I have a set of Eason havens in carbon here which I’ve been thinking of letting go as i don’t really have room for the second bike as doing more DH now. Absolutely perfect, in boxes etc and would be in your budget. You can’t do better IMHO.

Same bike and I opted for CK hubs on crest rims with sapim bladed spokes. The hubs are a piece of art work and so big and chunky. Just got the tool to service them with so can’t wait to start tinkering. I would highly recommend the CK hubs.

Industry Nine hubs are nice, spin really quickly and have amazing pickup but the seals aren’t great at coping with British weather so the bearings don’t last very long (about 7 months for me). I would also avoid getting wheels with fancy spokes/straight pull etc as they can be an absolute bugger to find spares for. Break a normal spoke anywhere and you can usually get sorted out in any shop (might not be perfect but will get you rolling again) whereas breaking a proprietary spoke could stop your fun altogether.

For me, for that kind of money, I’d be going handbuilt rather than factory and going for either Dt 240 or Chris King hubs built on to either a Crest, Arch EX or even Podium (depending on your planned usage) rim with some DT Supercomp spokes.

I have a set of Eason havens in carbon here which I’ve been thinking of letting go as i don’t really have room for the second bike as doing more DH now. Absolutely perfect, in boxes etc and would be in your budget. You can’t do better IMHO.

Ryan – I have a pair of these myself and if you can get them for £1k you really should. They are brilliant. I can’t say whether you personally would notice the difference, but given the bike you’re riding I am guessing there is a good chance you will.

The ride quality is incredible. The stiffness and lightness of the wheel is most noticeable out of fast berms where there is an incredible ‘springiness’ to them, almost like you’re pushing out of the turn on the rebound of a trampoline except it’s not that the wheels are flexing.

I really couldn’t care less what anyone else says about what you should or shouldn’t do; what’s reasonable to spend etc. No, the Carbon Havens are not two and a half times better then the next best alloy version, they are probably only 20-30% better, but they cost what they cost so that’s what I paid.

You can get them for £1k that’s a freakin steal!

Happy with my I9 enduros, no problems with the bearings after a year either…

i got crossmax st and sx. they are awesome wheels. 🙂

Only secondhand experience here but I was out with a guy the other week who was riding the Eastons. When asked how they were he went, ‘well let’s just say I won’t be looking for a second pair in a hurry’. Not that he thought they were bad, just not worth it compared to hopes.

Messiah makes a good point re. rim replacement. Jeez, it’s bad enough just having to replace a stans rim alone!

If it was me, personally I’d be looking for pimp hubs with stans rims…

I would suggest something built & non proprietory. This is someone who has experienced Easton’s legendary snail like customer services when talking ’11/12 Haven & Havoc wheelsets.

The support (not sure if it’s manufacturer or importer causing issues) on a product of such value is frankly, embarrassing. I was without a rear wheel the first time round for nearly 8 weeks, and this time we’re at 7 weeks and counting. The rear wheel on my second set lasted around a month before it’s gone back. Upon investigation it’s fairly apparent why my wheel couldn’t hold any spoke tension & went out of true constantly. No third time for me, if it’s been this much of a headache on a simple warranty issue I don’t want to experience trying to get spares, which going by my luck is a very real possibility.

I’ve since built a set of Flow’s on DT240’s with Rev’s spokes. Lighter than the alloy Haven’s and considerably more durable. Plus spares are available off the shelf from nearly anywhere.

Going to upset njeee but why don’t you talk to your LBS?
Mine hs build me a rear wheel for 890grs rim tape included. Hope pro II evo, DT revolution spokes and X717 rims (so you could go a bit lighter if you trust the rim).

Seeing as your dripping with cash why not just plump for CKs on Crests?

I wasn’t dripping with cash but they are exactly what I went for. Very very nice hubs, very very well made and look awesome. I also think DT240’s are very good hubs too and I’d definitely go down the “custom” route any day.

my crossmax st rear was lighter than the ck front wheel i took off the hummer 🙂

I am SOOOOO tempted by those Havens!

I’d say i9’s, they really are lovely and look super with red spokes. What I would say is don’t whatever you do buy a set of Crank Bros wheels. Utter pap, I can’t explain how much I hate them, flexy, expensive, hard to get parts for and horrendous to true. I paid A LOT of money for mine and I seriously regret it.

On the flip side my mate has a set of Crossmax Sl’s and loves them.

+1 for the Havens in Alloy or Carbon.

I have set of the Havens on my Santa…..perfect wheel……when I first bought them the rear wheel wouldn’t inflate on a tubeless setup rang Easton through the LBS and a brand new wheel arrived in 48hours even though I bought the wheels over the web! Excellent customer service IMO and have not had an issue since with the wheels!

