will be buying a UST wheelset prior to my trip to Spain next month and am after some advice.

Do people have any comments to make on the following wheelsets or throw any other makes into the frame.

mavic crosstrail disc wheelset £235
hope pro II hubs on 819 £270

I am looking to spend around £250-300 and want a do everything wheelset that can cope with xc to all mountain. They will be going on a Giant Reign.

I’d go for this one: hope pro II hubs on 819

because of the whirrr and the "oh **** I hope my rims ok" and it being fine.

819s on pro 2s on 2 bikes here and the 3rd’s got crossmax sls

I’m biased as I ride pro2 and mavic 823’s

I’d be inclined to try something with quicker engagement than the 4 paws of the pro2 if I’m honest.

I have got Crosstrails on one bike, and Hope Pro2(SS)/819 from Merlin on the other.

The biggest difference I notice when riding them is the freehub on the Crosstrail is totally silent unlike the Hope. Both sets of wheels have seemed very solid, I think the rim profile is fairly similar between the two, so I doubt there is a massive difference in strength, although the Crosstrail have slightly less spokes. Personally I think the Crosstrails look a bit more expensive than they really are.

As with any factory wheelset the biggest downside to the Crosstrails is getting hold of spares. I managed to break the rear axle in mine and ending up sending it back to Wiggle, who sorted it out under warranty FOC, but it still meant I was without the wheel for a week or so – if I ever break a spoke I have no idea how I will get hold of a new one – even thou the Mavic service centre is just around the corner from where I live…

If I was buying another set I would probably go for the Hope/819 combo, purely on the availability of spares.

I’m thinking of selling my "spare" wheels, which are Hope Bulbs on 819’s – it’s a great combo – the pro2s on 819s I had were alright, but I preferred the bulbs. Switched to King hubs now though. Sweet.

pk-ripper could you send me an email with pics and description of the wheels and a rough cost please? how old are they? what condition are they in? and any other info you have.

email info to jsrwalker AT googlemail.com

How about Hope Pro II on Stans Arch from JRA:

here

Got them in stock apparently.

I really rate mine, fairly light, definitely tough and great tubeless.

Gotta love the Pro II tick tick!

They’ve also got XT hubs on Arch rims for £200. Looks like a good deal (if you like the hubs that is)

Mavic 819 rims on hubs of your choice for defo. Not saying Mavic wheelsets aren’t nice, just damage one on holiday and that’s it, game over!

819’s are also very very tough rims for their weight/width. Hope Pro 2 hubs aren’t bad, as PK Ripper says I believe the BULB was a better hub too, but you can certainly do a lot worse than the Pro 2’s, and they are multi axle compatible which is always a bonus should you change fork/frame and want to keep the same wheels.

Get em built by a good wheelbuilder, and use DT comp spokes with brass nipples (14mm at least, probably 16mm) and they’ll stand up to plenty of abuse, yet be light enough for day long XC rides.

823’s are very good too, but a bit too heavy for anything but a proper DH bike IMO, very strong again but you do notice the extra 150g or so per rim if you’re not heading downhill the whole time.

XM819s are a superb rim, they can take such a beating for their weight, I’ve destroyed 717s 5.1s and 6.1s but the 819s are simply brilliant.

I haven’t yet had the opertunity to see how the Stans Olympics fare as the hubs are still bedding in.

I got a pair of Stans Flows on Pro2 SS which seem to work well. Nice and wide so your tyre has a good profile and easy to fit/remove tyres on too. I went for the extra wide ones as they added very little weight over the Arch and I need my wheels to last a long time.

I love the noise from the freewheel too 🙂