So Stan’s Rims have been around for long enough to guage if they’re any good. Should I give up my Mavic 819’s next time I need a new wheel and go for Stan’s ZTR ARCH instead? Can I give up using UST tyres and use normal ones with sealant and have no problems with Spanish thorns and rocks? Any experience of San’s rims greatly appreciated. Ta,J

I’ve just built up a Stans Crest for the front of my 4x bike … wish me luck!

My flows have been, well, phenomenal really. light enough for a trail bike, strong enough that when I chuck it down a downhill trail they don’t even notice. Mavic don’t compete IMO.

I use standard tyres tubeless on ’em, can’t speak for spanish thorns but it’s been good for scottish, french and english rocks and thorns.

IME they are v good. Not so easy to inflate tyres but if you want lightness…(have only used olympics)

I’ve got olympics, crests and 355s. All excellent, but crests are flipping hard to get tyres on for some reason. That said both 355s and crests give a nice wide tyre profile

Stans Crest with DT Super comps on Hope hubs here for xc/trail centre use and they’ve been spot on – stayed true and excellent weight – only negative is I have picked up a couple of small dents in the rear rim, doesn’t affect the ride or sealing, but just to put it out there 🙂
I have also managed to pop the tyre off the rim twice, but we can probably put that down to user error 🙂

Just to add, i run maxxis tyres on my crests and never had any fitting issues. the exceptions seal amazing well (although you run the gauntlet with those sidewalls). 2.2 ADvantage’s are another favourite, again fit fine.

I always use a co2 canister to seat the tyre. Not ideal if you take your tyres off regularly mind 😉 but for 50p a canister it beats a track pump…

like ma-maracus no problem with exception monorails on my crests but imo 819’s are tougher than crests

Light and strong. Good price too. Been using Flows on Kings and Hope hubs this year. Used on hardtail and DH bike. Can definitely take a beating, am very impressed with them. Seem to inflate well tubeless with Maxxis tyres. Just had an Arch wheelset built up with CK hubs so will be interested to see how the lighter ones fair.

For some reason people say Stans are harder to seal with but there doesn’t seem to be any difference at all between my 819s and my Flows. Or my Traversees for that matter.

I’m not so impressed. I stuck a pair of flows on my DH bike. First ride somewhere really tame, (cannock chase), and I managed to ding them twice. I was running soft pressures but nothing that I’ve not done to wheels on xc bikes without issues. They stayed straight but the rim edge is very weak, much more so than the other light tubeless rims I’ve abused. The rear was a write off inside a few months, they never saw a mans DH track so nothing worse than a rocky trail centre. However the front wheel is still running strong.

Plus I’m not impressed that you have to have to buy tape to get them to seal and tyres don’t inflate easily unless you used alot of tape or a rim strip to help the tyre fit tighter to get that initial seal to pop a bead into place.

nobby nics don’t seat on 355’s fwiw.

mrs tlr is seeking tyre recomendations.

Been running Flows all year. They have been faultless

big fan of my crests. easy to seal tubeless, light. white too, fwiw.

nobby nics don’t seat on 355’s fwiw.

rubbish! I’ve had my pro 3/355 wheels for 2.5 years now. ONly ever use schwalbe tyres and nobby nic works fine for me (i’ve sealed 1.8, 2.10 and 2.25 with no problems)

If you have problems trick is to inflate with a tube to around 50psi and leave for a couple of hours.. seat 1st time then

nobby nics don’t seat on 355’s fwiw.

Utter tosh, just done a pair for Mrs BS not an hour ago, no bother at all.

Flows and Flow 29ers here – yellow tape on both. With both I can seat a tyre with a track pump no problem. Normal tyres seem to work fine. Some tyres leak like a sieve for the first few days (or weeks – you know who you are Schwalbe) but all seem OK in the end.

Ive got a set of 355 and flows.

If you have problems getting a tyre to inflate (with a trackpump), then the bead on that tyre isn’t tight enough…it will come off the rim if you ride hard. Non tubeless specific beaded tyres are much easier to burp than UST ready/2bliss tyres.

Get the rims, but run a tyre that has a tubeless bead.

ive been using flows on all my bikes for 2 years. as a Breaker Of Stuff, i can say that they are a good tough rim. not full on dh tough but they are way too light to be used for that imo. that said, ive pinch flatted (or whatever you call putting snakebite holes in a tyre without a tube) many a single ply and ust tyre on them and have resorted to just using dual plys on the rear but never put a flat spot or dent in a flow rim. in that time ive broken hubs, bars, forks, a frame, cranks, seatpost…

ive just fitted a ust conti rubber queen in 2.4 to see if the volume negates the need for dual ply.

cant compare their ease of use with other ust rims as they are the only tubeless setup ive used.

