[Closed] Best strong 27.5 MTB wheels/ hope hub combo for around £500

Wobble on the rear. Definitely wheel wobbling and not wobble in frame (pivot bearings etc)?

Alexrim stuff is stock/oem and can be heavy, but generally tough. Not trendy, but some trendy stuff IMHO can be crap. Look nice but not durable. Hope though is good, although I wonder why the big selling point is easy to service bearings when I've got cheap brands like Formula or even expensive but not blingy like DT that just never need bearing replacement. Formula in fact is on an old Alexrim I've got.

Good online wheel builder... Justridingalong. But down side is they're not cheap and they have a very long queue for builds. Not likely to get one built now before Christmas from them.

Rovals. £400 and solid. Plus they get sold off new cheaply as people change them off their new bikes for worse wheels. ha

Mavic Crossmax XLs are my go to strong/light wheel. Trying carbon at the minute which are really nice but a little more than your budget.

The newer DT rims are damn good. And I haven't used the 650b versions but the 26 and 29er WTB Frequencies are like Stans On Steroids. (I rode a decent chunk of la thuile in italy on a totally flat rear, basically because I was having too much fun to stop, and when I got to the bottom there was barely a mark- ludicrous.)

Spank oozy trail 295 rims on hope hubs.

Pro 4 hubs, DT Swiss EX471 rims and DT Comp spokes for £450 at [url= https://www.moonglu.com/products/handbuilt-hope-pro-4-evo-on-dt-swiss-ex471-wheels ]Moonglu[/url].

I have a set of their wheels (Pro2/Arch EX) that are really well built. I bashed them about on a hardtail for 2 years and another 2 years on a full sus. They needed truing after about 3.5 years but apparently the rims are about knackered. Still going on the wifes bike now.

Rovals. £400 and solid.

The Rovals I had some years ago, were most definitely not solid.

Hope Tech Enduro, or Mavic EN521's are solid

DT471 on hubs of your choice can be had for your budget.

If you want on trend width then 481s are good and have adequately supported my svelte graceful riding in the Lakes with out any problems.

I have given up with Hope hubs as I am bored of fixing collapsed freewheel bearings. Gone with DT hubs now with 350s that have been very reliable so far in 15 months.

The new Tech35W wheels from Hope looking good. Ive got a set on my bike at the mo. No issues so far and TBH I cant see any forthcoming. They are wide though, so I expect that might mean new tyres too (like some maxxis Wide Trails for example), but still within budget no problems. I'd expect that for 450 > 475 you'd be able to get them tubeless ready shod with maxxis WT 3C tyres.

Some weight/tyre profile info on the 35Ws:

Usually can get Stans Flow/Arch wheels with Hope hubs for under £500 inc the Mk3. EX probably less. Often deals on them.

Seems stock Stans wheels are generally either their own hubs or Hope as most people want those.

In fact - http://www.ptcycles.co.uk/cat/93/Mountain+Bike+650b/

Selection with Flow/Arch/Crest Mk3 or DT EX471 on Hope Pro 4, all under £500

Stans flow mk 3 rims on hope pro 4 hubs. Just had a set built up for the new bike and cost me c £450. Previously had the same with pro 2's in 26" for the past 6 months and they were great. Decent balance of weight to stregnth (think they were c 1850 gr iirc), liked the wider rims and gave them 6 months of abuse as a15 stone not gentle rider with no issues at all. Personally I'd always go hope hubs as I find them fit and forget about with normally c 3 years of riding before I have to think about bearings

A lot of wheels I'm going to price them all up . Quite like the wider wheels somebody posted. Only thing that will bother me is how the wider wheels are slightly taller than normal 27.5s.

Any one else recommend me any wheel builders who won't rip eyes.

Checked just riding a long , good reviews but the minuim I could get a wheel build and a front one for what I need is just under 300 . Way to expensive for the spec and that it's only a front wheel.

