Was going to go for stans crest with hope hubs but Merlin have just advertised an xt wheelset for £50 cheaper than the stans…. Will be used mainly for xc /marathon duties, nothing too heavy…
Which ones would you choose…
I like the full UST’ness of the shimano wheels for ease of tubeless set up but want the reliability of the hope hubs…
Decisions decisions….
Not sure on weight differences between the too either?

Can’t comment on the XTs however have never had any issues setting up Crests tubeless. I also like Hope hubs because adapters are easily available for all the various axle standards. My Crests have been on QR, 15mm and 20mm forks. Changing adapters is the work of moments.

I have a set of kinesis maxlight 300 quid of winstanelys which are decent weight, width and dead easy tubeless. Well worth a look, get decent reviews to

I’d go for hope hoops over XT for the reason matt gives.

Its got to be the stans or go for a set of Sun ringles. Mine have been fantatsic so far (1 yr)

American Classics. The conversion is just as simple, the tubeless rim principle better, and they are lighter.

+1 for American Classic Race

Still running true and free despite being ridden by a clod!

I think they are around 1550 gms so pretty light and very cheap for what you get (imho obviously).

I have two sets.Ron rear NN front on one and the lightweight set has thunder bert rear ron front

What about Hope Tech XC ? Hope Pro 2 EVO hubs with Hopes own rims. Ive just bought the Tech Enduro and am very impressed.
They use eyelets ( unlike stans) so can be built up tighter (and are reputedly less likely to lose air over time).
Best of all they have Hope stood behind them.

Watch for alu nipples failing on the kinesis

Dain_Bramaged – Member

They use eyelets ( unlike stans) so can be built up tighter

Hope haven’t published recommended tensions, are but Stans are pretty high- 95kgf for a crest. For comparison Mavic recommend 75kgf for all of their standalone rims. Lots of people think Stans have to be built with low tension but it’s a myth, I think it just goes back to older/cheaper uneyeletted rims