I’m looking at a new wheel set with Chris King hubs, I was going to get them built with No Tubes ZTR Crest rims but my LBS said their a nightmare to build with as spoke tension would be all over the place resulting in a wheel which will go out of true easily and also their very hard to get tyres on. Does any one have experience with these rims or any recommendations for other rims to use. I will be running tyres tubeless and want a lightish build, say around 1600g or their abouts. I run conti x-king 2.4 tyres so need a fairly wide rim.

LBS knows nothing, get crests.

Er, not sure what your LBS is on about with the comments about spoke tension. I’ve just built a Flow rim onto a 2nd hand CK ISO hub without any such issues.

Cheers so far for info, I have never really trusted their opinion but their the only local shop to stock CK hubs, so thought I would get some thoughts from you guys. Cheers and anyone out their who has built wheels with the crest rims?

Yup, I have – built some Pro 2s onto Crests. It was about the same as other wheels really; you have to grease the nipples as there aren’t any eyelets, but it was fine.
Getting tyres on can be a pig, but if you’re going for CK hubs you might as well invest in the best rims

I don’t know how local it is to you, but “Justridingalong” do nice wheel builds and I think they offer Crests and CK’s as options. i had a Flow rimmed wheel from them and there’s no probs with that.

I was originally looking at JRA for the wheel build, ‘loum’ was the quality of the build good and how are they holding up?

as others say, your LBS is clearly not upto the job.

JRA is great from my experiance. I’ve had some really good Stans rimed wheels built by them.

I can also recommend 18Bikes – Matt Hunt (their ace wheelbuilder – @jaffamatt) has built me what I can only describe as the best wheels I’ve ever had built. (after a disasterous experiance with another famous wheelbuilder, who’s wheels ended up with cracked hub flanges after he’d built them overly tight) – he rebuilt me wheels with replacement hubs and they are a work of art. He realy takes pride in his work, and just happens to be previously the ace wheelbuilder at JRA.

(just try playing the tunes on your spokes.. ace wheels have lovely sounding spoke tunes… and they all sound the same…. where-as spokes on dud wheels sound, well, dud! )

I built crest rims on my CK’s They were just fine 😀
Then, just for the hell of it, I rebuilt them with alpines (cos they are lighter) 8)
The crests are now on Hope hubs.

Cheers for all your input, I think I may stick to the crest rims and will get JRA to build them up for me, I just hope their strong enough for my clumsy riding through rock gardens!

I’ve a set of Hope Hoops (pro 2 evo sp) running Crests – no problems.

Any reason for CK over a standard set of Hoops?

I also have Crests on Hopes and going fine. I think I may go back to UST next time but thats a discussion for another time maybe. Contrary to the blurb you can’t run low pressures on Stans rims like you can with USTs on Mavic rims and the thicker sidewalls make for more reliability. Stans rims are great if weight is your key objective but unless fairly hard they tend to burp resulting in instant flatness and an unseated bead. This has always been with Maxxis tyres on both Olympics and Crests, not yet happened with Schwalbe tyres. Wider tyre choice with Stans rims though.

I looked at the mavic XM819’s but reviews state their a bit narrow so a little unsure. I want CK hubs as for as long as I can remember I have always wanted them, they are my dream wheels, I also ike to service evry thing myself and for items to last. Any thoughts on the mavic rims as I can’t find any info on inside width.

If what your LBS said was true, I should be reporting abject failure, since my first ever set of wheels were Pro2’s on Arches two weeks ago.

In reality, they’ve turned out really well, are rounder and straighter than the Hope Hoops I have on T’other bike, and were pre-tensioned well enough that despite 60 miles of proper off-road pummelling, they’re still true and haven’t made a single ping, ting or twang since I put them on the bike.

I took about and hour and a half on each one, with a beer, and an online guide.

CK hubs are lardy.

Yes CK’s are a little weighty, but imo worth the little extra weight. Thanks for all the input so far.

Slight diversion here but Cyclestore are knocking out Roval Traversee ELs for £360, which’ll be under your target weight and fine with big tyres (the rim is basically a Stans ripoff, the hubs have the internals of a DT240S in a straightpull shell… Excellent wheels, good value at this price I reckon.

Northwind funny you should point these out as they are my exact wheel set I have been running since late 2009 and have seen lots of abuse so will be going on the wife’s bike once I have my CK’s! I also converted the rear hub to 142 x 12 no problems which Roval/Specialized said was not possible!

Good ain’t they Wouldn’t have thought you’re going to get much of an improvement from your new build?

I’m just a magpie really!! Always dreamed of CK’s so going to bite the bullet soon, can’t wait, just need the 142×12 conversion to get to the UK.

“Any reason for CK over a standard set of Hoops? “
CK freehubs pickup 3 times as fast as hope?
(Superstar superleggera pickup 5 times though)

CK hubs are pretty unreliable IMO, at least compared to DT240’s. I’ve seen and heard of bearings wearing out quickly, freehubs dying prematurely, and then there’s the hassle of needing a very expensive tool to service them yourself. Add to that they’re not even very light and…

Well I’d buy some DT240’s… In fact I already have, and they’re great! And seeing as you’ve got the Roval Traverse’s anyway, which essentially use all the innards from a DT240 hub, why bother with something that’s going to be heavier, less reliable and more expensive, just for the annoying whirr they make?

There is an element of truth when your LBS say the spoke tension is considerably lower than normal, and I’ve seen mention that this means the spokes don’t reach their elastic/inelastic sciency bit, but the Stans rims are hugely popular and there doesn’t seem be any long running issues from the main sellers 🙂

you definitely don’t want the spokes anywhere near their elastic limit: this would be a bad thing!

another vote for JRA here, crests too.

Thanks for all your advice, I will have to ponder this one a little longer I think!

Went with ZTR arch rims in the end as a compromise with weight and strength. Also managed to get CK hubs for £415, 15mm LD front and 142×12 rear, sweet!

I took about and hour and a half on each one, with a beer, and an online guide.

I’m a firm believer in the importance of this part – it really does help you to take your time and do things slowly!