It’s occurred to me that the last time I specced a pair of trail wheels was back in the day where the standard answer was to go for Hope Pro IIs (not Evos!) with Mavic XM719s and DT Comp spokes. Some folks out on the cutting edge may have been advocating Stan’s Flows (but never Arches for some reason) but tubeless was much less common back then.

Now I find myself considering getting some new trail wheels. They’d be for a 29er. I’m looking for something between XC and Enduro – where things like the XM719s used to sit, though obviously in modern times rims are going to be wider and tubeless ready.

What rims, spokes and hubs are recommended for this sort of thing these days?

Budget no problem then I would go with some carbon rims built on Hope hubs, probably by Sixth Element even though mine are LBs

If I was working to a budget it would be Hope Hubs, DT Swiss spokes and some of those Easton Arc rims at half price on Chain Reaction

However it would still be hard to see past the Merlin deal on Pro-Build Chosen Hub / Alex Volar Trail Wheels for lightish strong wheels

It won’t be a money-no-object wheelset, I’m looking for what’s in the strength-weight-price sweet spot at the moment.

I’ve bought some of the Arc 27 rims off CRC to put aside for my next set of 29er trail wheels.

I’ll probably spring for a Pro 4 rear hub and use a DT 350 front hub that I already have.

I’ve got some Easton Arc rims, and while the front has been fine, I did manage to ding the back pretty badly. To be fair to the rim, this was my fault (too low pressure + rocky descent = big ding, followed by a repair, then casing a jump = destroyed). I know others have found arc rims to be plenty strong enough, but I’ve ridden similar pressures in my flow rims and not damaged them. Probably just unlucky, but that was my experience.

I’ve actually just bought another arc rim to replace the destroyed one, but only because it meant not needing new spokes. If I were building fresh, for what you describe I would go with arch mk3 on hope or dt 240 hubs.

My basic input might be too basic for you, but my mantra is:

Mavic on Hope is best. Merlin is the best place for this. The quality of their builds are, in my experience, excellent.

If too pricey, Mavic on Superstar seem to be working well for me at the moment – although I hear the actual build quality is very variable. Mine have been great. I did crack a rim, but I have rebuilt it myself and it seems pretty good so far.

Also, I think a major consideration is the ease of tyre removal/fitting with cold hands. Maxxis on Mavic is the easiest combo I’ve yet found, but I still run tubes.

Go on the Superstar website, they’re doing a spring clear out of 26, 27.5 and 29er wheelsets.
The Tactic is a nice balance of weight and width, the new Tech-4 sets are good and strong enough for 150mm DH hubs on them, there’s some Pacenti 25mm width trail sets too.
I picked up a spare set of DH wheels, will be doing loads of racing this year in the Borderline/Welsh series and want a set with a mud/wet combo tyres I don’t have to take off.

just built DT XM481 on novatech hubs. Would have gone hope but budget was stretched.

https://www.dtswiss.com/Components/Rims-MTB/XM-481

Very happy with them – built good ride good. Can’t comment on lengevity as i’ve done about 3 hours riding…

I’m waiting on some Hope Enduros which are hopefully getting delivered to my LBS tomorrow.

Bombproof hubs coupled to a rim that’ll take a beating, not as wide a rim as the latest crop of Flows and the like but as I ride on 2.2’s that’s not an issue.

Something very like this:

http://www.bikestacja.pl/en/bicycle-parts/mtb/wheels-mtb/wheels-set-wtb-i25-kom-29-nt-771-772-black-9-142-47669.html

Not superlight or supertough or superwide but just sensible, all off the shelf parts, ought to be tough enough for your use.

If it were me- like, if I were buying wheels, but for your use, if this is going in the mythical hardtail- I’d do something with DT350S hubs or used DT240S if I could find any at the time, plus some middly spoke, and… Whatever 450-500g rim seemed good value at the time. Those Arcs would get my attention.

I’ve two sets, a pair of Hope’s (from a set of 26″) built up on last-generation 29″ Flow rims by my local wheelbuilder and a s/h (but unused) pair of Roval’s from here.

Rovals are 1800g with a 29mm internal rim, whereas the Hope/Flow’s are 2000g.

Spank oozy trail 295 wheelset or hope hubs built up with oozy trail 295 rims would get my vote.

Strong, light and a decent price point.

I’m loving the new Stans Arch MK3s. 26mm internal and as light as the old Arch EX but as strong as the Flow EX. They make 2.35 tyres really nice and wide and they’re designed to run low pressures. I’m running 20F/25R in Nobby Nics and that’s been tested pretty hard on a 160 bike. Mine are 26 inch on Hope Pro 2 EVOs.

I’d definitely have Arch MK3s on a future build. I’ve fitted the Super Gravity tyres on them no issues too but I’m finding the Nobby Nics do the trick at the minute.

