Seem to have been a million wheel threads over the last week or so. Bang on trend, here’s another one…

Brought the DT 240 PSA and need to thread on a new rim. For the money Stans look like they are top doggy. By which? Arch at 26mm internal and 425g or Flow at 29mm and 480g? Bike is a hardtail has to do everything from trail centers to bikepacking. I’m not exactly shreading it down the trails but try to not hang around. So which one? Or in true STW style, something completely different? 500g max.

I looked at rims a while ago and concluded DT Swiss XM481’s were the best rum for me. 30mm internal, 480grams, come with squorx nipples and phr washers to build with. They have a reputation for being decently strong whilst a good weight. There are stronger dt rims (ex511 / ex471) but they are comfortably over 500gs I think.

The rims were good to build with – I stuck them onto Hope Pro 4’s with dt competition spokes. So far so good – clattered them round the 2 black runs at CYB, an uplift day at Antur and down the Ranger path on Snowdon. That’s on top of my generally slightly clumsy riding at normal stuff near Bristol / South Wales.

Best price was Starbike online – although the bottom has fallen out of gbp/eur so maybe not quite so bargainous now.

Have those DT’s on a shortlist. Tend to be a little pricier than the stans but I have had good experience of dt in the past. Any clue what wider rims do to rolling resistance? I understand that they help shape the tyre better for trail cornering but are they slower on longer distances?

I’m on 511s.

Bullet proof wheels. Might not be the lightest but….

I think those DT240s were 28h, CRC also have some cheap raceface arc 27s that’ll fit, 19 quid, so not exactly breaking the bank, whereas 481s and the likes tend to be 70 each at the best price!

I did just do a set with 481s and they are easy to build and solid, if you can afford it then they are very nice.

Can’t comment really on rolling resistance for wider rims – other than if they square your tyre off more then you probably have more rubber touching the floor – so maybe that equals more rolling resistance?

There is a 25mm wide version called the xm421 if you’d prefer that – I’d assume it’s a bit lighter again.

No experience if Stan’s rims at all – the only other rims I’ve built with are wtb st i25 / i23. They were ok for the money (bargain £12/£15 each at the time) in 26”. I sold on the i23 without riding them as I built them for practice before doing my dt-hope build but I ride the i25’s for a while. Seemed ok.

I think those DT240s were 28h

Bloomin’ heck, so they are! Is this sufficient?

Easily, just saying you’ll find a few cheap rims if you look, as everything 32h seems to be full price, but 28h always seems to have deals, i bought a couple of those RF Arc 27s as they are cheap as chips now and can handle a decent amount of trails, ebay is a great place to find cheap 28h rims as well, as a fair few wheelset rims end up there, i.e. dt1501s, dt1700s, etc and they’re pretty much all 28h

Cheers. For a first build I guess it’s a bit more prudent to spend £20 on a rim. One of those raceface’s it is I guess!

yeah, get some washers, spokes, etc from somewhere like http://www.spokesfromryan.com and you’re on your way, sapim races are as good as you need.

The cheapest place for double butted spokes I found was Cyclebasket for aci blsck spokes with brass nipples.

Rose bikes were a tiny bit more expensive for dt swiss competitions – but again the euro has probably worsened since I bought those because of the Brexit nonsense / the berk in charge of the U.K. at the moment.

those aci spokes look great value, guessing about 15 with black brass, so rim, spokes, nipples and washers for less than 40 would be an absolute low risk investment for a first wheel build!

Yeah, I built up my first wheelset with those aci spokes, £12 ish wtb rim and an XT hub on the back / superstar cartridge bearing hub on the front. Was a pretty decent / solid wheelset (all 32 spoke) that took some abuse on a hardtail, then sold really easily when I decided to build up a 650B ht instead.

Any clue what wider rims do to rolling resistance? I understand that they help shape the tyre better for trail cornering but are they slower on longer distances?

I doubt you are going to get an objective answer to that question. Probably better to consider your tyre choice and see what rim width the tyre manufacturer recommends for them (which will probably be a range of widths at best).

30 mm seems to be on trend with new trail bike builds, so that’s probably a safe bet. My new bike came on 30 mm carbon DT rims and they seem great. The 2.35 Maxxis tyres seat nicely on them and I always thought narrower rims just look “wrong” with wider mtb tyres – probably a hang-over from the days when 2″ trail tyres were considered “wide”.

Pair of 28h DT swiss rims on eBay for 75 quid off x1700 wheels. 25mm internal so bit narrow but new

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