Wobble on the rear. Definitely wheel wobbling and not wobble in frame (pivot bearings etc)?

Yeah it's the bearings but still not a fan of the MD's.

Ex471s here and they've been pretty bullet proof.

Got a bit of a flat spot on the rear from 3 days racing in the Alps but it's still rideable after a little retensioning.

My tyres normally last longer than my rims 😳

I've just got a set made up of Hope Pro 4's with Stans Arch MK3's by Chain Reaction Cycles custom wheel builder for £407 and I'm loving them after first 2 rides .They feel lighter than my hope tech enduros to accelerate and spin on and feel better to corner on to.If the arches arn't strong enough for you( a mate has been hammering his for a good while now and has managed to harm them)swap the rims for some flow Mk3/Flow Ex or something else .

Ah I never thought of Casi reaction it's fairly cheap on there as well. Think I'll get them built there. Can't find a DT build on chain reaction 🙁

Bike discount.de for dtswiss wheels.
Try and hunt out some DTSwiss EX1501,were about the best you'll get around £500 imo but you might struggle to get them that cheap at the moment with the exchange rate.

Would like to get some EX1501 under £500 myself for a set, but struggling. Euro doesn't make it cheaper at the moment at bike-discount. Looking at around £400 for a rear and £300 for a front, and UK prices are about the same.

I've gone for ex471 on hope hubs myself, mainly because I got some for a decent price on eBay.

Not ridden yet but rims do look promising.

They have a shot peened finish like my old crossmax sx. If they're anything like as tough as those I'll be delighted.

It's a good shout. Any rim with EX before it's number is a good rim. DT rims these days are very, very good. Big turnaround from the cheese based nonsense of a few years back.

If you're looking for a wheelbuilder as opposed to a shop then try Big Al at Wheelcraft. He's just outside Glasgow and I've personally been to his shop a number of times and have had a few wheelsets built by him. He'll tell you what you need. Great guy. Great wheels.

I got a pair of hope pro 4s on Mavis 729 rims ,w[b]ide and as strong as you can get
Built at crc and delivered in two days
About £380 I think

I have a set of EX471's on the reign, they've been well abused this year: stiniog, revs, BPW, shropshire, Mega, Morzine, Molini. Still running straight and true (built by Julies Cycles in leicester, very very good wheelbuilder)

All you wheel building needs here at [url= http://www.actionsports.de ]actionsports.de[/url]
You can choose most common options for wheels and the service and quality is very good.

Hi all dam I forgot about this thread, okay still not took the plunge yet but will be before Xmas.

I've narrowed it down purely based on this thread as this site is always right :p

What's the difference between Stan Flows and the ex"s that everyone has been going onabout.

These are the two most popular mentioned and both have good reviews. Will be buying some very soon .

I have a set of DT ex471 rims on a hope rear hub and superstar front if you're interested in secondhand.

Best rims I've owned by miles. Only selling as I've gone full 29er.

have a set of DT ex471 rims on a hope rear hub and superstar front if you're interested in secondhand.

Hi actually I am interested , but will need to be end of month for me as just paid car insurance for the year.

I will give you a message when I'm ready to buy and see if you still have them.

Had a pair of DT Swiss EX 511s 650b built on the cheap DT Swiss 350 hubs from Chain Reaction, got two sets at that price. Strong, smooth and not two heavy. Was waiting for the 511s to come out in 29er to have another set built up but picked up some carbon rims from the classifieds so going to get them built up using the same hubs.

Had them built up by 18 Bikes and can highly recommend them,

RCZ Bikes have the following for €600 using code RCZIDL offer till midnight tomorrow and a 20day lead time.
SRAM 2018 WHEELSET ROAM 50 CARBON 29'' DISC 6-BOLTS BOOST (15X110MM / 12X148MM) XD BLACK (001918286000 / 001918289001

YGM apples&oranges

I'm agreeing with Northwind on the WTBs. I've got a couple of wheelsets built with Frequency Team's and they're good. I've also had a fast and bumpy descent with no air in the back with no major drama.

