Right, the CX build is edging closer to reality (got my eye on a frame and most components in my head, and will start ordering next month). The wheels are the one item which I need to plan.

I’ve looked at the other threads on the topic, but as there are few suitable wheels around and many people seem to ride 29er wheels.

Looking to spend no more than £300 (give or take). I’m quite a light rider, so weight is fairly important (they will be used for racing and general riding). As I don’t have a road bike, I might occasionally put 25c tyres on (for a fast LEJOG ride next year for example), so many 29er rims will be out. I also don’t fancy having a braking surface (tart, I know).

I’m thinking Hope ProII evo hubs (Pro 3 Disc would be nice, but are hard to get hold of, and are 24 spokes on Pro3 enough for CX wheels?). For rims, I’ve looked at the following:-

– Mavic A317 Disc – Not particularly light, and recommended tyres are 28 to 47 mm. Anyone run them with 25c road tyres?
– DT X470. Reasonable weight and 25c tyres alledgedly fit without issues. A good option?
– Mavic Open Pro or Sport are light enough but I’m keen to avoid the braking surface.
– Halo Aerotrack are light and have a coloured braking surface so look good in black. Does anyone have any experience on tyre size? I assume that they will be fine with 25s.

Any other suggestions going?

I asked a similar question a little while ago: http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/what-all-purpose-29er700c-disc-rim

I went for the Open Pro CD in the end. Dark grey anodised, no silver braking surface. Sensible weight, sensible strength, and although I wanted somthing black, I do like the dark grey, same colour as a tyre, really. I’ve had 2.0 tyres on them with no problems.

Thanks – that has just been bumped up the list of possibilities. Looks okay in grey.

I’ve got Hope pro2 with Mavic open pro and they are still perfect after 1500 or so miles and a few offroad crashes.

Can I tempt you ??

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/hope-29er-wheels-ss-cross-chainset-105-shifters

I raced cross on them until I had some tub wheels built

Paul – possibly interested in some of your bits, but not buying anything until the frame is ordered, which isn’t likely to be until next month. Will give you a shout if I still need something then and you haven’t sold the lot.

Hope Hoops – Pro 2 Evo Hubs on NoTubes Crest 29er rims maybe. If you google, one of the NoTubes guys says that they’ve run 25s on them without problems and CX tyres fit nicely. Light rims too and should be more than strong enough.

Hmm, intersting. I had dismissed the Hoops as I thought the rims would be too wide. I’m sure I read somewhere else about people having issue with narrow tyres on them. They would be cheaper and lighter than a custom build too.

Anyone here run their 29er crests with 25-28mm road tyres?

I’ve got some arriving tomorrow-ish, I’ll let you know – I’m planning to run Maxxis Raze on them, tubeless probably, which are 35mm, but hang on…

See this where someone from NoTubes says:

‘We have mounted a 25mm Hutchinson Road tubeless tire on a Crest 29. You should not have any problems mounting standard cross tires on a Crest 29 rim.’

That kind of made my mind up. There’s a proper dearth of 700c disc wheels out there as you’ve found and the Alpha rims individually are heinously expensive.

Thanks for the link. I did a bit of googling earlier but couldn’t find it.

Sounds promising. Certainly no issue with CX tyres then, but still not 100% convinced that they will take a 25mm tyre well. There is a difference between mounting one and it running well for 1000 miles. Hmm….

Tell you what, when my wheels turn up – they’re currently somewhere between ‘there’ and ‘here’ – I’ll stick a 25 road slick on, if I can find one under the pile of dead mtb tyres, and post a pic so at least you can get an idea of the profile of the thing.

I’m similarly a little dubious about tyres that small, but as I’m not really intending to use anything smaller than a 32, I’m fairly happy. Watch this space I guess.

Shame Hope don’t do a road wheelset with the Alpha, that would be spot on.

for that money you’d be stupid not to get stans alphas IMO.

Cheapest way to get light wheels.

Nice one BWD – cheers.

Al – I admit it, I’m a poser. I can’t help it, but I don’t fancy shiny braking surface on my new disc equipped build. Alpha 340s seem a little bit pricier than 29er Crests and Open Pro CDs, so I can almost justify dismissing them on cost grounds too (based on Just Riding Along prices anyway). 😕

I’ve a similar build in mind.

