Hi All

Have just built up an anthem and have kept the wheels off the old bike – these sre Mavic 717’s on CK hubs – the build was designed to be as light as poss but it’s feeling a bit more porky than I’d hoped.

Am going to sell the wheels but what to replace them with? Am running QR15 on the front and, apologies in advance, love the look of the Mavic Crossmax SLR’s – any thoughts out there on these?

Cheers

budget would help

Stans Olympic Rims on American Classic hubs with DT Competition Super Comp spokes paired with Racing Ralphs. You can go lighter, but not much and for far more money. Unless you’re a race-only type I think DT Revolutions are too flexy. All the above available from Just Riding Along;

“Pre-built wheels on the American Classic 225 & 130 hubs. See the American Classic hub page for more info on these hubs.
hubs: American Classic MTB disc 130 & 225
rims: NoTubes ZTR Alpine black
spokes: DT Swiss Revolution black
nipples: DT Swiss aluminium black
weight: 1291g (front 588g, rear 703g)
£509″

The DT Competition Super would add about 15g per wheel.

Sorry guys, budget would be £600ish?

These Stan’s seem really popular.. a better bet than the Crossmax’s?
I’m a wheels on the ground distance rider with the occasional competition thrown in

Cheers again for the advice

Advantage of the AC/Stans build over crossmax is that they use normal, easy to replace spokes. Oh, probably lighter too.

Got some American Classics on Crests from Just Riding Along. Lovely, and about 500 too…

you can build a quality and light wheelset for well under 600, under 400 actually less if you factor im second hand parts my front 32 hole front wheel is 580 grams using soulkozak hub, dt revs and stans olympic, there are lots of decent rear hubs on ebay from china which come in around 200 grams for leas than 80 pounds so all in all you have a very light wheelset reletively cheaply. iam not anexperienced wheelbuilder infact these were my first and they are still true and not at all flexy

thanks all.. will investigate all the options you suggest.. much appreciated

i ride and swear by crossmax sl’s, next year i’m going to treat myself to some American classic on crest tubeless with some light spokes……..depends how heavy you are though, they will be no good if your +80kg

in all my kit I’m a bit over 13 stone so that would be pushing it..

epo-aholic – have you had any bad experiences at all with the crossmax’s? the criticism seems to be around flex and being costly and time consuming to maintain..personally, I love the look of them

have you had any bad experiences at all with the crossmax’s? the criticism seems to be around flex and being costly and time consuming to maintain..personally, I love the look of them

Bought them second-hand from the classifieds and used them for a whole season and only issue so far (touches wood) is i needed to replace 1 bearing in the rear wheel. I’d have to say they are one of the stiffest wheels i have ever ridden, light and tough too and as yet never out of true – admittedly on the XC hardtail but i put it through its paces (although i tend to avoid 6ft drop-offs) In short, really happy – i’d buy the slrs next time but cant afford! 😥

hhmmmm, cheers for that! I had my heart set on the SLR’s but there seem to be many stories about flex and maintenance issues that it had put me off tbh hence looking at the Stans

Is weight the only difference between the SL’s and the SLR’s do you think?

I have a pair of SLR’s and a couple of pairs of SL’s.
I rate them highly over other wheels i’ve used such as Olympic’s on DT – 240’s with Revolution spokes.
The DT’s were massively bendy so they were sold quite quickly – yes they were 1400 grams but needed to be trued after every XC mince.

I also have a set of American classic MTB-26 factory wheels which are also 1400 grams,totally bomb proof and have been given a hard time on my rigid single speed.

The SL’s – SLR’s are tough ,dont flex and are easy to maintain, most issues are due to poor maintenance of the freehub seal (a ten min job to remove,clean and re-build every 300-500 miles depending on conditions)

If I were to do it all again I’d go for Alpines on American classic hubs with Xray sapim spokes – Very tough and between 1300 – 1400 grams for a set for around £400- £450 from German e-bay.

Don’t be tempted by Tune hub’s, they are fitted with the most crappy freehub in existence (unless you upgrade to the Ti freehub)

For the record all wheels were used on a full rigid XC bike and ridden quite hard but no drops.
I’m 83-ish KG so no flyweight 🙂

If you are anywhere near Hampshire feel free to pop over to play with SLR’s if you like.

I have a set of Stans/AC wheels, been great, even almost four years after I bought them.

Review here from a few years ago: http://douglasfshearer.com/blog/wheel-review-stans-ztr-olympic-rim-american-classic-hubs

Probably worth getting some DT hubs, the bearings in the AC are tiny, and the hubs aren’t as well sealed as DT or Pro2s. I have another front wheel which is an Stans Alpine on a Pro2, simply because the weight is similar, but the hub is far better sealed.

Next rear wheel will probably be a DT.

On and on – many thanks for the info
I was surprised at the 717 on Chris King hubs being so heavy – I’ve not weighed them off the frame but its a light overall build.

I really like the look of the SLR’s and also the Fulcrum Red Metal Zero’s but have discounted them. Where I’m at is teh SLR’s if I can overcome the issues (which you have reassured me on) or a Stans based build – to avoid flex though, I’m not convinced I’m actually going to gain anything in terms of weight versus the current 717’s..

The best value looks to be the QR Stans hubs/stans rims (Crest rims I think, but might be Alpine rims) at £329 1410gms (justridingalong). The AC hubs on Stans rims look good aswell if you’re in the £500 market. I think I’ve read on here that the AC hubs have been improved, but not sure if that addresses what Dougal mentions about the bearings. You might be able to afford the DT Swiss hubs which probably would be worth going for, with ligth DT spokes and stans Apline or Crest rims.