I had the choice of 717s or 355s as Hope Hoops and went for the former – I run narrow tyres and tubes which seems to suit the narrower 717s better. Plus I like the look of them more. And my “pro” bike mechanic rates them more.

I’ll fetch my coat…

Have Stans Flow 29er

Built up easily and have stayed true. Fitted non-tubeless Maxxis Ardent 2.4s with Yellow Tape/ Valve. (didnt bother with Rim Strips )

Inflated with a track pump with no issues and they have stayed up ever since. Ace!

love my crest 29ers

I have put a set of quite impressive dings in a Crest rear rim – partly as a result of cackhanded riding off the back of Dunkery Beacon with a Maxxis Ignitor that seems to size up quite small, but it does seem to be a bit more dentable than the 719 I had before.

Tyre still seats fine though and they are light.

Flows and 355 – both faultless. Both tubeless running Maxxis and Conti.

I use nobby nics and speed kings and they inflate fine but an absolute ar#e to get on in the first place without lots of soapy water. But once on they fit fine. I like them

355 running Nobby nic 2.4 & 2.2, previously ran hi roller 2.35 and conti gravity 2.3, all folders all worked fine. Inflated with track pump. Only burped once due to lack of pressure. I normally run them fairly hard.
I’ve got some crests on order, so we’ll see. Overall I’m happy. Way better than the bonty system on wor lasses trek

I don’t like mine.

Bought hope hoops 355s and they’ve just not been strong enough. Constantly going out of true and broken several spokes. I’d tighten the spokes up but worried about going over the low spoke tension limit. Also dented the rim.

There was also a noticeable amount of flex in the 355s compared to the xm819s, though i guess thats to be expected??

Had xm517, then xc717, then xm819s over the past 10 years or so with no problems.

Should probably have got the flows!

No problems running them tubeless for me. All tyres went up dead easily with a normal pump.

I like mine, they’re nice and light, I did have trouble getting Racing Ralphs to sit square, I’ll go back with Maxis next time, never had trouble with them.

Cheapest place for crest 29ers in stock?

Gonna stick with Mavics for the moment then!

Had my 355s for over a year. 1500g wheelset, been to the alps twice, wales, loads of riding at home, still perfect. Not really sure how any other rim manufacturer is still in business tbh, stans are fantastic.

Had Olympics for 18 months and Crests for 6 months and both do very well running various normal tyres with latex. Very few punctures, stay up well but quite tedious to change tyes (I’ve resorted to summer and winter and thats it). Had 819s for 3 years before.

UST is better for running realy low pressure as I find that below 30 psi (i weigh about 67kg plus kit) results in burping at best and tyre coming off at worst. At 35 psi that still gives loads of grip they are spot on.

in terms of strength they are all fine but i am a wuss at most riding.

UST is better for running realy low pressure as I find that below 30 psi (i weigh about 67kg plus kit) results in burping at best and tyre coming off at worst. At 35 psi that still gives loads of grip they are spot on.

I disagree, I’m about the same weight, and I’ve run 20psi without tyres coming off.

I wouldn’t buy anything else now, the only downside is their price, which is negated if you buy Hope Hoops.

Yup, I generally run my tyres around 25psi but I’ve run down to 20psi often without the slightest bother, only ever got the Flows to burp once and that wasn’t down to pressures, it was down to me being a clumsy oaf… That’s with non-UST nevegals, variously 2.1 on the rear, usually 2.35 on the front and occasionally 2.5/2.35. All very happy and well attached for all sorts of use up to and inc fort william and innerleithen dh routes.

Once I just set the pressures as low as I could without having the tyres feel horrible and squiggly, which at a guess is around 15psi. No bother down 1200 metres of big ****-off French mountain. Wouldn’t ever go any lower than that since the tyres just stop working.

Flow.

Love the width, the light weight and the ease of running tubeless.

Quite impressed with the strength – bent the front a bit easy but it’s holding up.

I would not rate them as DH but fine for *cough* all mountain *cough*. Absolutely need dual ply for where I ride as a single ply tyre is a ticking time bomb for damaged bead and rim.

FWIW – I used to always use Mavic having tried and been unhappy with others. But Mavics fatter rims are simply too heavy compared with the Flow. Mavic need to catch up with the wide light rim thing.

Thakyou all. A set of Flows next time then. J

my rear wheel – stans crest on hope pro2 collapsed when changing the tyre this morning. Rim has cracked and split almost along it’s entire length. pretty poor considering it was only bought in august and used for commuting and some fireroad/towpath riding. Wouldn’t touch crests with a bargepole now.

I have a set of crests. They are nice and light but i don’t expect them to last. Seem a bit flexy too, although the build may differ from my 719/819/321/721 mavic wheels.

A 9 stone mate killed flows on his DH bike very quickly.