Can anyone tell me which are the lighter and/or the best wheels? Mavic Crossride or the XT/Mavic717, I would appreciate your comments, jwasmalinATgooglemailDOTcom

Do you expect people to actually email you!? Bit odd for a rather normal question on a public forum.

Neither will be very light, and there’s a lot of variables.

The lightest combo you’re likely to get is XT centrelock hubs with DT Revolution spokes and 717s. XT 6 bolt hubs weigh a ton, plain gauge spokes will also make a big difference.

Sorry to offend njee20, never been on before and assumed that was the thing to do? didn’t realize it was that formal.

It’s not formal, quite the reverse. Just ask your questions and you’ll get your answers here.

717s are a good choice, DT revolution spokes are good idea too if you want to save weight. If you go with the centrelock hubs, just remember you’ll either need centrelock rotors or DT adaptors (about £25 each).

Hope Pro 2’s on Mavic XM819’s. Go tubeless; you won’t regret it if you stick with Mavic rims and Maxxis, Panaracer or Schwalbe tyres.

You should be able to get that wheelset for £300.

Out of the two I would go with the 717/XT combination hand built by Merlin. The will be easier to service and maintain over the long term – although many people on here have no time for XT hubs.

As njee20 says neither will be light wheelsets – but you get what you pay for so to speak and it sounds as if you have a budget or price in mind.

Pedalon.co.uk and Evans were selling 2008 Bontrager Race (£125) and Race Lite (£170) wheels pretty cheap a couple of weeks ago. They are not exceptionally light wheels, but they have good DT Swiss hubs, Double Butted spokes, welded OSB rims and are Tubless compatible and can probably support a slightly wider range of tyre widths than 717 rims which may be relevant depending on what type of riding you do.

Pro2/819s are nice but over double the price of crossrides or XT/717s.
Merlin have Pro2/717 from about £225.

welcome to the forum jwas
i got the crossrides in the same situation, probably not a lot of performance difference, but the mavic look great and after 3000miles no problems and still very true

819 are also fairly heavy, its better to save weight on the rims if you aim is speed. 819’s are ust and strong though if thats your thing