The Hope's are a funny one. Just recently people have been popping up on the Hamsterley Riders forum with major rim problems with Hope wheels with their own rims and going back to Flow Mk3's after mouthing off about the Hopes. Might be worth seeing if the issue starts turning up on other forums if you're about to spend a chunk on a new set although I've no doubt Hope would stand by their product.

Wheelbuilders online... once upon a time Merlin or JRA would have been obvious choices but they both seem to have scaled it back a lot for choice. Maybe drop 18bikes a question? Matt's bloody good and they do sell mail order, they might do mail order wheel build.

The Hope's are a funny one. Just recently people have been popping up on the Hamsterley Riders forum with major rim problems with Hope wheels with their own rims and going back to Flow Mk3's after mouthing off about the Hope.

Yeah, I'm not by any means a hope hater but other than there hubs I'm not a huge hope fan either. I've also heard of the hope wheels warping quite often,they look nice but I wouldn't trust them.

Wheelbuilders online

Strongest 27.5 wheels Ive had were built onto some nukeproof generator dh rims... 32 spoke 3 cross with sapim leader plain guage 2mm spokes... Pro 2's with steel rear axle

Been built for about 2 years now and since sold to a mate who goes big but are still straight even after numerous uplift days at bpw/black mountain/woodys bike park/fod/woburn etc

I will soon have a brand new set of wheels for sale off a new bike which should be super strong.. DT EX511 rims (30mm ID) on DT 350 spline hubs

Finally getting round to save some cash to get the wheels and want to buy.

Was just updating to see if anybody has anymore good recommendations for wheel builders online or locally in the North east of England just to get the best price possible .

Nukeproof generator dh rims on hope hubs with plain guage spokes

Strong as a strong thing

Moonglu in Ripon or 18 bikes in Hope would be my recommendation for wheel builds.

Another vote for JRA here, Stans MK3 Flow rims, Sapim Race Black spokes, Sapim ALU nipples and their Bitex hubs was my choice. And you get a choice on the colour of the stickers. £400 plus p&p. Tough and a good weight for how strong they are.

Pro4 on WTB KOM i29 is my combo of choice now, in a variety of sizes, should come in under budget, get mine at the specialized concept store in Harrogate

I've opted to have dt swiss ex 511 rims (30mm id) built up on hope hubs for my new bike.

I would speculate that the hope 35w rims may being damaged due to being more exposed running a fairly standard 2.3 inch tyre. The 35mm id of these rims is probably better suited to a slightly wider 2.4 to 2.6 inch tyre.

Hi all I'm actually going to order my wheels tomorrow and I've set on the DT EX451 after more research.

Before I buy is there a any other DT wheel in budget that's good for 16 + stone riders and if there is can you please explain the difference between that ex and the ex451. After extensive research I really am going to be buying a ex rim.

Much appreciated I will also update this thread with a photo once they are here these so far has been very helpful.

Slightly related but I just bought a set of DT EX471 on DT 240 boost hubs for £552 built by actionsports.de. They seem to have good pricing on DT custom builds if that is what you're after. They charge in Euro's but I used my Halifax Clarity so I knew what I was paying.

Moonglu Hope/EX471 was £540

Slightly related but I just bought a set of DT EX471 on DT 240 boost hubs for £552 built by actionsports.de. They seem to have good pricing on DT custom builds if that is what you're after. They charge in Euro's but I used my Halifax Clarity so I knew what I was paying.

Moonglu Hope/EX471 was £540

Nice one... I ordered the custom DT wheels from actionsports in Germany on Friday evening and they turned up today. Look nicely built and and hoping for many years out the 240s hubs 🙂

Nice one... I ordered the custom DT wheels from actionsports in Germany on Friday evening and they turned up today. Look nicely built and and hoping for many years out the 240s hubs

Sounds sweet that's pretty good service right there.