be a Hope Pro 2 Evo with a Mavic 521 rim.

Now, I can buy that as a custom build from Merlin for about £95 including post. But it only comes with the adaptor you select with your wheel build (would be QR with my current forks). Or about £105 if I want a 20mm adaptor just in case.

For around £105-£110, I could have a Hope Hoops build with more or less the same parts. I’d get the adaptor for 20mm, and a couple of spare spokes. The wheel would also be built with DB spokes, whilst my last 521 build from Merlin came with PG as they class it as a downhill rim.

Which is going to be the better built wheel?

Definitely the Hope one. If the spokes are double butted it will make a big difference with no loss in strength.

Do you really need a 521 rim? Just asking on account of the fact that that rim is very strong but pretty heavy. The ubiquitous Stans Flow or Mavic 819 would be strong enough for anything other than actual DH racing.

Do I really need a 521? No idea. I just don’t like paying / travelling to the bike shop to have wheels trued. Add that they’re cheap, wide, strong and not that heavy.

OK that’s fair enough. The weight of the rim won’t necessarily mean it stays truer longer, that’s more about the build quality. The heavier rim will resist dents more readily and will be stiffer. The Stans Flow will save you a good chunk of rotating weight (which you will really notice) and should be strong enough for trail use. They aren’t as cheap as the 521 thought.

I bought my hope pro2 wheels with dtswiss 42 rims from merlin about 5 years ago at a bike show at the nec.

I wouldnt have anything else now. Build quality is superb stay true, may require an odd tweek now and again. Plus i can fit adaptors for whatever axle system the gods decide to throw at us.

If it be a new wheel now then i’d prob go for the stans rims. most of my ride are at cyb llandegla, peaks clwyd hills etc

hope hoops from wheelpro as he trims them up to his liking before dispatch

Dont think Wheelpro are doing hope wheels now?

EDIT well he was then he wasn’t when I asked a while ago and now he is 🙂

He doesn’t seem to be at the minute – it says “Not for sale”.

Oh yeah I didn’t read it properly….. 🙂

The rim cost thing goes out the window with hope hoops though doesn’t it? All the builds cost the same. If you want a tough but lightish rim, then I would go Flow. If it’s built well it will be very stiff and take a beating. I have crests on my Prophet, and apart from a couple of cosmetic dings they’ve lasted a good year of heavy use. The flows are a tougher and stiffer rim.

Hope hoops from 18bikes, mine came with a free stans kit 🙂

The wheelset I bought from Merlin didn’t stay true – a crash knocked it right out 🙁

I though a build with DB spokes was actually supposed to be stronger than PG due to the elasticity of the spoke.

I did the same comparison recently and I couldn’t get the Merlin build as cheap as the equivalent Hope Hoops setup – this was Flow on Pro2. You could get it close but when you put decent DB spokes on the Merlin build it pushed up the cost.

£110 for Pro2 on Flow was the best I found. I’d go with that.

Didn’t realise the hopes didn’t change price as you changed rim. Seems like a bit of a no-brainer to go for Flows. Are they about as strong as 521s?

yup

maybe stronger… the Flows certainly have a good rep.

I doubt they are stronger than the EN521. The EN521 is after all the same width, a little taller, and what.. 60g heavier, or 40g heavier than the white Stans? That weight or some of it must surely equate to strength? We are talking Mavic here.

I wouldn’t select a rim purely based on price. Particularly if that choice is between the EN521 and DT5.1 (EX500) and Stan’s Flow. They seem equal in quality terms to me. Maybe the French company Mavic are a bit better value, or there is a higher premium to be expected for Swiss goods?

I am trying to select a second set of Hope Hoops. I was toying with another set of DT 5.1’s (EX500).. but I haven’t ruled out the EN 521.. I would consider Stan’s but they seem a tad on the light side to me, I see them as an even racier version of the DT5.1 (EX500) however, and at 15stone I think maybe they are pushing the envelope for me. Though maybe this isn’t true. Dunno.

van cough cough – Member

I doubt they are stronger than the EN521. The EN521 is after all the same width, a little taller, and what.. 60g heavier, or 40g heavier than the white Stans? That weight or some of it must surely equate to strength? We are talking Mavic here.

Stronger I’m not sure about, but they do rival them for strength. Flows have a dh world cup champion to their name after all (and no, she doesn’t just bin them after one run- the sets she was using at the IXS in Innerleithen looked hammered)

Quite a few Mavics seem a bit out of date and overweight these days tbh, 717 is a silly weight for such a skinny XC rim, 819 is a lot heavier than an Arch and not any stronger… Lots of pretty old designs.

Hope don’t charge extra for the Stan’s option because Stan’s obviously cost Hope roughly the same as Mavic and DT. ‘Stan’ (whomever the company is who designs these Sun made rims) might be playing a clever game of marketing!? First, exclude the eyelets so that your 500g rim now weighs 470g, and then charge an arm and a leg for a rim on its own in order to increase percieved value. Increased percieved value means more sheeple choosing the Hope Stan’s option.

I doubt that Hope is paying any more for Stan’s rims than it is for Mavic or DT.

Me? I like eyelets.

Me? I like eyelets.

Why?

The hope hoops that I bought were quite a bit over the stated maximum tension for the flow rim. Having said that no one that I know has had a problem with them.

Hope hoops from 18bikes, mine came with a free stans kit

But are £50 more than other places!

If they are over tension that is telling you something.. without eyelets this is not likely a long lasting wheel. I like Sun rims… but I just don’t like non-eyeletted rims. So no Flows for me.

Stronger I’m not sure about, but they do rival them for strength. Flows have a dh world cup champion to their name after all (and no, she doesn’t just bin them after one run- the sets she was using at the IXS in Innerleithen looked hammered)

Quite a few Mavics seem a bit out of date and overweight these days tbh, 717 is a silly weight for such a skinny XC rim, 819 is a lot heavier than an Arch and not any stronger… Lots of pretty old designs.

Ahem. You said ‘she’. So what is she? 8stone? 9? 10? I weigh 15 stone. She can get away with riding any rim; she’s a feather weight. Not sure how you are able to claim the Arch is stronger than an 819 actually. The 819 is nearly 500g with eyelets isn’t it? I don’t buy all this hype. Sun rims are good but when did they become better than Mavic?

I sent them back! They were around 15% over

15 stone here, 3 years on my Flow Hope Hoops, no issues. They’re currently run tubeless with yellow tape so even more saved.

But then, Mavic MUST be better, they’re heavier right?

Don’t buy what hype? The only hype I’m hearing is that I need eyelets or my wheels are death traps.

Feel free to use 100g heavier rims if they make you feel better. I’ve found Deore hubs, chainsets and cassettes very solid too, I’d ditch that high end rubbish, it’ll only break 5 years down the line.

3 years of weekend riding eh? Or riding like a girl! lol

Me, I like eyelets.

The fact that the tension spec for flows is lower than eyeletted rims is of immediate concern.

Hope hoops built all day long. Pre first-purchase I thought a machine will make them and they’d new truing etc etc..

Every so often the bearings need replacing. Otherwise I’ve no idea they are there.

Fantastic.