Is it possible to take the cheapskate option here and buy a set of wheels that are capable on a mountain bike and also light and stiff enough for a gravel/adventure/CX/do it all/woteva bike?

I don’t have a 650b MTB bike (yet), I’ve got an old 26″ HT that is good enough for me. But I do have a reasonably nice 700c CX bike that I spend riding on rough ground mostly and was thinking about getting 650b wheels for it. I’ve seen those Mason Hunt wheels and they look nice: https://www.huntbikewheels.com/products/hunt-650b-adventure-sport-disc-27-5-gravel-road-trail-wheelset-1579g-24deep-25wide

But I was wondering if I could pickup some second hand MTB wheels for £200 odd that would do almost as good a job. Then if I ever decide to get a 650b HT or FS (quite fancy a FS) I have some wheels I can swap in.

I doubt I’d buy a set of 650b’s specifically for gravel riding, they would really only be a major advantage over some of the rougher routes and the 700c’s are good enough.

I got some cheap off the classifieds here – if you’re happy with a qr front fork on the cx bike there’s bound to be some bargains around although not particularly high spec.

Front fork is indeed QR – I was just thinking about buying a pair of total shanners for as little as possible to try it out.

Would traditional MTB rims not be too heavy and wide?

I got a pair of OEM Giant wheels off a £500 MTB – centrelock hubs and I think 21mm internal width. They work fine with WTB horizons

I am after something similar but off the peg most are not QR unless they are cheap and heavy.

Plenty out there with hope hubs, I’m just wondering what sort of rims would work.

I’ve got a nearly new set of mavic cross Max’s for sale that might do if your anywhere near Stockton.they have adapters for bolt thru and q/r and tyres really nice wheels just a bit skinny for me.

For a CX bike you’re better off with 21mm ID rims. But you want something wider than that for the MTB, so your idea of sharing might not be worth it in the long run. Even though you can easily swap Hope front adaptors, you don’t want to be faffing with changing the axle on the rear hub, and I’m assuming you’d get a 650b MTB frame with a rear thru-axle (you should do anyhow). So stick to 700c/29er wheels for the CX bike is my opinion.

My CX bike has XC 29er wheels which are fine running 1.5″ 29er tyres (or 40mm touring tyres) and it happily goes over bumpier stuff than ‘gravel’ (whatever that means…)

I’m planning on running 650b wheels for my Vaya, Hope pro 4 hubs ( for their adaptability) with WTB Sti 25 rims off PlanetX for £16 delivered. Will be shod with 650b x 47 WTB byway tyres. They are being built. Can’t wait for a run out