Building up a Nukeproof Mega & thinking of wheels.

Almost def. Hope hub.
Def tubeless.

It’ll be used for “mini”DH & heavy trail duties.

I’ve currently got EX721s on my mmmBop, which I love, so:

EX823 – Too heavy?
Stans Flow – Strong enough?
Stans Arch – Weaker than Flows?

Anything else??
Easton Havoc?
Mavic Cross-somethings?

Stans Flow will probably be fine, and yes Arch are lighter and a bit narrower unless you get the Arch EX.

Stans Arch EX (400g, 21mm) is (on paper) better than Stans Arch (420g, 19mm), though on a 160mm+ forked Mega Id think you’d want Flows (22/23mm, 470g) would be more suited?

Mavic EN521 (540g, 21mm)?
DT EX500 (22/23ish mm, 500g)?
WTB (21mm ish) something?
Superstar AM490 looks alright on paper (23mm, 499g)

Why hope hubs specifically?

Definitely flows.

I’ve been running EX721s on Hope hubs on my mmmBop for last 2 years & haven’t had to touch them, which is basically why I want Hope hubs.

Not an absolute in all honesty. I was looking at Easton Havoc wheelset & even took a little glance over some Crank Bros cobalts.

I like less maintenance (nothing unusual there I guess)

Don’t worry about the rims being tubeless ready or not. It’s just as easy and effective to convert non tubeless rims with a rimstrips these days as it is buy a proper tubeless rim…

That said, if you can afford em, get Stans Flows. Light, wide, strong enough… What’s not to like! Arches or Crests wouldn’t be wide enough IMO, or strong enough probably.

If you can’t afford em, then get Mavic EN521’s. Basically a disc only version of the EX721, but for some reason it’s about 50g lighter and a lot cheaper! Brilliant rims… I ran a pair on my old long travel bike and they shrugged off loads of abuse, and didn’t bat an eyelid. The DT5.1’s they replaced were by comparison made of cheese, expensive and a waste of time!

Or there’s also the Sun Ringle EQ29’s or EQ31’s that could be worth considering. Light, wide, again from what I hear pretty strong…

Mavic EX823’s sound good on paper, but they’re bloody heavy. Strong and UST compatible from the off, but it’s a lot of rotational weight you don’t want to carry ideally. They’re 660g thereabouts each before you add the special nipple things, which adds another 50g on top. I’ve got 819’s on my trail bike and they’re weighty enough, I’m thinking of swapping for lighter and wider as it is. Don’t get me wrong they’re very good quality and very stiff, but saving rotational weight really makes the biggest difference to the bike overall. Will probably end up with Sun Ringle EQ29’s myself as they’re nice and wide but also On One are selling them cheap right now too.

mmboy – I can’t tell from your post if you’ve already got Flows, but if not and you’re thinking of going for them then get them for the rim width, not because they are lighter than you’re current 819’s as there’s not much between them. I have two pairs of Flow / Pro2’s which come in at 1895g and 1910g including yellow tape and valves, and my 819 / pro2’s with valves are 2005g.

823’s are a good bit heavier, mine were 2385g with valves fitted.

I wouldn’t run a miniDH bike tubeless. It just doesn’t work for hard riding.

721s or Flows drilled to take shrader tubes (if flows are stiff enough for you)

Mboy – EN521s are nowhere near as strong as 721s

5.1s are an awful choice for DH, not just because they dent like playdough, I actually folded one turning in a rut.

GW, you are 6′ and ride a 14″ frame, you are in no position to give anyone advice 😆

I’m 5’11” and my DH and miniDH frames are a couple of inches longer in the seattube (spenshin links an that in the way ) Shall I just call you Shitstalker for short? Oh.. no.. that’d be longer, lets just stick with Slywanker 😉

Damn predictive txt 😕

If only there were an edit function.

From personal experience, I would say stick with something built you can easily get spares for. My old Easton wheels spent more time being warrantied than on the bike. Mavic spares are also reknowned to be eye wateringly expensive.

