I have a set of singlespeed hubs and am looking for a pair of rims that will suit a build that could go on either my road singlespeed/fixie or my rigid 29er. (Assuming ’29er’ and 700c are the same rim size unless I’ve missed something?)

Hub spacing is the same on both (rear 120 OLN). They’re a Vitus Vee 29 and a Trek 4th District.

Something lighter than the stock pseudo aero rims on the Trek, but strong enough (and wide enough) for a bit of off road on the Vee.

Perhaps a touring rim or cx rim?

You need something relatively narrow but still MTB strong? If so I would go with the DT470.

I was looking at a trek district, have you measured the dropouts? i think it might be 135mm?

I haven’t checked the drop outs but its a screw on freewheel with fixed threads on the other side of the hub. Plus it worked when I fitted the wheel from my old singlespeed roadie which again, I presumed was 120mm.

Why would it be 135, since that would mean it was comparable to geared bikes?

I’ll check tonight, that might limit the hubs to the Vee then.

Shortcut – Aren’t DT rims supposed to be quite soft?

The spec on line states the hubs are “track hubs” – do they even come in 135 width?

Halo have a reputation for fairly solid wheels? What about their Aerorage rims?

+1 for halo,

aerorage/aerowarrior are good rims,

I have Halo freedoms on my 29er, will be a bit wide for standard road tyres

Yep, just measured – its 120mm spacing. The dropouts are detachable though, so there may well be other drop outs available with alternate spacing.

You’ll need something with a wide rim bed, so halo road rims will be too narrow. Mavic A119/319 get recommended a lot over on LFGSS as a decent tough wide rim

And there lies my problem – would the A319 not be too wide for a 25c road tyre?

Perhaps it is going to be too much of a compromise.

hmm. wouldn’t get too carried away with the 119/319. if you have 120 OLN i’d imagine clearances to be fairly tight. worth measuring the spacing where the tyre sits at the seat and/or chainstays. FWIW i’ve just been looking at the widest tyres to fit my surly crosscheck, which has been built to take ‘wide’ tyres ( wide for cx/road ), and the max size appears to be 700/45c ~ 29/1.8 with knobblies. maybe even then with some side knobs trimmed a bit. 50mm will go, kinda, apparently, but slick and with the wheel pulled way back.
shiggy’s site mtbtyres.com has info on real world tyre widths when mounted and inflated.

The Vee came with 2.1 Small Block Eights and the Trek is running a 25c Bontrager of some sort. The Trek has masses of clearance, probably enough for a cross tyre if it wasn’t for the calipers.

The plan is not to fit knobbly tyres to the Trek, but to be able to use the wheels with either bike as the fancy takes me but with the appropriate tyres for sure.

Both bikes have fairly naff heavy wheels as standard so I was hoping for a rim that was wide enough to allow a knobbly tyre when fitted on the Vee and a slick 25c when on the Trek.

So, just cos I like pictures, this:

And this:

i doubt you’re going to get a tyre that’s going to be useful for the vitus on to a rim useful for the trek with those road calipers. sorry. i mean, you could probably run a set of open pros or something on the vitus, with a 25 or even a 28c, and that might go in the trek ok, but what really would you gain?
if it were me i would just service the hubs if they’re cup and cone, stick some decent grease in and adjust properly, and also true the wheels. ride them until you wear out the breaking surfaces on the rims, then replace the rims with something nicer if you like later.

You need something relatively narrow but still MTB strong? If so I would go with the DT470.

Close but no cigar. The OP needs something with rim brake surfaces, the X470 (like other rims that have been mentioned on this thread already) have no braking surfaces as they’re designed for use with disc brakes only.

Having a look around, you’ve got a few options that I can see (though none will be that easy to come by as walking into your LBS or ordering from CRC though)… I’d suggest going no wider than 23mm otherwise it’s going to be a pig to get the rim inside a normal road bike caliper brake and will give a 23/25c tyre an overly square profile, and any narrower and you’ll struggle to run a 2.1″ tyre successfully on it without it folding over at the first sign of a corner.

First up that I can think of is the Velocity A23. This is technically a wide profile road rim (23mm wide vs 19mm or normal road rims), designed to give a 23c or 25c tyre a bit more volume and aid its aero properties. I’ve heard of people using this rim successfully on CX bikes though too, apparently they’re pretty tough. Light at 425g each too

Next you’ve got the Velocity Synergy. Looks like it’s basically a 23mm wide touring rim essentially, 23mm wide again but a bit beefier at 495g each.

The third rim I can think of is the Kinlin XR-279. 23mm Wide again, a 27mm deep profile though (semi-aero essentially) and come in at a claimed 490g each.

I bought a nice set of track hubs a while ago that were going to be built into some lighter wheels for the Trek. Since then I bought the Vitus, and essentially now I can’t decide which bike I want to build some wheels for. So was seeing if I could get some kind of halfway house to suit either, with a change of tyres.

Building a set of wheels is something I want to have a go at – for something to do in the evenings when the weather is rubbish. So its a small project as well as an excuse to upgrade rather than waiting till the old wheels wear out or need re-greasing.

Thanks for the suggestions mboy, will have a look! I’ve since spotted the Rigida Sputnik – a touring rim, but it looks like it weighs 700g plus per rim….