Wheels for XC/gravel/bikepacking – anything better than XM481/350s?

Hi all,

Looking for a wheel set for my Specialized Chisel hardtail, to be used for XC, gravel, and bikepacking. Looking, of course, for lightweight but durable enough to hold up on bikepacking trips and maybe a (gentle) lap of Golfie.

Would rather not spend more than £350, happy with used. 

Current favourite is XM 481s on 350 hubs, from WheelProject for £350 posted which I know is a great deal. However, these are close to what I run on my enduro bike (XM1700) and they’ve held up fine so I can’t help but feel these would be overkill on a XC hardtail?

Any other options I should look at?

Thanks, Duane.

XM421 might be better and save some weight?

Xm421s would be better. Built with dt comp race or sapim dlight your looking around 1.75kg. There is also the xr391 but that’s more or a race rim.

How are your stock chisel rims? They are actually pretty light (420g). It’s the hubs that have their own gravity well along with the plain gauge spokes. On the chisel I’ve just got for my daughter I’m rebuilding them onto a set of straight pull 350s. Going to be around 1600g with d-lights.

Thanks both, can’t get the XM421 builds for quite a lot more than the XM481 from Project Wheel.

Nixie – v interesting re rebuilding the stock wheels, hadn’t considered that. Wheels on mine are good, barely used. So would you say the rims are ok? 420g is lighter than even the XM421, how would you rate their durability? I’d be open to running a lightweight insert on the rear.

Thanks,

Duane

Only just acquired the bike so don’t know yet on durability. Daughter is 40kg though so not going to be a tough user ?. They look ok to me and for the hubs I’m using I’m 95% sure I good reuse the same spoke length on xm421s (based on my own measurements of the erd/offset of the specialized rims).