The problem with DT 240’s is the unequal spoke tension drive side/non drive side. I found that a very small ding can turn bad very quickly with Stans rims.
This may have been the set that were built for me. I’d never bother with DT 240’s again.
I think i’d rather go with American Classic’s and send a few quid a year on bearings to keep them running sweet.

My current American classic hubs have been great in some really grotty weather -then again the Single speed that they are on doesn’t get used as much as the full XC bike.

Current SLR’s are £800+ , A good custom build is going to be £500 ish.That will give you plenty of cash to buy bearings 🙂 . Either that or a good 2nd hand set of SLR’s from e-bay for £400.
You could always buy some E-bay SLR’s to try and sling them back on if you don’t like them ……………… just a thought 🙂

i am 95 kilos on my home built 1260 gram set ans
d they feel stiff enough and stay true, have a shot at building your own, you know it makes sense 😉

A2Z hubs are made by the same company as AM Classic (Chin Huar), weigh slightly less and cost £140 a pair. I’m building some up on ZTR Podiums with Revolutions. 1200g wheelset for £300… Bearing life is poor, but I can live with that for racing!

Action Sports often have some good deals, I’d check them out. Unless you break a lot of spokes CX-Rays aren’t really worth it IMO (and I’ve had 4 sets of wheels with them). They’re no stiffer than Revolutions, but far more expensive. I wouldn’t avoid them, but if buying in the UK I wouldn’t choose them again either.

If you want a workhorse set of wheels then IMO you’ll struggle to beat 240s on Alpines with Comps, Super Comps or Revs depending on your preference for weight vs stiffness. I’ve got 5 year old DT hubs that are still perfect, and I’ve never had problems with wheels going out of true. My Crossmax went through several freehubs, then the rim cracked in less time.

I personally wouldn’t touch factory wheels again, the Mavic hub design is incredibly dated, spares are extortionate and not easy to get hold of (although better now there’s a uk service centre), they’re heavy and I’ve never found them any more reliable. And you pay a huge premium for all that. YMMV of course!

This is all great – thanks very much.

Having slept on it, I’m going to investigate

1. Crossmax SLR’s (can’t get them out of my head!)
2. Fulcrum Red Metal Zero’s (back in having done some more research – have Fulcrums on the road bike and they’re very nice)
3. Olympics/Crest on American classic hubs with Xray sapim spokes (thanks on and on – and everyone else with their experience on custom builds)

Hi All

Have ordered a pair of Alpines on AM hubs with revelation spokes.. 😀

Very happy and thanks for all the recommendations

Boris

good choice, I presume these http://www.justridingalong.com. I really want a set, but might have to go for the cheaper option stans hubs/stans crest rims, which I’ve noticed have just gone up £34 to £363.

CX-Rays are strong, but not stiff. You pay a lot for them, as i said above, unless you break a lot of spokes I wouldn’t bother! And anyway, I found that because the spokes have such a good fatigue life the nipples break instead, I had several break.

Check Action Sports for good deals, JRA are pretty pricey, although very good I’m sure. They also use CX-Rays on some reasonable priced wheels, you’re not paying £100+ for the privilege.

Are you more interested in form over function?

BA – yes, I got good advice and so far, great service from JRA.. good people.. hope you get yours sorted soon. Chhers, Boris

DT Swiss 240’s with ZTR Alpine rims 1350g

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NoTubes-ZTR-Alpine-DT-Swiss-240s-Disc-1357g-NEU-/310303962323?pt=Sport_Radsport_Fahrradteile&hash=item483f8eb4d3

http://www.actionsports.de/gb/Wheels/Wheelset-Specials/Fun-Works-N-Light-NoTubes-ZTR-Alpine-Sapim-CX-Ray-disc-1350g-Laufradsatz::28249.html

Didn’t notice you’d placed the order, good choice!

Whoops neither did I

Have found Hope Pro3’s with Stans Crest rims to be lightweight and pretty solid. Much less flex than with the older 355 rims. Not much better g/£ in my experience and easy to service.

Pro 3s are disproportionately expensive compared to Pro 2s. The Pro 2s are a fantastic mid-range wheelset, but the Pro 3s aren’t worth it. IMO of course.

Bike outlet have got the American Classic MTB 26 tubeless wheelset at only £299 at the moment. 1486g, seems pretty bargainous to me.

I played safe and got Pro 2’s on Crests though…

Does anyone know if American classic have sorted out their freehub issues? There seem to be a lot of complaints online about the bearing quality (they use a non-standard bearing size?) and having to set the lateral force on the bearing “slightly loose” to avoid premature wear. To me it doesn’t look like the reduction in weight is worth the increased hassle.

The Hope pro II’s are a bit noisy (I’d prefer a completely silent ratchet) and a bit heavy for use in a lightweight wheelset but they are well worth the weight trade off for reliability, I think. They are easy to service and the spares are easy to get hold of. What’s more, Hope will probably still be able to sort you out with spares in the future if your hubs last many years (as my old Hope XC’s have).

They’re a lot better than they were by all accounts, but you don’t buy AMC hubs for the reliability! I’ve seen people have disc mounts crack and such (then again, seen the same on some Hope hubs), I wouldn’t use them for DH use, but for the lightweight wheels they’re fine I reckon!