So, I’m doing the Trans Provence route over the summer; normal riding is Scottish highlands.
My current wheels (Flows on Hope Pro 2 Evo’s) have seen better days – the rear wheel’s still not true after the Megavalanche last year!

Current shortlist is Mavic Crossmax SX or Easton Havoc.

Which would you choose? Any user reviews?

What wheel-size is “Enduro-compatible” (with a capital ‘E’!)?

What are u putting them on?

Sorry, still auld-skool 26-er.

It’s an Intense Carbine. 160mm Fox 36’s up front with 20mm through axle.

And Enduro is a way of life… it must be capitalised!

Crossmax SX are excellent wheels. But sicne you’re capitalising, why not these?

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/mavic-crossmax-enduro-wts-mtb-wheelset-2014/rp-prod109742

give it a month and see what the new hopes are like?

I’ve got a set of Havoc’s that I picked up from CRC cheap at the start of last year and I’ve been really happy with them.

They’re light, pretty tough (the rear has a slight wobble but I’m not stressing about it too much), easy to convert to different axle standards and really easy to run tubeless. The UST system is really easy – the Stans system seems daft to me with rim strips etc.

I’ve just repaced the bearings in the rear hub and it was an easy job – the wet winter finally got the better of them after a ot of use. The other selling point for me is teh quiet freehub (the Pro II on my Stanton does my head in).

If I’d had a bigger budget I’d have bought teh Crossmax though.

I’ve always preferred normal spokes.
Might be worth looking at Mavic 821 on hubs of your choice (I’ll probably stick with Hope as my current 4 have been absolutely perfect).

Are the Flows damaged or just out of true? If they’re full of dents maybe they need replaced but if they’re just a bit out of shape then get ’em fixed and spend the other £500 on colourful kipper ties or something.

If you have money to spend then why not get your current hubs re rimmed with something like the carbon light bicycle rims?

I’d you are a serial rim wrecker then I’d be looking at these ones.

http://www.light-bicycle.com/New-26er-33mm-wide-enduro-MTB-all-mountain-downhill-carbon-rim-tubeless-compatible.html#.UywBZr1FAm8

What else about your wheels need sorted? I’d just true them up and if the bearings are goosed change them (very easy to do). If the rims aren’t cracked then keep riding onwards! (I know it’s boring when you wanna spend cash).

Oh I meant to add, SXs should be a little tougher than Flows, but they’re in the same ballpark and quite a bit more hassle if you do beat them up. I’ve become a bit of a grumpy old man about “wheel systems” after one too many expensive proprietary parts but it’s bog standard wheels for me from here in.

If I had that sort of money I’d be getting some light bicycle rims built up on existing hubs or DT240s straight away.

I’d be considering using current hubs with mavic 821 rear and flow or maybe even arch ex front.
But I do tend to be rear heavy.

Easton and mavic both seem to have bearing issues

Cue lots of happy mavic/easton users posting how great they are