I've been toying with the idea of replacing my XM819's with these.
They sound good weight wise and plenty strong.
But, I've heard someone talking about tyre blow of's on some stans rims unless a rimstrip is used; at that point the weight savings are less. These Arch EX rims look very shallow.
Anyone got any real world experiences of these?
No. But as a pair of rims just arrived in the post for me I'll be very interested in the responses to this thread.
I've been using some for 8 months now. P*key tubeless with electrical tape & Maxxis UST valves.
I've used various tyres on them from Spec 2Bliss, to Maxxis EXO, to dual ply Maxxis.
I've raced DH on them, done the Mega, done another week in the Alps & various Gravity Enduro events.
No issues at all. When i'm not crashing, I don't hang about. Thumbs up so far. 🙂
They are quite shallow though, I did notice that when building them up. Also DP Maxxis were a challenge to get on them.
I have Arch EX rims on my CX. they take 60psi happily enough.
No problems here, but I did use the tape. Ps They're on eBay now as not needed for new bike. 🙂
I thought that the new version of Arch had the new type of bead hook that was supposed to be more reliable than the old version (despite the fact they are shallower)
I think they just brought them inline with the current crest and old (and new) flow rims?
@nosedive: exactly right and no problem at all with my set, they get thrashed every ride, about 100 miles per week.
2 blown off Schwalbe tyres on my 29er versions. Kind of dents your confidence in them but replaced with Specialized 2Bliss tyres that seem reliable.
New Flows look well tasty too!
new flows have a totally sealed rim bed I think, like 819s. and are wider as well.
the only problem, how on earth can i justify new arch and new flow when I have a set of old arch and old flow.
to be fair the arch are now on Mrs nosedives bike so that might help......
2 blown off Schwalbe tyres on my 29er versions.
what pressures? the only schwalbe I've seen go where the earlier ralphs at pressures way to high for the rims.
I used Arch, flows, crests and ZTR olympics and not had a problem with any of them that wasn't down to me being a dobber in the early days of ownership.
No problems with mine either.
no problems with mine using Maxxis tyres
ive had kevlar maxxis non UST suddenly give way on heavy landings. it was a bit scary as I was going quite fast at the time and the tyre wrapping up around the hub caused a sudden stop.
no problems with wire bead maxxis though
Stans updated their website earlier this year to say they no longer recommended the use of Schwalbe tyres on their rims due to them blowing off the rim too easily.
Edit; Just had a look & it appears they've removed the comment.
have a pair of brand new Arch Ex rims sitting here in a box but I'm wondering if I should sacrifice 90g for the Flow Ex 😕
Is this problem only related to tubeless use?
One blow off on my Arch Ex 29er rims but in fairness I was asking a bit much of them landing cross-rutted with only about 20psi. They are an excellent strong rim, well recommended
So far so good with maxxis minions exo 2.5. Although the Tyre is heavy its has worked really well with the yellow rim strip. Recommend!
Still liking the sound of these, thanks for the replies - only problem is the cheapest place I've seen them is that Dave Hinde guy - from what I can gather service isn't always great - think I'd rather get them from Moonglu but will cost an extra £60 based on a Hope Pro2 Evo build
In reality it's less than 90g difference between the Flow EX and the Arch EX. Custom wheel builders, Just riding along, kindly weighed them up and found that the Arch was often 15g over the 400g quoted weight whilst the Flow EX was often under the quoted 490g.
They guessed the variance might be due to the Arch having more worn mouldings?
When you also factor in this thought piece from RC, I agreed in that it was worth going for the wider rims to be able to safely run narrower LIGHTER tyres with minimal burp risk.
yoshimi - have you checked the just riding along website enduro wheel builder? Pro II \ stans build with Sapim come in a very reasonable £320. Its not the cheapest but not bad for hand built \ high quality and good service
andyl - I very rarely had no problems with old Arch, and the new Arch are 3 mm wider internally I think. If you have them I would use them and feel smug about the light weight. Unless you plan to race downhill I think you will be fine
Yoshimi, I just order a pair from Merlin, black, black Pro 2 evos, black spokes, 15mm QR front, 142x12mm rear. They have an additional 5% off at the moment, came to £337. From some of the horror stories I'd read about Hindes, I figured it was worth paying a little extra
In reality it's less than 90g difference between the Flow EX and the Arch EX. Custom wheel builders, Just riding along, kindly weighed them up and found that the Arch was often 15g over the 400g quoted weight whilst the Flow EX was often under the quoted 490g.
It's a fair point, I weighed mine before I built them out of curiousity & they were 407 & 409g. My older Flows they replaced were both 480g.
I put them on my smaller bike because it took me a long time to ruin a Flow on my DH bike, I don't need anything thaty heavy duty on a trail bike. It was needless extra weight. Factor in the lighter Rev spokes as well & it made a fairly sizable difference 🙂
Had no problems running minion 2.5 exo on my Arch EX with tubes, nor come to think of it, the standard Arch. At a generous 95kg, thought perhaps i should have gone for Flows even just on my Soul, but now thinking Arch EX would be plenty stong enough if and when i decide on full suspension as don't do down hill or anything more than a few feet drop offs.
I had 819s on my old bike (full suss) but managed to badly ding two rims. Was torn between Arch EX and Flows but went for the latter on my new build (hardtail) just to be safe. Dare say the Arch EX would have been more than enough though...
I rode as hard as I could (I am fat and ride heavy!) for two weeks in the Alps on the original Arch rims and didn't manage to bend them - just snapped a spoke or two.
I think they're awesome - especially now they're even better in EX.
As I mentioned above, I chose the Flow because of the extra width for going tubeless, sans burpage and running lighter tyres.
So then.......
Just about to push the button on som Pro 2 Evo Arch EX but then noticed the standard Pro 2 Evo on Flows (standard not EX) for around £260
Quite tempted by those now - but as I'm meant to be saving weight, think I'll stick with my original decision.
Damn my indecision!
I've ordered some pro2/arch ex's for my enduro from Moonglu, i wanted a toughish trail wheel that was a decent weight to replace my 521's. I toyed with the idea of crossmax's but the price and serviceability of these swayed it - won't be as gutted if i trash a rim! I have 721's and dual ply tyres for bigger stuff but these seem to fit the bill for bigger more trail orientated days out, will be running mine tubed with black chilli barons (at least until i can source some spesh clutch control tyres to try tubeless).
JRA built up Arch Ex's for my Pitch after killing some DT EX500's, they seem pretty light but are still true after a few months of cumbrian rocks.
Do it! 😉
Arch EX rims still half price at wiggle;
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/stans-no-tubes-ztr-arch-ex-rim/
@yoshimi I'm going to put my wheels on the classifieds later today. Hope Pro 2 evo's (silver) on Arch Ex (black) with black DT comp spokes. Handbuilt by Merlin and have 3 months of use.
swingbin - I'll look forward to seeing what youre asking for them - also what hub adaptors come with them 🙂
I'm watching this & just about to push the button but Hindes are the cheapest for Pro2 & Arch EX rear 😕
They are trailseeker but I'm guessing you heard bout their legendary 'customer service' from your smiley? If not search google, also there was a thread a while back with a link to all their negative feedback, complete with their responses. Worth checking out before parting with your hard-earned
Yes I know, I've bought a front wheel from him last year without knowing it was him (he'd changed his Ebay ID) & it arrived promptly & has been fine.
I got a set of Arch-EX on hope pro 2 from moonglu. Great service, superb wheels. I'm glad I went with moonglu and not some dodgy geezer with a history of ripping people off.