In the market for some new rims and I like Stans. Now I know the Olympic and the 355s are the older version of the Alpine and the Crest, but the Olympic you can get cheap online right now if you look around.
The wheels I have just sold (for annoyingly loud Hope freehub reasons) had Stans 355s on, and to be honest, they were great. Bike is a hardtail with a 120mm fork up front for XC(ish) duties, and I'm about 78kg.
Now I'd just go for the same again, but obviously they're not available and the Crest has replaced it. So I'd just get the Crests... Except for the fact they're £65 a piece, and Olympics can currently be had for £40 apiece, which has got me thinking about the Olympics. The Olympics are a tiny bit narrower, but given that this bike will never have anything bigger than a 2.2" tyre fitted to it, that's not an issue at all.
So how do the Olympics hold up abuse wise compared to the 355s and perhaps even the newer Crests and Alpines? I remember someone telling me a while ago his experience was that the Olympics actually made a stronger wheel because they had a slightly deeper rim profile (which is also convenient as I have a bunch of the correct length spokes lying around to build the hubs onto Olympics, but not 355s/Crests). Anyone else with experiences of each Stans rim?
