Crest 29er's for a fat'un?

I’m looking into upgrading the wheels on my 29er HT. Really like the idea of Stan’s Crest 29er rims, but am wondering about their strength in the larger diameter (I’m about 90Kg/200lbs in full riding kit). I noticed that the Stan’s factory wheelset comes with a recommended max rider weight of 190lbs.

Are there any riders of a similar weight who have experience of the Crest 29ers? if so, could you let me know how you’ve found ’em please.

p.s. FWIW, I’m a wheels on the ground type rider these days – bar the odd manual/mini hop over puddles;). Do ride in the Dark Peak a fair bit, but with the HT I’m fairly steady through the rougher rock bits.

er…anyone?

Okay I’ll answer you. I’m similar in weight and in my experience over the years I reckon it comes down to how you ride and the skill of the wheel builder. I’ve regularly seen people much lighter than me trash wheels because they have no finesse. I’ve had wheels that are supposed to be bombproof unravel themselves within 2 days of riding. Only you will know if you are the rider who regularly dings and bends rims. Then you need to get a trusted wheelbuilder to build them.

I’m 83kg and have the crest 29 rims on a Hope Hoops package. I’ve been fine with mine but as the poster above, your riding circumstances maybe different, I’m no wheels on the ground steady rider but I’ve been riding a long time and tend to ride quite light…

Hmm..ta for the advice soulwood. There are a couple of well respected builder who are fairly local. I had a brief word with one of ’em earlier and he reckons I’ll be OK on Crests, because he said a lot is down to the quality of build and spokes/nips used (I notice the No Tubes ZTR wheels use alu nips, which I guess put more emphasis on skill & good practice of the builder(?))

I’m not a regular rim dinger, but in trail centres I do like to corner quite aggressively and get the bike really leant over 🙂 Not had any trouble with 26″ Crest rimmed wheels, but just wondered about the additional diameter of the 29’s?

I’m similar in weight, but mine is all muscle weight 😉 and have no problems with the crests, but I’m not a drop off type rider, but I do bomb over the rocks and stuff as well as cross country!

I’m 83kg kitted up and the crests are fine on mine including riding in the peaks

im 90k on crests no problem and i like to bash into things, and play about

Was 106kg last summer on some Mavic TN719’s, one of which I built…!!!
Wheels stayed true & good.

Of course this us of no use to you, but thought I’d bore you anyway.

I reckon they would be fine. Just give them a good once over before first ride & after a ride or two.

Ta for the replies. From what’s been said (esp. the bombing over rocks & stuff!), it sounds the Crests will be fine. I’ve been riding off road for donkeys and although I’m not sure that I’d go so far as saying I ride with finesse, I don’t tend to break much gear..hmm..that’s tempting fate eh?!.

In the past, I’ve heard 26er spokes pinging and felt wheels flex when flipping the bike from side to side in fast twisty/bermy singletrack – but once was on old 28 spoke race wheels, and the other was when using my wifes bike, which at the time had spindly light straight pull spoked wheels – which I found out afterwards had an 85Kg absolute max rider weight limit….:oops:

I didn’t really want to have to go with Arch rims if I could help it, as there’s quite a step up in weight over Crests – and from my limited experience of swapping tyres on 29ers, I’ve found even a relatively small weight difference in tyre weight is more noticeable than on 26″ wheels.

Anyways, cheers again for the feedback.

85kg+kit here, no bombing or dropping but bunny hopping logs etc.
29er Hope Evo2 Crest wheels fine for me, too! Go for it!

Cheers Hock, as the wheels are going on to my 29er hardtail, what you’ve mentioned is the only sort of stuff I’ll be doing on ’em. On really rough nadgery trails, I tend to use my full-sus 26er anyway(me old knees get a bit sore after rough hardtail rides 🙁 )

16st kitted and went Flows.Heavier agreed, peace of mind,wider rim=better tyre contact. Sold it for me.

If you want a light but strong rim then check out the frm rims. There lighter than the crests and eyeletted so you can run higher tensions. Plus they dont come lose and out of true like the stans do.

If you chat to daren or jon at strada wheels, there help you out in selecting the right wheelset for you.

I had the very same decision recently and went for Flows instead. When you are in that weight bracket I don’t think it’s worth taking the risk just to shave a few grams off. I’m heavier though and occasionally get brave near rocks and little drops.

I can appreciate what you’re saying with Flows. I’ve used Flow rimmed 26″ wheels on my FS bike, but didn’t realise they did ’em in 29″ until I just Googled….hmmm sounds interesting, maybe if I was building up one of those SC Tallboy’s or something (where’s that Lottery card!!), but Flow rimmed 29er wheels might look a bit strange on my racey HT 29er (images of snow bikes come to mind :wink:)

The FRM rimmed wheels look amazing, but sadly, the top end of my wheel budget won’t stretch that far – spent a chunk on brakes, new flat bars & …. yada yada

Have any of you crest fans used 355’s for comparison? Ta.

I’m using Arch rims as a bit of a compromise. All good so far.

i’m a fair bit lighter than you and have found 29er crests to be ok on the front wheel, rear needs truing now and again. i have some flows too, never had trouble with them. also some american classics and they have been better than crest too.

Arch rims are more like a beefy version of the 355, no wider (internally) and different bead profile so the dont get the extra free tyre width of the crest. Plus the arch is 100g heavier per rim!

Arches weigh not much at all more if you are worried, but I’m 90+kgs and have ridden my hope/crest combo everywhere, raged and raced, including a podium on a Transwales DH timed stage 😀
no probs whatsoever as long as they are built well. I’ve found spoke tensions seem to be quite high compared to what I had on a 26 setup but that just my wheels and they are going strong a year in.

The new Arch EX which comes out this month is wider than the old one (think Crest/355) and 20g lighter per rim. I’m trying to decide whether to compromise weight for robustness on my new build, but my hope/crest 29s have been fine under me so far and I’m heavy and lacking finesse.

Oooo Arch EX! Just looked it up in the Notubes catalog, basically a Crest with extra reinforcing ribs (much like the difference between the 355 and Arch). Still 70g heavier for the 29er version tho should be a bit stiffer.

http://notubes.com/literature/2012-StansNoTubes-Catalog-Small.pdf

I’m 90+kgs and have ridden my hope/crest combo everywhere, raged and raced, including a podium on a Transwales DH timed stage

Well, that’ll do for me! I think I’ll be OK on the Crest 29ers, I’ll just keep an eye on the spoke tension on ’em (er, nice one on the podium finish BTW 🙂 )

Though I’m going for the Crests, the new Arch EX sound a really good strength/weight compromise – maybe when my full-sus 29er plan comes to fruition 😉

p.s. cheers for the American Classic suggestion Keavo. I’ve got a pair of their 26 tubeless on my Anthem X, and I love ’em. TBH, the main thing that put me off their current 29er version are the white hubs & graphics (….what a bike tart eh?! 😳 )

90-ish kilos for me, 29er, no big drop offs or jumps here, try to ride light and my crests have been fine for the 6 month-ish that i’ve had them.
Buckled my front slightly during a spill but trued them up fine, looks as straight as the day i un-wrapped them. No probs with the rear.

Ok so they seem to be strong enough, any thoughts on how stiff they are. My 29er 355’s (built by a good wheelbuilder) seems fine for general riding but i can feel them flex about when pushing it. Crests any better?