So the mrs has kiboshed the idea of me spening £1500 on a new canyon this year so I’m gonna spend some of my bonus on some new wheels.

My requirements: as light as possible with standard tubed rims. I can only afford one set of wheels so would like to change my tyres frequently without trouble
My budget is under £500 for the set but I’d like the price to be under £250. I would like overall opinion on which make and/or models are best as I might chose 2nd hand off ebay.

Currently running WTB Dual Duty XC rims with Shimano 525 hubs so not the lightest in the world, most wheels would be an improvement I figure. Would I be better just getting some lighter rims, I’ve not had major trouble with these hubs and only have to service the rear about once every 6 months. I ride about 60 miles a week or more.
thanks all.

do you mean which wheel builder or which model?

For £250 you might get an offer set of Hopes and some rims

For £500 some DT swiss

Probably use merlin for the build personally

Second hand Mavic Crossmax ST. I bought a second hand pair off classifieds a while ago well under your £250 budget and they have been great. I run them tubed and have no difficulty geting tyres on and ofg. Only downside is spokes are not cheap to replace.
An alternative would be DT Swiss 240 hubs with Mavic 717 rims, bomb proof in my experience and again within budget 2nd hand.
New I’d be looking at Hope Hoops with Mavic Rims which would be £350 ish
Edit:
Just seen junkyards post. I agree, if getting some built Merlin are good

I was thinking makes of wheels rather than makers, like when I browse crc there is Nukeproof, mavic, crank bro, easton, dmr, halo etc.
I’ve only owned 2 sets of wheels so haven’t got much of a clue.
thanks

I would say get stans notubes rims (which ever model suits your riding) laced to the best hubs you can (hope, dt swiss, chriss king) Built by a good LBS or someone who knows what they are doing

I love my crossmax st’s but I wouldn’t touch second hand crossmax st’s unless i could confirm that every spoke isn’t seized (not easy). I have have some that i have meticulously maintained since new but it still cost me £180 ish for a new rim and spokes when i broke a single spoke.
Amazing wheels though just a shame they suffer from this problem.

Stick with some wheels with none proprietary parts.

Andy

Wheel builders can make the difference.

I’m currently going for hope pro ii on mavic xm719 but getting them built slightly differently to the hoop options fir my preference. If your buying off the shelf look at hope hoops.

Bought a 2nd hand set of Hoops – ProII and Flows, with High Roller LUSTS – off of here for £160 last year.

Bombproof, cheep. Win.

Try and stretch to hope hoops?

Merlin cycles or just riding along for handbuilts but they won’t be as cheap.

Dare I mention superstarcomponents…

Dave Hinde has made me some nice wheels over the years

Something that comes in under you’re budget, but feels a lot more expensive are the fulcrum Red Power

They’re a quality wheelset! Sealed cartridge bearings and pretty light for what you’re paying.

Whatever has good spares availability – rarely factory stuff.

American Classics with tubeless ready Schwalbes is actually less faff to change tyres than with inner tubes!

Just did a quick google on your current rim.

‘The Dual Duty XC is light, strong and compatible with rims brakes. The 450-gram rim features WTB’s Global Bead Seat design as well as a CNC’ed braking surface, eyelets and super strong 6-millimeter pins.’

They are also quite wide with a 19mm internal width.

Seems like a pretty ok wheelset to me, could probably get a ligther hub and I expect the spokes are plain gauge… depending on what type of riding you do maybe a dropper seat post might make more difference to your ride enjoyment.

I do have a barely used set of iodine 3 crank bros wheels that i could do for £250. Never got round to the build i was intending to use them on. They are very stiff and offer a very direct feel… I am likely to go 29er next so much as i want to keep them I need to let go….

Factory wheelstes are great when they work. A nightmare when they don’t. If you break a spoke in your mavic/easton/crank bros wheel don’t acted shocked when you have to buy an entire drive/non drive side set. Bearings? better stock up in advance as your LBS won’t stock them.

Cracked flange? Warranty failure? Mavic/Easton/Fulcrum will want to see them, so no on the spot fix from the shop you got them in.

As someone else said, buy the best hubs you can afford laced to stans rims. Unless of course you don’t mind any of the above. Also bear in mind chaning axle standards and future bike swapability.

Hope Hoops, and keep your current wheels too.

Terry Cycles North of Bristol, always done a really good job for me. Whether I buy a wheel new or 2nd hand, I’ll always get them to work their magic.

Hope Hoops, with a rim choice based on your weight, needs and tyre choice. Flows are the obvious middle ground. EX723 are strong.

