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Cotic Escapade frame has arrived and I haven’t sorted my wheels out yet..
Had a good read around but perhaps just need confirmation on my thinking..
I want a 700c wheel that uses Hope hubs and will be aiming to use 38-44mm “gravel” tyres depending on options. I’ve looked at various hand built options, such as dt rr481 or gr531, but they come up relatively expensive or quite heavy. Looked at Hope 20FIVE but they appear marginally narrow for the tyre size
Hope Fortus 23w seem to sit in a good do it all position. £369 for the wheel set, 23mm internal width, not too heavy….. could even double as a 29er trail wheel if required. Not particularly deep rim but not sure I’ll miss the aero benefits.
Am I missing anything? Any other Hope hubbed options I’ve overlooked?
Bit limited if you're restricted to Hope hubs. DT GR1600 would be a good option if not, not far off in price, guessing they would be significantly lighter
Only 30g between the two 1811g v 1845g, with the Hope being heavier which I’m fine with for the reliability and serviceability of Hope kit. GR531 compared to Fortus was coming up 200g heavier per set with the RR481 about the same as the Fortus.
The dt hubs are just as reliable and serviceable.
I’m sure they are in isolation but I already have two other wheel sets with Hope hubs, so it’s more useful to stay in the family.
I'm going for 20Five's on my Escapade frame when it arrives. Planning to run 44mm WTB Raddlers, providing they clear the frame. To be honest at 20mm ID, I think they'll be fine with anything you can fit on an Escapade. I do think that for gravel bikes the whole rim width thing has been blown way out proportion. It was only 2015 that my 160mm travel Mondraker was running 20mm ID rims with 2.35 tyres without issue, and not all that long before I had 2.25's on 17mm ID Mavic XC 717s.
I bought a set of JRA 25mm internal Monitor wheels for my gravel bike, 1600g and less than £400.
Only PITA is centre-lock and next time I'll go 6-bolt.
Wheels though are good and strong and work well with 50c's.
+1 for the JRA wheels. I have had them for 7-8 months and they have been fine. They are Bitex hubs though, not Hope but hub uniformity doesn't bother me. I have 4 bikes on four different hubs and it's just not an issue.
I was always a Hope hub + DT rim man. But the last XC wheelset I bought was a full DT wheelset (X1900 I think) and it was really nicely finished, and impressive.
I think a superstar have a sale on their wheels.