I’ve run Flows on my DH bike now for nearly 3 years (albeit with tubes, don’t like tubeless on the DH bike). They have been great, and put up with a lot of stick including nearly 2 months of Alps riding. The low side walls mean dinging them seems to be a lot less common experience to my previous 721’s. The rear is finally starting to need replacing with a fair bit of cracking round the eyelets, but I can’t complain.

On the basis of that, I wondered if Flows would be unnecessarily burly for my little bike – so I built up a wheelset with the mew Arch EX instead, which are a fair bit lighter. So far so good. I even used my little bike on a race practice day on a rocky track in Wales and they were fine. Very impressed, considering the lack of weight 🙂

Both perfectly acceptable names, I think I will just call you clueless from now on.

Now that IS unacceptable 😯

Smashing, thanks for the help guys. Sounds like Flows is the way to go.

Def not tubeless?

I ummed & ahhed for ages about tubeless or not; I’ve got a tubeless xc bike, but my mmmBop is tubed.

I just ordered tubeless tyres!
Not to worry; I can always send them back & swap them for non-tubeless!

reevil

Def not tubeless?

That was the conventional logic a few years back, when people typically ran lower pressures in DH for maximum grip. At lower pressures tubeless tyres can be prone to burping and the rims prone to damage which compounds the problem.

Nowadays with people running fairly high pressures for minimal rolling resistance it’s not such a big deal. It can still be an issue for guys at worldcup level, many of whom can trash a wheelset every run, but I know several elite level dh riders who swear by tubeless.

If you’re not racing and your tyre starts to burp, you can just stop and add more air. problem solved.

For the average mortal running reasonable pressures it’s not an issue at all, you will benefit from lighter wheels over all, less rotational mass, and be able to get more grip from higher pressures and if you are running a genuine tubeless wheelset you will benefit from a stiffer stronger rim. Tubeless is ace.

I guess I can always run tubeless with UST tyres on flows & just throw a tube in if required.

I guess tubeless or not for more aggressive riding is probably one of those spd/flat type arguments which is ultimately down to rider preference.

I was always very pro-tubes until I punctured on 10 rides in a row riding XC on the South Downs, I converted my wheels to tubeless & never looked back, I’ve been attacked by thorns & flint, but just had to top-up with a bit more air.

thou runs Flows on mi Mega

theyre ok i spose,once trued em 2nd time round theyve stayed that way for a good while now.

Mboy – EN521s are nowhere near as strong as 721s
5.1s are an awful choice for DH, not just because they dent like playdough, I actually folded one turning in a rut.

How so on the 521’s? There’s not much difference in the cross section profile, they’re slightly lighter agreed, but I’ve ran both before and didn’t notice any lack of strength in the 521’s, and know others who run them and say the same.

Totally agree on the DT5.1’s, single worst rims I’ve ever used. Couldn’t even recommend them for light XC pootling, or even for a commuter! They’re softer than butter and ridiculously expensive for what they are.

mmboy – I can’t tell from your post if you’ve already got Flows, but if not and you’re thinking of going for them then get them for the rim width, not because they are lighter than you’re current 819’s as there’s not much between them.

I haven’t got Flows, would like then but can’t afford/justify £60 per rim quite frankly. They’re actually lighter than my 819’s as well as being a good deal wider, but they’re silly money. CRC do EN521’s for £28 each, and could pick up Sun Ringle EQ29’s for even less than that. Neither is tubeless from the off, but a rimstrip or a BMX inner tube fixes that quite quickly, and they’re still both a good weight and width.

Regarding the tubeless/non tubeless argument. Too many people not running proper tyres (ie. tyres with silly thin sidewalls and loose beads) ran too low pressures just because it was “tubeless and meant you can’t puncture”. If you think of tubeless in this vein, then you’ve got totally the wrong idea. They will burp, or pinch very easily. Run beefy enough tyres, at still sensible pressures, and tubeless is great mainly as it gets rid of all the normal pinch and thorn punctures. It’s a tiny bit more supple perhaps, but you shouldn’t be trying to halve your tyre pressures just cos they’ve got no inner tubes in. With that in mind, I still think (and plenty of people still prove) that tubeless works well for riders in many different disciplines, it’s just don’t expect it to be a one stop cure all if you’re silly enough to think you can now run ultra light tyres at stupidly low pressures and get away with it.