Hi guys,

I’m in the market for some new wheels, quite tough on wheels and ride a lot of rocky trials. Been playing with Light Bicycle carbon rims on some hope hubs but a bit worried about rock strikes and generally breaking the rims so I’ve been leaning towards some EX1501.

What would your money go on at the moment?

They are nothing fancy and not particularly light, but I’d go for Hope Tech Enduros every time

DT Swiss ex 471s or 481s on 350s or 240s I reckonz

How long have you been on the LB rims? Just stop worrying until you actually break them.

EX471s on Hope. Or just ride your LBs…

ive got 3 sets of light bike rims and ive been using them for about 3 years, ive managed to brake 2 rear rims but they were big impacts on the edge of rocks the type of thing that would write off alloy rims as well.

For the money i wouldn’t run anything else now.

Thanks for the replies. I haven’t got any LB wheels yet, I’ve been playing with the idea of ordering some but was a bit worried about destroying carbon rims, hence the thought of some DT Swiss alloy.

The EX1501 are a great wheelset, they’re only 25mm wide if that bothers you.

The Hope Tech Enduros are weird, narrow rims and heavy. They should have stuck with Stan’s as a supplier.

The new 2016 Flow rim on a Hope pro4 with DT comp spokes would be a bargain. Wide, strong, not heavy. I reckon you’ll see a lot of enduro’ists on these next season

Also, Pro4 on Easton Arc27 would be a good bet, they’re stiff, pretty light, and easy to build.

They do EX1501’s in varying internal widths now. 30mm is 1767g. Good all-round bet.

Been looking at 30mm rims myself, but do they not square the tyre off and increase rolling resistance, thus negating any ‘lightness’?

The benefit of wide rims isn’t lightness. It’s grip. Tyres that are less than 2.3 will become a but more square, and those with a square profile already will become flatter.

But that’s missing the point. Wide rims, wide tyres, bigger contact patch.

I’d not clocked Hope had stopped offering Stan’s rims. Not a massive problem as the LBS will build anything…

EX1501 is a great wheelset.

I wouldn’t fall for the ‘wider is better’ school of thought too. Anything around mid 20’s in mm is pretty much ideal.

I’d build some 240’s onto some 471’s. Tough rims & hubs, and possibly build them up with the 28h hubs & rims.

I can’t recommend carbon rims, having broken a lot of them (over 10 before I gave up with them).

Ex1501 are really good wheels and can be picked up at not a bad price from zee Germans.

In the tradition of recommending what you ride…..ibis carbon rims can now be had in a variety of widths, I’ve the 741s which are 35mm internal and 41mm external. Always thought this was far too wide for me but the traction is incredible. Back to back with my previous wheels I couldn’t believe the difference in the same trail.

I wouldn’t go with the prebuilt wheelset; most factory wheels are bollocks. Build or get built a rim you like on spokes you like on a hub you like from a known brand. It might be fractionally heavier than the factory equivalents, and sometimes it’ll even be more expensive but when you break something you’ll be able to fix it easily. And if a part isn’t up for it you can replace it with something else. Straightpulls, funny spokes, and rims without 32 holes especially can **** off.

Me, I like light and wide but not everyone thinks it’s worth it. I’m a big fan of the approach of getting cheap used hubs; DT240Ss in 26er wheels can cost buttons and they’re a fantastic used proposition because they’re implausibly hard to kill. I’ve picked up wheelsets for less than a pair of used hubs alone would have cost, it’s weird. Saves a chunk of cash. If I was doing #enduro wheels today it’d be used DTs on comp races probably, with Lightbicycle rims if I was feeling flush, or DT or WTB otherwise. But there’s lots of good options these days.