Im going to be needing some new wheels soon and I am torn between what to get. Ideally I need rims that are light enough for all day riding and a quick blast in the woods but are wide and strong enough for whole days DHing.

I have been looking at the Mavic factory wheels as I am a big fan of their rims. But the whole wheel systems seem to cost a fortune. My choice is limited as I need a 20mm front so I have been looking at the Crossmax SXs but are they really worth the cost? For the price of the rear wheel I could get a pair of Hope hoops with Stans Flow rims and they seem spot on too and come in at the same sort of weight.

So what is it that make the Mavics cost so much more and is it really wroth it?

FWIW I have also been looking at Pro2s with 819s but they are narrower than the flows and slightly more expensive. Any other suggestions I am quite open on this one.

I have a pair of Crossmax XT's, they came a standard on the Trance X0. Great wheels, stiff and very pretty but not sure i would spend money on them if i was just after a set of wheels.

Spokes are expensive and if you bend a rim it will cost an absolute fortune to replace which makes me a little wary. Have dinged the rear rim, and waiting for the wheel to fold, when it does the insurance will buy something else i think!!!

Hope that helps.

chris king on 5.1D's.

You can get Hope Hoops with Stan's Flow rims can't you?

Shorts thanks for that you confirmed a couple of worries I have.

TLR 5.1 are made of cheese I have ruined a pair of these during normal riding like I described above. And I have always wanted some King stuff but the hubs are stupidly expensive the rear one costing more than full set of hope hoops! I cant see the benefit of spending that much on hubs.

Grumm I did sort of hint at that in the OP.

sure I'll get flamed but Ive never seen the point of factory wheelsets. Way overpriced, and difficult/expensive to repair and maintain due to special proprietory parts (which are used to justify the exorbitant price IMHO).

Why not get mavic rims that you rate built onto nice hubs either from mail order house, LBS or wheel specialist like wheelpro? Youll get a good quality, light wheelset, well built and in which you can easily repair/replace parts if they break or wear out? I bounced a rear mech into my rear wheel in morzine, and trashed 10 spokes. A few euros on s/s d/b spokes, and a relaxing half hour on the chalet balcony later I had a perfect wheel. Wouldnt have been that easy with double straight pull bladed unobtainium factory stuff.

Hope hoops are a good option as they arent factory wheels in the truest sense, theyre built from available components. I have Hope/Mavic wheels which I bought from CRC and have susequently rebuilt with beefier Mavic rims on my Coiler, and Hope Hoops Pro2 with DT Swiss 5.1 on my Nomad.

But ONLY King is good enough for TLR!

My advice – non factory wheels are much less likely to create problems with spares and repairs. I run 819's and olympics, former have been bombproof on the "light" DH side, latter have been fine also but I would say the sidewalls are thin and more easiy damaged – not sure if flows are beefed up in this respect or strong enough for DH.

Sorry missed that bit. I have just been to The Alps/Mega and used 819/719s with Pro II hubs with no problems.

I Don't ride that hard, but I am quite clumsy and weigh 16 stone. Some people said they are too narrow for 2.5 tyres, but I didn't notice any issues.

I am somewhat of a rim killer the only rims I have managed not to destroy are 321s but they are a little on the heavy side and I did fancy something a little more exotic but am tempted to just go back to the old faithful.

I have also been thinking about getting two sets of wheels a lighter set for trail riding and a DH set but I would probably end up breaking the light ones and getting tough rims for them.

I run the 09 Crossmax SX on my demo 7, I live on the edge of Wharnecliffe and nail the crap out the DH there as well as around the country. So far I've put a log through the back wheel at speed which tore a spoke from thre nipple ( they are designed to fail at the nipple, not the rim) this took 5 minutes to replace and the wheel didn't even go out of true. I've never had to take a spoke key to them in 7 months. They are light, reasonably bling, every part is available as spares and they are hella strong….

What's not to like. Mt DT 5.1 rims lasted a matter of months with the same use/abuse.

Crossmaxs on my Yeti have been on there over 3 years, probably could do with a change of bearings now, but they look like they'll last forever.
Both got slightly buckled and one popped a spoke in a big crash a few weeks back. Hargroves sorted them out for £7.50 each.
I reckon they are worth it, although mine were 2nd hand on the bike.

Just got some Crosstrails off the classifieds which seem just as good.

I have Crossmax SXs, they are very light for their strength, very stiff due to the aluminium spokes (think aluminium hardtail ride vs. steel hardtail ride), they are extremely well engineered and they are very pretty.

Are they worth the money? Probably due to the engineering used in their manufacture, yes. In the real world are they worth the money compared to a set of nice 'normal' wheels – no. But they are very pretty.

