'All Mountain' Upgrades

Hi all,

I’m after some recommendations for a) a set of all mountain wheels and b) a set of 160mm forks.

Got a budget of about £500 for both, so looking at 2nd hand forks. What would folk recommend? Currently running a Norco Fluid LT2 with a dual air Pike.

I’m not the heaviest of riders at just under 10 stone so lighter wheels may be an option. Anyway, all opinions welcome please!

Lyriks would be a good fork upgrade, and if you source a good pair second hand should leave you with £200-250 for wheels… What wheels do you currently have?

Its a M475 hub on Bontrager Ranger rim on the rear and the front wheel is the front wheel from a Cannondale prophet from a few years back. Formula hub dt swiss spokes, not sure what kind of rim is it 😳 The bike was built up from 2nd hand bits so its a bit of mish mash.

Well, Hope hubs / Stan’s Flow rims are probably a bit out of range new, but you might get a set second hand. Or Superstar wheels have always impressed me, I think they do an AM rim combo for about £160.

are Hope/Flows the ‘Standard” for an all mountain rim now?

Yes, I think so. Dunno why though, most all mountain riders are actually just xc riders and they could probably get away with a much lighter rim.

Seems to be what people recommend all the time innit.

Although I’m pretty light, I’ll happily admit that I’m not the most accurate of riders and have a habit of crashing/hitting things when going pretty fast so something on the stronger side would probably be best. I’ll have a look at Superstar – the potential for green rims/hubs/frame is tempting even though it’ll probably looks nasty!

The Flow is only a good rim because its so wi-ide and hence makes big tyres wi-ider… and tyres are always the best thing to upgrade as they make the most difference.

If your frame can take some nice balloon like Big Betties, Rubber Queens are Maxxis etc then thats a good AM place to be to ward off the dreaded pinch flats on water bars etc.

Running a 2.25 Advantage on the front at the moment – it comes up pretty big.

The Flow is only a good rim because its so wi-ide and hence makes big tyres wi-ider… and tyres are always the best thing to upgrade as they make the most difference.

is that the only reason the Flows are good?

Yes, I think so. Dunno why though, most all mountain riders are actually just xc riders and they could probably get away with a much lighter rim.

You’re forgetting how fat we are.

Something like these*

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-2008-fox-float-36-forks

would leave a tidy sum for some second hand Hope Hoops all mountan wheels. You may not get flows but depending on how demanding on rims you are you could get a nice set of pro 2 on DT Swiss EX5.1 or EX500 rims or Mavic EN521 rims.

*Disclamer, i have nothing to do with the sale of these forks just noticed them the other day when trawling through the classifieds.

What’s ‘all mountain’ again?

What’s ‘all mountain’ again?

It’s what all the cool people do, you wouldn’t understand.

Ah, gotcha.

I’m not gnar enough I guess.

is that the only reason the Flows are good?

They’re good because they convert to tubeless very easily. They use conventional spokes, so if you break a spoke they’re easy to replace. They’re relatively light and relatively strong. The way the Stan’s bead hook system works and the width of the rim apparently means that tyres have a little bit of extra volume and the width of the rim gives them a nice profile. If you buy the Hope Hoops, you get a very good deal considering the price of all the individual components. You’ll also annoy David Tayltroll who exists primarily to tell other people how brilliant he is and how over specced their bikes are. All these are good things.

You’re forgetting how fat we are.

Ive seen pictures of your bike on top of a mountain though, so I reckon your a mountain biker, if your a fat mountain biker then the flow rims are justified.

I just thought all mountain riding was actually pootling round trail centres on a sunday afternoon.

You must be a ST subscriber then.

pro2’s on 521’s. Mine have been jumped and hucked and are still true. For 160mm forks I would go for some lyriks, not a fan of 36’s.

BadlyWiredDog – Member
is that the only reason the Flows are good?
They’re good because they convert to tubeless very easily. They use conventional spokes, so if you break a spoke they’re easy to replace. They’re relatively light and relatively strong. The way the Stan’s bead hook system works and the width of the rim apparently means that tyres have a little bit of extra volume and the width of the rim gives them a nice profile. If you buy the Hope Hoops, you get a very good deal considering the price of all the individual components. You’ll also annoy David Tayltroll who exists primarily to tell other people how brilliant he is and how over specced their bikes are. All these are good things.

Yep I have Flows on PRO2s, tubeless with High Rollers, lovely great, strong, cheap Rim, better than my old DTS