A lot of choices to go on….but personally I love the Eastons and would def get another pair!
Happy Shopping

I did look last year when I’d decided to ‘treat’ myself. Ended up looking at the carbon Havens and the DT Swiss EXC1550. Both could be got for about £1500 new at my LBS.

But in the end I bought a pair of Hope Hoops (pro 2 evo SP’s running Crests). They have a wide rim, easily servicable, stiff, multi-axled and are within 100g of the expensive stuff. Plus at £300 you could buy a couple of pairs and mount alternative tyres. Mine get a hard time on long-forked HT.

I was concerned about going for a set of hubs that may fail, so if I had have spent the cash would probably have gone for the DT Swiss ones as they ran the 240s hubs.

james – Member
“Hope Pro II on Mavic 521 will cost you less than £300. Strong and light”
Well, the rims aren’t light. Granted less heavy than 321’s but ..

“you can’t beat Hope Hoops”
So long as you are happy with the loud, slowish pickup speed of Pro II hubs of course
And unless you want the more middleground Stans Arch/ArchEX rim (rather than the XCy crest, or the DHy flow)

Like you notice the pick up speed when riding because they are so slow? Umm no.

pro 11 \ crest are about 1600g I think. For £1000 you could by 2 pairs, 2 cassettes, 4 tyres and a spare set of discs and have a totally spare set of wheels

There is no way Chris King hubs are worth three times as much as Pro 2’s.
A CK rear hub is practically the price of a set of Pro 2’s on Stans rims.

There is no way Chris King hubs are worth three times as much as Pro 2’s.
A CK rear hub is practically the price of a set of Pro 2’s on Stans rims.

Sorry I thought the objective was to suggest really expensive rather than simply fit for purpose.

9 times out of 10 if someone asks what wheels should I get I’d just suggest some version or another of Hope hoops (probably Stans); widely available, easily serviced blah blah blah, but the OP has plenty of budget, I suppose the sensible thing for him to do is buy 2 or 3 sets of hoops and never be without a ridable set of wheels, but where’s the fun in that?

Wowzers… Cheers all for your input! I’ll have to do some serious thinking about this.

Vikingboy – Can you please email me on ryan_wheal AT hotmail DOT com, definitely interested in your wheels.

Keep the ideas, opinions coming chaps!

I’ve got/had fancy pants propriatory wheels, which have been excellent – Rovals and Crossmax – but I agree re off the shelf parts. My new wheel build will be 240s and stans with posh but not too posh spokes. Unless there is a simply too good to be true deal on carbon 29er Rovals at some point, I really can’t see the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.

Blatent Thread Hijack……

Any good deals about at the mo for Hope Hoops? Crests on Pro II SP Hubs?

I assume that no-one has had issues with the Crest Rims (Which are designed for xc far as I can see) when the going gets a little less xc??

Winstanleys are a pretty good price

I’ve a set of I9 XC wheels built up on Stan’s Arches. I’ve had them for about a year now and been riding them a fair bit both winter and summer predominantly on forest and moorland type trails, wicklow mountains outside of dublin, I’ve yet to have a single issue with them.

They’re light, durable, roll amazingly and the pick up is a thing that has to be felt to be believed. In fact it’s one of those things you didn’t realise how needed until you have it. Basically in simple terms they’ve been brilliant for me and they’ve had plenty of abuse including big offs and even large branches lodging in the spokes. All they have now is some scratches on the spokes, other than that they’re near perfect.

Plus and there’s no point denying this, which i believe is a major point considering how much they cost, they look pimp. Red hubs and red spokes. Oh and you get 4 replacement spokes when you buy them too. So if you’re an oaf maybe at some point factory spares maybe an issue but it certainly shouldn’t be a major one for most people for a considerable time frame. Finally just for reference sake i’ve been running them on a Chameleon with 140mm forks.

American classic MTB Race. On my wish list anyway.

I run Mavic Crosstrails, they are very strong but not mega light.

Going to upset njeee but why don’t you talk to your LBS?
Mine hs build me a rear wheel for 890grs rim tape included. Hope pro II evo, DT revolution spokes and X717 rims (so you could go a bit lighter if you trust the rim).

Why would that upset me, I’m a big user of LBSs, I worked in mine for 10 years, and it’s exactly who I’d talk to about a custom build 😕

Numerous mtbr reviews were enough to put me off havens when they were half price at Merlin, or at cost through a mate. Weak bearings and no support from easton is the brief synopsis. I9 stuff is gorgeous, out pimps king (which have had their detractors and I know people who’ve had problems with them)