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In the market for some gravel wheels I’ve been offered a decent deal on a set of hope 20five RS4 without tyres and DT Swiss G1800 Spline with a pair of gravel king SK+ for around the same price(s)
looking to run schwalbe bite or all round either 40c or 45c eventually but think I could live with the gravel kings for now to keep the immediate costs down
My experience with both brands is lacking so I’m a little torn
WWSTWD? Experiences and thoughts most welcome
I have both, but not ridden the G1800s yet so only have 'first impressions'
I'm not a fan of the 20Five rim, they are relatively narrow (19mm) by today's standards and have a deep well in the middle that makes them difficult to tape (you also need a funny size tape, 23/24mm). One of mine corroded around the valve hole within about a year and Hope weren't interested. However as with any Hope wheels, worst case if you have rim problems you're still left with a nice pair of hubs to sell on or build onto something else.
G1800s are noticably wider (24mm) and come taped. The low spoke count is a bit offputting (24 IIRC), I'm sure plenty of people have battered them around without issue but they are not the lightest wheels so I don't think a few more spokes would have made much difference. The hubs are probably absolutely fine they just won't hold much value by themselves.
Not tried the DT but I'm a couple of years into owning a pair of Hope 20fives in 32/32h configuration.
I run them on my "road" bike with 38/40mm tyres and I've not had a single issue. I specifically didn't want a wider rim as I wanted to be able to run narrower (than the current 38s) tyre.
I do have two minor gripes though ...
1) as above they are more difficult to tape than other rims I have used.
2) the freehub body ( as with all alloy Hope freehubs) is starting to show some wear but nothing that isn''t easily dealt with using a file!
Above 40mm, and if you want them for gravel use then, I would look for a wider rim than the Hopes.
the G1800s are amazing, got them on my NP Digger and smashed them through some blue trails, jumped on them all sorts (granted not very high). Big fan of DT wheels anyway, and or hope hubs... not been overly sold on hope rims
19mm ID would not be nice with 40-45c tyres, I'd go for the DT's
I buckled the G1800s that came on my Grizl pretty quickly.
If you're north of 90 kgs, I don't think 24 spoke wheels are appropriate for enthusiastic gravel riding (or maybe I'm just unlucky).
I got a pair of Just Riding Along alloy Monitor wheels 3 years when I upgraded my gravel bike.
1600g and 25mm internals, still as straight as a die - Gravelkings 50c's work well. £400.
Monitor alu wheels - Just Riding Along
Cheers, folks
comments and immediate finances taken into consideration and thoughts of “Oooh…bling-tastic hope” moved aside, I went for the wider rim on the DT Swiss set, figuring it gives a slightly bigger range of options for tyres
just have to wait for them to arrive and get the long overdue Trig build finished