I have a set of SuperStar Carbon AMs too also running Nobby Nics and a set of Flow EX which haven’t seen any use since I got the Arch MK3s.

Easton arcs are soft as cheese wouldnt entertain having another set!

Can’t really go wrong with Flows/Mavic/Hope rims on Hope Hubs. I’m running flows at the mo, work flawlessly with Maxxis tyres.

Had a very similar chat with my LBS just a couple of weeks ago.

We ended up agreeing on Hope hubs, and either Arch or WTB (i25, I think) rims – depending on price/availability.

Strengthwise for a 29er, it would be worth considering asymetric rims like the WTB’s if you’re non-boosted. 29ers can suffer from break-angle related weakness due to the longer length of spoke needed over smaller wheels leading to wheels that might not be as laterally stiff as you’d like.

I’m a fan of Hope hubs but I’ve latterly been converted to DT 350s (cos I couldn’t afford 240’s). There are real hub weight savings to be had with DT centrelock hubs over even DT 6bolt IS.

That said, my most recent completed build is WTB i25s on an old set of Pro2Evo40t’s with DT comps – and it’s a good set of wheels, I’m happy.

Best place for DT spokes is usually Rose in Germany (somewhere around seven quid for 20 black DT comps…)

I’ve also been contemplating new 29 wheels for my camber. The new stans rims look good for weight/width. I think I’d go for the arch as i’m probably not aggressive enough to notice the benefit of 30mm. Tempted to get some built on hope pro 4, though i’m not sure i want the noisy free hub.

Is there anywhere that builds custom sets (without additional building fees) using DT hubs as CRC and merlin do with hopes?

In response the OP, Winstanleys have last year’s stans arch sets in 29 shimano flavour for £300. I’d be tempted to go for those if I didn’t need an XD driver.

Is there anywhere that builds custom sets (without additional building fees) using DT hubs as CRC and merlin do with hopes?

Who’s your LBS?

My normal price for a wheel build is an hour’s labour, but if you’re buying everything from us for a new custom build then we’ll knock the Labour off… To be fair, it takes me less time to build a wheel when everything is nice and new anyway (and you don’t have an old knackered rim to unlace, spoke lengths to work out etc.), but also gives me the opportunity to be competitive with the online boys…

And if you buy from your LBS, you have the peace of mind of knowing if anything goes wrong with them you can just pop back there and they’ll sort it out FOC for you…

Hope Tech Enduro’s are the wheel of choice for the majority of our riding group

As for wheel recommendations…

There’s so many rims on the market now, it’s not as easy as it was keeping up with them all! Rim widths have gone up which IMO is a good thing, but then again you can have too much of a good thing too. 35mm internal is too much for a trail bike IMO, that kind of width works well on these new 2.6″ + tyres and the 40mm’s on the 2.8’s. Anyway… depending on the tyre widths you’re running I’d look at rims with the following widths as a guide…

2.1-2.2″, 21-25mm internal
2.2-2.3″, 23-27mm internal
2.3-2.4″, 25-29mm internal
2.4-2.5″, 27-31mm internal

That’s just my own opinion, others will differ…

Hub wise, hard to argue against Hope Pro4’s or DT Swiss 350 for performance at a relatively modest price. Both are worth the extra investment over cheaper Superstar/Novatec etc. every day of the week and will outlast the cheaper alternatives many times over.

If you want to spend more money though, there are lots of options depending on what you want. Obviously Chris King are seen as the ultimate bling, I’ve just swapped some DT 350’s out on a customers bike for CK cos he wanted the bling and the trademark freehub buzz, and was happy to pay for it. They’re awesome hubs but don’t score high on the value stakes! Same goes for i9 though too… Very nice, even more buzzier than CK, but again not cheap.

I’m going to be building some Rideworks (small UK one man band, check out their Facebook page or their website) hubs for my bike as soon as he’s got the XD drivers available. Imagine a Hope Pro4 that’s been designed with bigger bearings and lower friction seals. They also look rather nice too and are a bit different from the norm… Probably on some of the new Mavic EN827 rims that have just come out or maybe some Stans Arch Mk3’s… Then again the Easton/Raceface ARCs are a good rim too (albeit a little softer than most).

Who’s your LBS?

My normal price for a wheel build is an hour’s labour, but if you’re buying everything from us for a new custom build then we’ll knock the Labour off… To be fair, it takes me less time to build a wheel when everything is nice and new anyway (and you don’t have an old knackered rim to unlace, spoke lengths to work out etc.), but also gives me the opportunity to be competitive with the online boys…

And if you buy from your LBS, you have the peace of mind of knowing if anything goes wrong with them you can just pop back there and they’ll sort it out FOC for you…

Quite a few bike shops locally in Sheffield; je james and evans are closest to me so I use them. I used evans to rebuild my old wheels and was impressed with the job/price.

