* as possible

I have a frameset (Longitude) which will comfortably take 650b plus and should also take 29 plus. (On 100/135mm QR axles.)

I can build wheels, and I can dig up suitable hubs and spokes easily enough.

So I’m toying with keeping an eye out for cheap stuff (rims, wheel sets, tyres) to have a go with tubby tyres in either size. But I don’t know what I should be looking for, really. Are there any noticeably cheaper options? Or anything to keep an eye on in case it crops up on eBay or clearance sales? Is this a stealth “wanted” ad? Who knows… answers below please 🙂

TransitionUK on EBay have had some bargains on Charge plus wheel sets with Tyres for £100-120

I got a set of Alpkit Rumpus when I tried 650B+, they were £300 then, £229 now. They aren’t the lightest option, let’s just say they are “sturdy”!

£100 is my kind of price 🙂

i didn’t find them particularly sturdy…which just leaves cheap as I’m pretty sure I paid £150.

I think the cheapest way would be just to skip plus wheels and go straight to a decent 29er.

I’ve got a pair of unused Bontrager 2.8’s+tubes you can have for postage and and a beer or 2.

Ooh. I shall get back to you on that if I can find some cheap rims… thanks 🙂 650b, I assume?

£100 is my kind of price

Shimano hubs to suit budget (or maybe scour ebay for some cheaper novatec), ACI spokes from cyclebasket.com

And that leaves rims to find, how wide to you need? if you believe you can “go plus” on 25mm rims OO/PX are still shifting their stock of cheap WTB STp i25s for about a tenner a piece in both 29″ and 27.5″, should be ok up to 2.6″, possibly 2.8″? I’m not really a plus tyre expert… anyone else?

Failing that most of your budget will be going towards rims I would imagine, prices seem to rise sharply for rims over 30mm int…

yup.

POG DB-X50 are about 30 euro per rim. 45mm internally, all black, 32 holes and ~800g in 29″ size. I managed to build wheelset for ?200 on decent fat bike hubs, so you could probably do even cheaper.

I bought mine on ridewill.it

Buy a s/h set that someone’s shifting from their “budget” 29+/650b+ bike because they weigh a ton 😀

There’s probably some in the Classifieds now.

I got a cheap set of Superstar’s and googled for a discount code. Think they came in at £119 delivered. Seem pretty good – 100/135 by QR and 6 bolt.

Gorilla tape, valves and tyres and you’re good to go. The tyres will probably cost more than the wheels though..

Yeah, Deore hubs and ACI spokes I can do for about £50-60 all in, I think. Actually, thinking about it, I already have a couple of Deore front hubs kicking about because they were cheaper than skewers, so that saves a tenner 🙂 Experience tells me to err on the wide side with rims so I’m treating 40mm as a minimum, 45 as ideal.

I’ll look up those Pogs… Sounds like they tick the width and price boxes at least.

Here you go, 27,5 on ridewill https://www.ridewill.it/p/it/ridewill-bike-702100017-cerchio-mtb-db-z50-275-alluminio-32-fori-nero/108151/

And 29 here https://best-bike-parts.de/POG-Felge-DB-X50-29-50mm-breit-45-622-32-Loch-29er-Plus-schwarz-730g

Don’t know the second shop, but ridewill is legit.

Depends how wide you want to go

I’m fine with 2.8/3.0 on i35’s. Cy Turner posted some ramblings a while back on this – they built a bunch of wheels and ran them all to find the *best balance of weight and profile. Iirc they came down on 40f/35r.

I bought a Cooker 1 plus off FaceBook classifieds for £200, virtually unused too.

I think he’d replaced the back tyre and when he got the bill decided Plus wasn’t for him 🙂

Sssimon any chance of a link? Can’t find them. Thanks

The Charge wheels aren’t there anymore, except a rear with an SRAM driver. Search for seller “transition-uk”.

The POG rims are €24.60 on the Italian pages. Probably a catch once you get to the checkout. They seem suitable. (They have the 29 as well. They also had some other versions at €13 but unsurprisingly they’ve sold out.)

Treating this in the stealth wanted ad spirit, I’ve got a 650b+ rear wheel and tyre combination still available:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/275-rear-wheel-and-tyre-1

All in really good condition, but would consider some haggling on price if it isn’t currently cheap!

I know nothing of the world of Plus but this thread reminded me of seeing these:

Easton Arc Plus

Any good?

Halo vapour rims are around £50 each, 35mm width

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/transition-uk51

None on there at present but great one to follow on eBay for bargains and shite you never realized you needed

Spank oozy rims on crc about £52, 35mm inner width and some funky colours available.

The halo vapour 35 is a nice rim but not real plus size. Got those in my normal 650b bike. Best place to buy those is tredz. Place two orders and take advantage of their £5 off £30 order code :D.

the cheap way is find a pair of hope hubs on here for half the price they could have asked, then get some wtb i45 rims from planet x for 15 quid a piece, thanks to a lead from someone else on here.
that’s what i did, and felt smug! sorry : )

but then still had to fork out for spokes and nipples of course. and kinda wished i’d bought Asym rims instead, but eventually go the rear to stay true…
ish

achly they were scaper 40 rims.