Id' say go custom build all the time. I've just taken my Crosslands off my hardtail to replace them with something lighter. The bearings on the rear were done after 3 years (Hope's on other bike still going after 5yrs) I had a front hub failure on a spoke 'flange' after 18 months and upon taking the rear disc off I've found 4 fractured disc mounts on the hub. Not impressed really.. I know they weren't top end wheels but XT on 717's would have been better in hindsight.

Dear I_ache
My opinion about factory wheels is that for entry market they are usually good value for money.
As for the most expensive sets, I think that your money would be better invested in a decent build from a bike shop.
You have to bear in mind that after market parts for factory wheelset might be expensive and difficult to obtain. Specially from mavic.

I hope I have helped you, and you are not too disappointed about what I had to say.

All the best.

El capitan

Hmm ok then so new wheels then starting with a blank sheet.

The requirements are:
Must be strong enough for light DH and jumping
Must be relatively light under say 550g for the rims
Must be 26" rims
Must have a 20mm front axle
Must be no more than £300 for the pair
Any brand of hub and rim considered

Go on then what can you come up with?

819s on Pro 2 front, Halo Superdrive rear. 2.35 (ish) tubeless tyres

The Supa Drive looks good. Will 819s be tough enough?

What about the Halo Spin Dr front hub?

Like I said, I used 819s in the Alps for a week practising and racing on the Mega course, and I like to get two wheels off the ground wherever possible, but don't do anything very big.

I used to run a Spin Doctor front hub, no issues with reliability, but the 20mm spacers are not attached which is a minor irritation every time you take the wheel out.

You want some Mavic EN521s

… or 819s which are v good and a fair bit lighter. It depends how much air you're getting / abuse you'll be giving them.

FWIW My 717's survived a week at the Mega. Its all in the build (obviously i didnt build them!) 😛

cynic-al – Member
But ONLY King is good enough for TLR!

These things are important for carpark posing Al 😆

My LBS (Swinnertons at the Chase) build good wheels so I think I might go with the 819s and see how they hold up unless there are any better options. What about sun rims and hubs?

just my experience… I used a pair of mavic 719's on pro 2's in the alps for 10 days dh'ing, At the end of it the front has a very slight wobble, nothing a good wheelbuilder couldn't sort out in 10 minutes… I am quite light (11 stone) but ride quite aggressively. And the rims seemed fine with the 2.5 michelin dh tyres i used, no sign of rolling etc…

And they build into a nice lightwieght wheelset.

oh yeah, sun equalizer rims look good, for a wieght to width ratio…

Sun rims are good I have found. Sun singletrack rim on Hope pro 2. DT silver DB spokes. Built by a good wheel builder. All the wheels you would ever need! Or maybe the Sun EQ rims if you want narrower rims and a little less weight.

Mavic 721's on hope pro 2. The best wheel set ever. Cheap, strong they survived france and wales. Also good for a nice trail day.

90% of wheel strength comes from the build. I think it was Roger Musson who said that most mountain bikers could get away with a 317/717-Deore hub combo as long as it was built right.

Factory wheels look trick and are probably both strong and light, but they're pretty damned expensive as well. If you can afford them or get them second hand, they're probably great, but I think you'd be able to get just as good a wheel for a lot less.

90% of wheel strength comes from the build. I think it was Roger Musson who said that most mountain bikers could get away with a 317/717-Deore hub combo as long as it was built right.

But what about the rim width? Does a 2.35+ tyre really work that well on a 717?

I run 2.4 mountain kings on my 717's and I'm rubbish, and yet amazingly I'm not dead…They don't roll over or squirm (not so'd I notice, as I said , I'm rubbish)

90% of wheel strength comes from the build. I think it was Roger Musson who said that most mountain bikers could get away with a 317/717-Deore hub combo as long as it was built right.

…and was never ridden in the wet, or into rocks, landed badly etc etc.

If this is correct he should alert the freeride & DH community as they're obviously pedalling around unecessarily heavy wheels 😉

King win every time on CAPEX -v- OPEX as long as you keep em clean and lubed.

and if you've got it, flaunt it.

Mavic Deetraks, factory wheels with normal spokes, not super light but good solid set of wheels and not too expensive either.

90% of wheel strength comes from the build.

Rubbish. Unless you're comparing a very badly built wheel with a well built one. The difference in strength between a wheel built by an expert and one built by somebody building his first wheels (but following a proper guide and doing a half decent job) is minimal given the same components.

cynical, I think Roger meant the majority of regular "riding around the woods" type riders rather than DH.

Dunno what you're trying to say aracer, A wheel built properly by an expert is just as strong as a wheel built properly by a beginner? so as long as it's built properly…

Dunno what you're trying to say aracer

Well maybe I didn't put it very well, but to say 90% of the strength is in the build is ridiculous, when a wheel built with a DH rim and thick spokes will be significantly stronger than one built with a lightweight rim and Revs unless the DH wheel is so badly built that it would be obviously badly built and you'd take it straight back.

I looked at the deetracks does anybody else have any opinions on them?