No useful suggestions for hubs, but I’ve just had an old set of American Classic hubs rebuilt on the new mavic 427 rims. 27mm wide internal, reasonably light and about £30 a rim

mboy and others above have given good advice – I’d echo that – Hope or DT Swiss hubs (probably 350 unless you have the budget for 240s), DT Swiss rims of a width appropriate to the tyres you plan to run.

DT Swiss complete wheels are also well worth a look IMHO, very good value at various price points.

Sixth Element carbon wheels are lovely if you have that sort of budget.

At the other end of the spectrum

it would still be hard to see past the Merlin deal on Pro-Build Chosen Hub / Alex Volar Trail Wheels

This is by no means a “Merlin deal” – the wheels are built by Raleigh and available through any LBS with a Raleigh account. In fact they’re one of the few things Merlin sell which aren’t at a ridiculous discount. We sell lots, and fit them to some of our demo bikes. They are really excellent for the money, and if you want a quality product at a low price they are vastly superior to anything else we’ve seen at the budget end.

Easton arcs are soft as cheese wouldnt entertain having another set!

This is not what I wanted to hear, and I know your riding’s a bit similar to mine (ie. rocky).

Did they dent really easily? Worth it at £35 a rim?

Was he not meaning the merlin deal, as in “the price on Merlin” for them?

Because they seem more expensive everywhere else

He’s a she and yes I was referring to the price at Merlin. Never seen them as cheap anywhere else

Sorry, no offence intended. I didn’t look to see who had posted.

Non taken, I know someone who bought some from Merlin on my recommendation. He hammered them for a year on the downhills at Wharncliffe and they still were running good when he sold the bike

Wow, lots of advice to process, thanks for it all!

In an attempt to summarise…

It sounds like rims in the 24-27mm width would be about the sort of thing I should aim for. Plenty of options in that area it seems, other than availability/cost and reports of Arcs being soft there’s not much between Stan’s/WTB/DT/Easton in terms of opinions above.

Mavic’s range confuses me a little as the variation in weight between the 427, 627 and 827 seems minimal despite a large cost difference. Presumably the more expensive ones are tougher instead of lighter?

Hope hubs and DT 350s seem to be the winners in the hub recommendation stakes. I would be after an XD driver.

Looking at Hope’s wheelsets it looks like the XC one may be a bit narrow/lightweight, but the Enduro wheels’ rims are a bit heavier than the alternatives listed above.

What fork do you have? Mate just went to the SRAM Torqu Caps https://www.sram.com/rockshox/technologies/torque-caps
Reckons it’s a decent amount more stiffness and probably a good look out on a 29r wheel

With the Mavic rims the 427s are non-eyeletted and sleeved (pinned? ), the 627 are sleeved but have eyelets and the 827 are welded and have eyelets. I went for the 427 as it was the cheapest and lightest.

Thanks for that summary, trusty.

Trusty is now a strategic resource- the one person who understands Mavic rims these days.

Or maybe I just wasn’t reading the right bits of each rim’s description…

Hope or DT350s on what ever DT rim suits your budget. Cant go wrong in my book. Just built some XM521s onto Pro4s with CX-Rays and supplied PH nipples. 1882g (27.5) which I am happy with for some pretty tough 35mm internal wheels. Should be fairly bombproof too.

Favourite DT rims at the mo are the M502 for budget purposes (but no 29er option alas), or the XM series for trail riding toughness, and EX for full bore. The XM481 is probably the best weight/strength/width (30mm int) out there right now.

Northwind, I don’t think so! I just looked on the Mavic website 😀 there’s no real reviews of the new mavic rims so thought I’d take a punt. I’ve trashed a couple of Stans rims so wanted something a bit cheaper to replace!

Im tempted by some of these

https://shop.mavic.com/en-gb/xa-elite-rv0894.html

Right, intervention! Quite a few of these are heavier duty than Chris needs, XM481 is a great rim but too burly, Flow Ex and Hope Enduro likewise. Think closer to 450g than 550g for sure.

Chris is a good rider and pretty rapid especially on flowing stuff, but he’s not a smashing-into-things rider like me, and he also likes his tyres pretty firm. So it all adds up to not being hard on rims, he has a set of Roval Traversees that are about a 1600g wheelset, that’ve been in his mojo for years and are absolutely pristine, to give a comparison. (Also, he has a big mental Mega 290 for smashing rocks with)

I’m not sure a crest or a 366 or similar would be tough enough though which is why I went with a KOM i25- but something in that ballpark for sure.

Well you say that northwind but the i25 KOM is the exact same weight as the XM in the same width. The 481 is the same build strength just wider than both. So based on what width Chris wants it’s still possibly a relevant choice I would think 🙂