anyone using en821 rims? I am building a tubeless 26″ wheel and these look good. My alternative is the stans flow ex. The 821’s are a slightly narrower rim internally than the flows but I don’t see that as an issue.

I recently swapped my battered Flows for 821’s.

Built up they’re almost identical in weight, seem pretty bullet proof up to now. I ride a lot of rocky stuff and they’re holding up well, tyres went up tubeless really easily.

Can’t say I’ve noticed any difference in width using the same tyres before and after.

I’ve just built some en421’s and they built easily and went tubeless easily too.

That said, I did this because I’ve dismantled my 26″ wheels and used the hubs to build some 27.5’s. I’ve now got a pair of immaculate ex819 rims including 14mm nipples going spare if you’re after some tubeless 26″ rims.

My experience:

Work very well tubeless. Quite light. Slightly more awkward to build (spoke inserts/offset etc). Easily dented on rough rocks. Despite the dents they stay in one piece. Bit on the narrow side so larger volume tyres don’t have the best profile.

Bluearsedfly, why the change from flows to mavic?

Tbh they were just past it the rear in particular was fudged, they’d had nearly three years of rocky riding.

I’ve had the 821’s a few months now and compared to the Flows (to me at least) they do seem tougher.

Are the 821’s stiffer than the flows? I am being told that the mavic spoke tension is less than the stans although the web is saying 100-125kg for both so no different.

At first the 821s did feel stiffer but what % of that was down to newwheelitis I’m not sure? I do prefer the little stubby valves that come with the Mavics compared to the Stans ones I was using but you could always use the Mavic valves in the Flows.

Are the 821’s stiffer than the flows? I am being told that the mavic spoke tension is less than the stans although the web is saying 100-125kg for both so no different.

Last time I looked, Stans build to a lower tension, because they’re not eyeletted.
I’d go with Mavic every time over Stans personally. Tougher, cheaper, but not as fashionable…. 🙂

EDIT
Just looked again. It varies.
http://www.notubes.com/help/a/literature/EIS-008-ZTR-Rim-Setup-Options-R2.pdf

thanks all. it seems that flows are slightly easier to build with so I will go with them for a first build. Like the Mavic though.