Hello

I’ve gone 29 so looking for some rims to build onto my hope pro 2’s.
Hardtail, trail, xc riding. No need for fat tyres, 2.2-2.3ish. Definitely sub 500g.
The budget is £50-£70 per rim.

Seen Mavic XM819 but can’t seem to find much else…
Any recommendations?
Thanks

At that price, I’d go for Easton ARCs.

If you’re after light, how about the DT XR331?

380 grams in 29″ and a smidge wider than the mavics.

DT XM 401 – you can probably pick them up within budget.

DT470

I bought a pair of 29 Flow’s from Merlin for £48 last week.

Been mulling this over recently for a Swift too.

Running a 29er and if your looking for the XC kind of thing, and you like Continental tyres like the Race King/ X king and don’t want punctures either then the Protection versions have a UST bead.

This clicks into the WTB rims which have a matching UST interface (but use rim tape to save rim weight) for an optimum tubeless interface and are light for the width. Looking at the KOM’s 21/23/25 you can get a wide light rim with an equivalent to Mavic Maxtal type/ scandium upgraded alloy to reduce denting. From past decades when XC would be 17 inner it seems a migration to about 23-25 inner seems to be where it’s at, progressing towards 30 inner for trail and bigger volume tyres. So maybe a WTB KOM 23 is where it’s at with a Protection Xking front and Raceking rear.

The Easton ARC rims are also good value/ size/ weight, but don’t have a UST bead interface which may be a good or worse thing depending on what tyre and type you were thinking of.

The Crest is an old staple.

The Ryde Trace XC has an assymetric profile which might be of interest.

The older BOR XMD 333’s are still available. Light and eyeletted but narrower.

WTB KOM here

wtb i19 here – tighter than the xm819 to get tyres on.

KOM’s here on both 650B i25, and 29 i23 on some new complete wheels from Stiff, on pro2s with XD driver 320 squids.

I snapped up a pair of new DT 240s hubs of fleabay recently very cheaply & thinking about some 29er carbon rims but undecided on make just yet.

Damn, those flows looked great but they are white!

I’d be looking at a kom. The DT ones do seem pretty good though.

Bargain Flows from Merlin + black rattlecan from Halfords (using 10% BC discount on the paint, natch) 😉

Since they’re not eyeletted, it would be pretty easy to surface prep and rattlecan them any colour you want.

Though it’d add crucial grams and the white is already heavier!1!!

(OK, more relevantly, most rattlecans aren’t going to give a finish anything like durable enough, I predict you’d see white poking through by the end of 1 ride)

Kom seems good, I’ve not used them myself but the Frequency that they’re closely related to is bloody brilliant. WTB and DT seem to be kicking arse at rims lately.

I’m running Wtb Sti23 rims on hope pro 2 Evos and they are brilliant if I was going to build up a spare wheelset I’d plum for Wtb again possibly in 25mm internal width

Thanks for the replies people, some serious food for thought.
It seems DT or WTB are the way to go.

Big fan of the halo vapour rims been trying to kill mine over a year now still true no dings and plenty of battle scars but no dings or flat spots seem to be bomb proof even loaded the ogre up really heavily and they just took it off road on 700-42c rough road tyres

Damn, those flows looked great but they are white!

They look alright when built up but does depend on the colour combo of your bike, this is mine.

Damn, those flows looked great but they are white!

Yes, but at less than 1/2 the price who cares.

Merlin do the Flows built onto Deore 6 bolt QR hubs with black Dt comp spokes and QR’s for £95 the pair in the custom wheels section. Bought a pair for dad’s Fargo and they’ve been perfect. Bigger balls in the deore hubs and fewer seals to slow you down…packed em with grease. Bought a similar pair with Olympics for my 26, and love em.