I don’t mind factory wheels for the roadie but for mtbing it’s just too easy to bust a spoke/rim with a dodgy landing/fall so you need it to be easily and cheaply fixable.

[and steer well clear of D Hinde]

Big Al’s / Wheelcraft Clachan of Campsie. Worth it for being asked to make the tea, have a poke about in the loft and generally talk bollocks. Don’t expect to leave in a hurry though!

In my experience I build the best wheels.

Might not be universally true though, I’ve only tried a few and through the process of learning to build my own Ive narrowed my sample size further!

I built my own wheels using these hubs, which are an absolute bargain at that price. They’re as good as Hopes IMHO. Choose your own rim (I used Mavic XM319’s, and get cracking. If I can successfully lace my own wheels, any idiot can 😀

Best wheels I have are from Merlin (have 4 sets in active service, all straight).
I would always prefer them to factory wheels due to service ease and spares availability.

Stif in Leeds always built good wheels too, but its ages since I last had some from there.

So have a look at the Merlin website and see what they have on offer.

got Steve deas at I- cycles to build me a pair of Flows with hope evo 2 hubs . good price and very strong

Got Fulcrums on my mtb & roadie and they do the job well.

Got a new set of Pro II’s with Stan’s Flows of Dave Hinde. Superb.

Justridingalong

Try this chap, he does wheels, wheels and more wheels. Plus you can build you’re wheels using the on line wheel builder to suit your budget, after which give him a call and I’m sure he’ll do you a deal.

Plus 1 for the Crossmax XT’s BTW. Never had a snitch out of a pair a ran for nearly 2 years where as my current Eastons have been sh1te !

Mavic Hope Hoops also serve well on the HT but I wish I’d gone tubeless with those.

Big Al’s / Wheelcraft Clachan of Campsie. Worth it for being asked to make the tea, have a poke about in the loft and generally talk bollocks. Don’t expect to leave in a hurry though!

This 😆
Also got quite a few wheel steps from Merlin over the years without any issues 😆

asterix – Member
Dave Hinde has made me some nice wheels over the years

i lolled.

Love my hope pro2 on dtswiss 42 rims, bought about 6 years ago.
Been excellentfor general xc stuff.

Definitely think about building your own. It’s not too difficult – my dad even made a truing jig out of assorted garage parts that works perfectly – and it lets you get better components for the same money.

Also, it has the benefit of you knowing how to fix/adjust it if you warp it a bit or break a spoke.

Best wheels ( not lightest ) but best ( for me thats a compromise between strength and weight would be a 717 ( old style) on hope pro 2

Can get spares in almost any lbs….

Not too heavy

Good round tire profile

Not q silly low spoke tension like stans and im not sure what hope do with their hoops but universally the most useless wheels ive had to deal with both personally 355 on sp xc3s and for customers.- a few different permutations.

Because im a mug for light i have stans on almost all my bikes except my dh ht ( d521 on big un) and my fat bike.

After a lot of research and a great deal of contemplating, I’ve just ordered a Merlin handbuilt wheel set of Flow Ex/Hope Pro 2s. Figured that hand built was worth paying for but no local (trusted) lbs to build. Having bought a load of stuff off Merlin with great service plus their reputation as a great wheel builder at not much more than factory Hope Hoops prices and less £ than the competition, seemed like a bit of a no-brainer. Well within your budget at a bit over £330 although I managed to get mine a little cheaper in the recent Xmas sale.

When I’ve had the wheels for long enough to have the benefit of hindsight I’ll let you know what I think! In the meantime, I thought very long and hard about this so hope my decision can inform yours.

Stu

thanks very much for all replies, lots to go at ta.

How about these;
Hope ProII Evo/ZTR Crest
Tubeless or Tubed, & both hubs can use adaptors for all axle standards so if you change you bike your wheels can adapt to suit the axle standard it uses.

These people are supposed to be good too;
Moonglu

buy these..?

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/hope-hoops-red-on-stans-flow-ex

The flow is not a light rim but is durable. And it may not take to having a narrow xc tyre on it but I’ve not tried

I do like to swap out for skinny’ish tyres at around 1.75 for canal, road and track use so would be interested if the flow’s can’t hold a tyre at that width.
Also, is there any difference twixt the pro 2 and pro 2 evo hub or are they the same thing?

Evo is straight swappable between 135 & 142 a the rear and has a better axle & bearing set up an a cooler logo.

the hope pro 2 makes a loud sound in freewheel, does it p you off?

which are the best silent hubs?