27.5 with a budget up to 650 ish, considering crossmax XL & enduro, American Classic AM, industry 9 (bit dear). I am hard on wheels and want the holy grail for my stanton switchback, light, quick, strong and stiff. I am 15 stone and these will be doing lakes, Alps etc. any ideas please I am not keen on doing the custom build with light bicycle etc.

I find Hope Flows from Merlin not Hope Hoops to be very good. Plenty of change left over for something else. Or Go for Chris King or DT hubs for a bit more £$£$£

The Crossmax XL, easy choice for me.

Wish I could afford a pair myself.

I don’t know whether factory wheels are any good or not, but if I were 15 stone I’d probably get something with lots of spokes that area easy to replace. The Mavic 721/729 rims always used be be pretty solid; do they make these in 650B size?

… I am hard on wheels…

That statement alone would rule out any Mavic factory options for me. Spares availability in the UK is shocking.

The mavic s appeal because of weight and being stiff. I have heard their warranty is pretty good. It does bother me though I cannot get hold of spokes etc easily though.

I have looked at hope and their new rim but they seem heavy of not the fastest hubs. Tried spank oozy and kinesis and bust them. Considering something built round dt swiss hubs maybe best, just not sure what

I recommended the burlier Mavics because of the 15st bit.

Mavic factory wheels always seem a cut above the competition in terms of stiffness and I’ve found them very reliable and low-maintenance (owned 4 pairs).

And I’d take the spares availability thing with a pinch of salt, I’ve found everything I need no problem – usually at my LBS. Unlike Easton for example.

Mavic spares availability is absolutely fine if you go to a Mavic dealer. Part of the sign-up every year is a spoke kit so you have spares for the odd breakage; complete spoke sets for rebuilds are readily available from Mavic – and always seem to be in stock. They take 2-3 days to arrive from France is all.

If you’d prefer to go the custom build route and want carbon, but don’t want to order rims from Light Bicycle or whoever, we’re just about to import a batch of carbon rims to do wheel builds. DT or Hope hubs with 32 double-butted spokes and a strong, wide carbon rim, would be well within your budget.

I made the mistake of asking Mavic head office for spares, they were incredibly unhelpful. But Mavic UK were actually fantastic, even though it was a pretty old wheel. So pretty impressive, but I’d sooner have a normal wheel with normal spares frankly.

(the Enduro is a bit cheeky, Mavic faked up rears for sponsored riders, that look the same as the Enduro you can buy, but are stronger. Doesn’t really inspire, that)

Can I ask, why not a custom build? If you’re worried about durability, it makes a lot more sense IMO, you’re not tied to specific parts and even if you can find the part you need they’re often not cheap.

Custom wise likely to be more to do with bad builds than them being a viable option, I have had a few sets done by local lbs and found myself constantly taking them into to be trued.

£709 will get you dt swiss 240s hubs (with 36T upgrade), dt swiss EX 471 rims (the ones that gwinn rode w/o tyre) and Dt swiss comp spokes.
That’s without shopping around (from PT cycles) I expect that ze germans could do better on price.

Or get DT ex1501 spline 1 wheels, exactly the same as above but under £500…

A good deal here – clicky

Light-bicycle carbons?

The usual, recommending what I have.

I have looked at hope and their new rim but they seem heavy of not the fastest hubs

You’re 15 stone, ride a hard tail and are “hard” on wheels. That’s the last spot you’d wanna save weight!

Don’t bother with the 240 hubs; just get the 350s since they’re much cheaper and much the same.

Years and years ago I bought two pairs of Mavic wheels.

Never since. Ever.

American Classic for me.

My clumsy riding style has yet to have any impact on my lightweight MTB tubeless rims after 4 years of riding into stuff.

I like my Mavic SX in 26″ and I’m 17 stone plus….I also had a set of Mavic Kysirium Elite road wheels for a year of training for LeJog and LeJog itself…….my riding buddies both used my spare standard wheels whilst there spokes were replaced…. This was 2009….. I serviced the same bike that I sold onto another 15 stone mate who is still running the same wheelset and they’re still super smooth, no broken or bent spokes etc.
you get what I’m saying here?

Everyone loves a picture right?

I went for crossmax enduros on mine. Obviously mavic have had issues in the past with parts and reliability but I’ve had no issues so far and the bike takes a pounding. I’m not as heavy as you though. And they
Look so pretty!!!!

Definitely XL’s if you have the cash, specced them on most of my nice custom builds recently and sold piles to others as upgrades.

Only seen 2 broken so far, by the same person at the same time* just take out the MP3 insurance and it is not much of an issue.

*he weighs 19st and has broken every wheel in the world.

Crossmax xl ordered, great pic to

Hope Hoops, either Mavic rims, Flows or Tech Enduros. I’ve still not killed my 521s in 3 years of hard riding, casing jumps/sideways landings and generally battering them through rocky terrain.

Velocity blunt rims are alway good and tough. Chinese carbon also works. Lace to them shimano xtr hubs and you have a winner. Dt hubs are good too but i would stick to the 350’s. The 240’s are lighter but that the end of the gain.

I have a thing for wide rims but i would also agree mavic rims like the 521 or 721 are pretty robust even though they are a little narrower.