I’ve collected a set of Hope Pro II hubs and was wavering on which rim to have laced to them.

Some folk from here had mentioned Mavic open Pro’s, but I hadn’t heard of any of the other rims.

Like the OP, I’d prefer not to have a braking surface, if possible.

If grey isn’t a suitable colour for the colour scheme of your build, is spraying / powder coating the rims out of the question ?.

It may just be me, but it seems that more people are looking at building a CX-centric bike, lately.

My bike will be a CX / Hybrid, cross type thing.

Another thing I’m debating is whether to use an MTB 3 x 9 set-up on the drive train, or go to a 2 x 9 road set-up based on 105e.

🙂

Shame Hope don’t do a road wheelset with the Alpha, that would be spot on.

I believe the rims are ordered from manufacturer so they will be doing soon enough….

Louminous, won’t that depend on spacing of the frame? Seems a bit backwards to a frame to match the hubs!?

And the Open Pro CDs are quite dark grey, they might be fine for your build. I thought I wanted black, but I’m glad I went for these:

Ned.

Backwards Hhhmmm.

I have a new CX frame, and the hubs fit, I’ve checked that already.

Thats a very nice bike, 1 x 9 too. I like it. I epsecially like the volumous tires. But it looks like you have 29″ rims and I intend to stick with the 700c format.
My new build will mostly see tarmac. I just wanted disc brakes for wet weather braking.
🙂

Re the drive train, I’m thinking about “trickle down” with the 105e donated from my TCR and fitted to the new build and then fitting Ultegra to the road bike.

Sorry, I missed a word: “backwards to buy a frame to match…” I thought 105 (road) = 130mm hub spacing and mtb hub = 135mm spacing. Not a massive difference, though, and probably within the bendiness of the stays.

and 29er = 700c They’re exactly the same diameter. which is why the OP is considering road, cross and 29er mountainbike rims.

Same rims with 28c conti gatorskins:

Ned.

Yeah. I knew about the 29″, 700c thing, but I think you can get 700c in a narrower rim than 29″. But I may be wrong.

The frame came first, then I’ve just waited until other components could be picked up at a reasonable price. The Pro IIs’ were bought during a sale at Winstanleys, for example.

I do not foresee any fitment issues between hub and frame, but if issues do arise, I will use the machine shop that makes my light housings, to make a set of hubs for me.
Would be a neat touch to have custom coloured hubs.
I’ve sometimes wondered whether I should expand into hubs, stems, skewers, etc.
😉

why not? 🙂

But it looks like you have 29″ rims and I intend to stick with the 700c format.

Just to clarify, The Open pro rims I have are narrower road/cross rims and take tyres down to 19mm.

Just to clarify, The Open pro rims I have are narrower road/cross rims and take tyres down to 19mm

Ah !. Well thats even better news, if one can fit those large tyres shown in your picture to Open Pros capable of going down to 19mm tyres.

Best of both worlds, options.
8)

I’ll have to speed up the build.

😀

Fair enough OP, I’m just a big fan as I got a set for my road bike and they seem tip-top so far…

I guess Crests etc aren’t way heavier…I run Open pro on my cx bike, great rims for the £, but I’d go tubebelss if I was buying now.

EDIT and I’d forget 19mm tyres…harsh as!

I’ve got the aerotrack rims, and they’ve been fine, even carrying panniers. Rim is 19mm wide i think so designed for road tyres, i run 25mm. They do wider ones too (aerorage/warrior or something?). as above i didn’t want a braking surface and the halo’s came in quite cheap. Rims weighed 460g on my scales but they are painted. I think stw even reviewed one variety as a full wheel
http://singletrackworld.com/reviews/halo-aerorage-track-wheels/

All valid points. Think I’ll avoid tubeless for this one if I intend to stick road tyres on occasionally. Swapping around tubeless tyres can be a bit of a ball ache.

Seems to be Open Pro CD or Crests for me then. This was a worthwhile thread since I had previously dismissed both.

If I can live without 25c tyres (or if BWD can confirm me that 25c will be okay on Crests), that is a handy option, as they are a lighter rim than the Open Pro CDs, and being able to buy Hoops will probably be easier and cheaper than a custom build. Otherwise, the Open Pro CDs look quite smart in grey, and seem to be the way to go for a custom wheel build for narrow tyres.