Is there a cheap place for 29er wheels? Or am I better building my own? In which case which rims / hubs would you recommend?
Cheers Anton
You could look at On One's website, they have a couple of different options, but I recommend building your own.
Hub wise? Your choice... No different to selecting a hub for a 26" wheeled bike really, though if you have the choice, better to go for hubs with slightly larger flanges (like the old 6 Bolt Shimano XT hubs).
Rim wise? Again, your choice... What's the budget? Personally, I'd love some Stan's Flow 29er rims, but they're not cheap. I bought some Mavic TN719's and they're fantastic! They're not too narrow, but not too wide, very strong, well made, nicely finished and aren't too heavy at all. And they were no trouble to convert tubeless via the ghetto method too if tubeless bothers you.
spa cycles often offer deore on rigida rims which are good value.
otherwise i'd reccomend deore hubs on some touring rims (probably mavic) from a bikeshop.
building your own involves paying excessive amounts for spokes (no bulk discount)
there were some for sale on the classifieds in the last couple of days...
incase you do build your own spa cycles are also pretty cheap for spokes too
i got some sun equilizers built on pro 2s and they have been really good