I am looking to build up some new wheels. Currently thinking I may go for Stans Flow EX on Hope Pro 2 EVO SP. I have no personal experience of Stans Rims. How have people found them, in particular what are the Flows like in use? Had several sets of Hope hubs with no issues in the past – are they still as reliable? Also haven’t had straight pull hubs since some Pullstar hubs a very long time ago… Has anyone had any issues with them?

Fill me in!

Bumped for the early’ish risers.

I have Flows on Pro 2 Evo J-bend. The old Flows are great – I’ve smacked them into and through a lot on my hardtail and they take it all happily. Nice wide profile so you can run big tyres at low pressure without rolling or burping. The new EX version are even wider and only fractionally heavier, so I suspect I’d like them even more. I have the conventional pull spokes because everyone seemed to say that the straight pull ones are more hassle to build, tweak and find replacements for.

Both my wife and I have flow ex on pro2 evos and have found the same as above. Hans Dampfs come up REALLY big!
Also went for j bend spokes for same reason as above. SP looks good, but I don’t want the potential extra hassle if something goes wrong on a trip away.

I’ve run two sets of Hope Hoops (Pro 2 evo SP on Crests) for the past couple of years – tubeless so don’t want to fanny around changing tyres.

No problems at all, and you get a couple of spare spokes per wheel – so just stick a couple in your go-away ‘spares’.

I got a pair in january and have never looked back. Do you have a reason for opting for sp spokes? That goes against alot of the advice which appears on this forum.

I run a Flow EX on the front, with J spokes. If you want tubeless on the EX then you’ll need UST tyres as there isn’t a suitably wide Stans rimstrip to run std tyres. I managed to run a std tyre tubeless with just tape but it took some sealing (and blew off once…). I’d run J spokes if I was you, just to make rebuilds easier.

I think the Stans rims are okay but I don’t run one on the rear of the HT as they aren’t quite tough enough

coincidence ?

had a pair turn up from merlin yesterday !, flow ex on pro2 evo’s,just having breaky before bolting them on the bike,

i’ve had a pair of flows/evos on my other bike for 2 years no issues,

didn’t really look when i filled in the build order on merlins site, when they turned up yesterday i though they looked a bit wider then noticed the ‘EX’ after ‘FLOW’,

i switched over from mavic after a lot of years and am very happy with stans

Thanks all for the feedback. I use UST tubeless tyres so the rimstrip thing shouldn’t be too much of an issue hopefully. I was thinking of straight pull as I have had a couple of spokes fail at the bend recently and I must admit I also like the look of them. I will think again about going for the normal ones – even though I do tend to keep a few spare spokes of each size on hand for all of my wheels.

Reggiegasket. Do you think there are issues with rim toughness…?

Skiboy. Did you get yours built up with black spokes and rims? If so are the standard nipples silver or black from Merlin?

I have Hope Evo 11 SP on Stans Flow EX.

Superb compared to my XT wheelset which had cup and cone nightmares with.

Only negative point- is cleaning the SP hubs – almost impossible to get in and around them once the disc is on. If your not a clean freak then not a problem. Normal hope ebos just wipe clean.. easy!

That goes against alot of the advice which appears on this forum.

Which is a bad thing?

jamj1974,

I did get them with black spokes fella, always do,

they always use unpainted/anodised ‘silver’ nipples, thing is you never notice them, the spokes hub and rim black overpowers the unpainted finish and you just don’t notice it so don’t wind yourself up into thinking you need them painted 😉

wheels are fitted, i’m off out up woburn after qualifying, ping ping ping …new wheels…ping ping ping

I love that sound Skiboy. The sound of a new wheels first outing!

Hoops come with spare spokes so that takes away some of the downside of straightpull. It’ll still be a potential future pain in the bum if you break any more, though, they’re just harder to find- but maybe Hope can supply them easier?

(I was lucky enough to find a shop that had opened a box of my straightpulls, up til then I was going to have to buy 2 full boxes, or wait for Specialized to send me some at £5 a pop with a 2 month lead time. Just supercomps IIRC)

And yeah, Flow Ex = very good. It looks like i might have cracked one of my old Flows, but considering what they get used for I really don’t mind at all, they’ve taken some ridiculous beatings. Fort William + 6 hours + tubeless nondualply + not wanting to stop to put enough air in the rear tyre = wheel made of dents, frinstance. (it might be a sticker 😉 )

Liked my Flows.
Love the Flow EX. Wider, awesome tyre profile and set up great with Hand Dampf. Had PBs on both big climbs and descents first time out, lots of grip and little tyre roll. Chuffed.

Hope Hoops are good value for money too.

well I didn’t die !!!!

trails were fast and dry in woburn and the wood was pretty empty with minimal power rangers,

the wheels were faultless as i expected they would be but no ping ping ping !!!, must have spent a little more time on these, they normally go ping, but i had to make do with the sound of a brand new evo freehub, clickerty clickerty click…..much better than spokes pinging,

beautiful afternoon blast,

and top marks to Merlin, i only ordered these monday at lunch and here i am riding a set of hand built wheels on saturday 🙂

I run my Flow EX’s with just the yellow tape. So far they’ve been great with Hans Dampfs, Rocket Rons, Racing Ralphs, Mountain King II’s and even a Sammy Slick.

It’s my experience that the thick rim strip isn’t necessary if you’re going to run any of the above.

I ran one on the rear for 2 years without issue – decided it was overkill for the riding I do & replaced with an Arch EX wheel.

So are stans rims not proper tubeless rims then? ie you still need a rubber rim strip?

Good day to be out Skiboy! I’ve been mostly over the park with two wee men and they are both now cycling confidently on two-wheels!

Thanks to everyone else for the feedback – definitely going for the Flows, straight pull is back in the running as well. Now for an even more crucial decision – do I go black, silver or red for the hubs? Red is currently edging it…

flow EX are Stans downhill orientated rim now; get the arch. plenty strong and lighter

I smash mine into rocks quite happily.

Nobeerinthefridge – Member

So are stans rims not proper tubeless rims then? ie you still need a rubber rim strip?

Nope, all they need is their yellow tape (basically strong sticky tape) and a valve, no rubber strip required. The rim has a proper tubeless retaining bead so don’t confuse it with a crappy ghetto conversion! Designed to work as tubeless and once the tape’s on they might as well be UST, unless you damage it.

I know some people prefer the rubber strip, some even seem to think it’s essential but I’ve never used one, and never had a problem (including abovementioned dh racing at fort william with a half-flat tyre) I’ve got 2 sets of UST rims and 2 sets of Stans rims (and 2 sets of Specialized Stans ripoff rims that use the same tape method) and they’re all functionally identical, once the tape’s on.

Northwind, cheers.

I first tried using the cut inner tube solution on my Flow EX (for some reason I thought it would be even betterer). It was REALLY tight and a lot of swearing and broken fingers and tyre levers happened before I realised it was a shitty idea… I imagine the same thing would be true for the rubber rim strip.

Now using tubeless rim tape and valves from Superstar and very happy. Hope hoops with Flow EX on Hope 2 Pro Evo and Conti MK2 2.4″.

Any reason people are running UST rather than tubeless ready with the flow-ex? I’m asking because I’m about to buy some hoops.

Running my Flow EXs with TL Ready Hans Dampfs.