I’m building up a new set of 29″ xc wheels as my 1st gen crests are finally giving up the ghost. Chain reaction have Easton ARC24s and ARC27s at a good price. I normally run 2.0-2.2 ish tyres (ikons, XR2s, crossmarks, beavers in the wet etc.) and I’m not quite sure which to go for. I’m leaning towards 24s as I don’t want to square the tyres off too much. 24 is still quite wide and a lot wider than the Crests. It’s also a bit lighter. 27s will give me a bit more versatility, be a bit stiffer, but weigh a bit more and may not work as well with XC tyres.

Help me make this life changing decision, STW.

Any other good rim deals out there at the moment?

… or I could just buy crests (also cheap at Chain reaction) and reuse the spokes – cost is a bit of an issue…

I have the 24mm crest variant (21 internal) with Fast track rear, Ground control front, both in 2.0 on the 29er XC hardtail, tyre profile is great, not had any issues with tubeless setup.

If it makes any difference, the ARC24s are only available in 650B.

I went for the 27s for my monstercross thing. Probably a bit much for the 2.1in max clearance I have, but hey. Charts from mavic, bontrager etc say they’re OK down to about 44c.

They’d be good/great for anything from 2.0 to 2.8, I reckon.

Not built mine up yet. They’ll be just below 1800g with 32 DT Revs, brass nips and Novatec 771/772 hubs. Should be nice wheels for £220.

nedrapier – really? I’ve got two 29ers in my basket… Swaying towards the crests for lack of spoke faff. Although the wheel is probably five years old so I should maybe build with new spokes… decisions!

Seems you’re right! Pfff. Either I thought about it and decided to go wide anyway – I’ll only be using them to get the most out of 2.0, 2.1 tyres. Or I didn’t see the 24s, or they only recently found them and added them.

Hey ho, I’m not going to reorder now!

24s are a chunk lighter. 455 v 515