Currently have hope wheel sets front and back. Back has seen many better days and needs replacing.
The hope rim has only lasted a year and does seem to bend easily so was thinking of Stans rims as an alternative. Flows or arch ex as I understand the mk3 are the same width now just less material essentially on the arch ex.I might be wrong!
Riding is mainly trail with a bit off downhilling now and again on same 150mm bike.
Opinions on merits of either welcomed.

Are you just limited to Hope or Stans? I’d recommend DT if not, either EX471 or XM481(if you want a little wider internal)

The Stans EX and Mk3 rims are the same weights but have got wider.

Flow EX was 25 mm and 450 g (estimates), the Flow Mk 3 is 29 mm and 450g.

It is worth noting that the Arch Mk3 is the same width as the Flow EX but is lighter, that may be where the confusion comes from.

Hope Fanboy here, my Enduro rims have dinged more in 9 months riding than any other wheelset I’ve ever owned. Bit of a disappointment tbh, but when the day comes to re-rim them, there’ll be a set of DT Swiss EX471’s going on.

I went for Tech Enduro, disappointed by how narrow, yet hefty they are to be honest. The claimed weight is heavier than a Flow, yet the same width as a Crest. The internal rim also has little holes (drainage?) drilled in it, which has made sealing them up with Stans tape a chore.

Wish I’d got Stans Arch rims in retrospect.

Always loved hope products but the Tech rims are not up to much these days imho, a pain in the arse to set tubeless always takes a re-tape and not that strong at 23mm

Flows or ex 471s for me when my currant wheelset fail .. wtb i29s seem very strong at the moment

The guy who is going to build it uses Stans mainly but could get whatever dependant on availability I guess. Glad to hear its not just my clumsiness that is to blame for the hope rims.

I really wanted the latest Flow EX, but as no longer used on hope hoops, the tech enduro price was hard to ignore. Was disappointed to find they were more narrow than my original flow ex 26″, but so far they have been fine.

The Hope rims are triple cavity for strength, which accounts for the weight even though they are narrow-ish.

Not sure how necessary that is though, as EX471 rims are single skin and they are astonishingly strong.

So anyway, I’d get them if it’s an option.

My 160 bike has spent a year on Stans Arch MK3s (26 inch) on Hope Hubs, replaced a set of undamaged Flow EX rims because I had two sets.

Absolutely love the Arch MK3s. The 26mm internal makes 2.3 Maxxis tyres work really well and Schwalbe 2.35 really big and nice profile on both.

Running 20PSI F 25PSI R, sometimes a touch lower. No dings, stayed true and really easy to change tyres and absolutely zero tubeless issues.

In fairness never had any issues with my Flow EX either.

Looks like I’d be going with either arch mk3 or flow mk3 I think. Just need to decide on which! I think the DT swiss use stance spokes don’t they?

Was just about to press the button on some Enduro’s, might think again…

have had both. hope rims = heavy, soft & narrow. flow mk 3 = lighter, harder & wider

I had hope tech enduro. Soft as sugar. Killed mine on a Torridon ride last year. Ding was so bad it had cracked along the seam. Now on Flow mk 3 on my 29er. Much wider than the Hope and giving a better profile to the tyre.

Flows it is then! Cheers all!

Recently went from Hopes to Flow mk3s.

Wish I’d gone for the Flows in the first place.