You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Never bothered with anything special wheelwise ..always been happy with deore/slx/xt hubs on any half decent rim but am thinking of upgrading to something lighter if it'll make a noticeable difference to the ride.With so many options out there just wondered what sort of money I'd be looking at for a quality disc wheelset that'll last and truly make a noticeable difference not just to my bank account! Only need 9 speed compatibility and prefer reliability over bling.
Thanks for your help..cheers ,Bill.
Hope pro hubs on a decent rim have never let me down plus U.K. made with great customer service and very inter changeable with a variety of hub adapters
Hope +1, and whatever stans rim suits your riding.
Depends how you view bikes/wheelsets TBH. IME shimano XT are fine if you treat wheelsets as consumables, with care they will easily last the lifetime of most bikes for most people, or at least the life of the rim even for an XC bike ridden gently. The only weak link is the freehubs which only last 5000miles or so of British off road riding, but are cheap and quick to change.
Hope on the other hand are hubs you buy if you expect rims to be a consumable. They'll keep going through several builds and as long as standards don't change they'll last several bikes. I<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">'ve got some hope XC hubs that are still going strong! </span>
Hope customer service is legendary, I know someone cracked a mono-Ti hub from the 90's and got a Pro2 in return with no questions asked!
For hope/stans you're looking at £190 for the hubs, £160 for the rims, £30 for spokes and about £50 to have the pair built. If you teach yourself to built wheels the price comes down massively as you can get the parts substantially below RRP and save the labour (and re use the hubs in future).
Do you need QR or 15mm? I'm selling a couple of 29"wheelsets that might be of interest.
Arch Mk3 JRA and DT Swiss XM401/350
Go and have a chat with Rob at Hardy cycles in Fore Street
New, I built up some hope fatsnos on wtb KOM i29s for about £450 I think. Nice and light and feel great. Give a nice profile to the 2.4 tires.
Got some DT Swiss XMC1200s OEM with my XC bike. Stupid light (one of the lightest they make iirc ~1500g) stiff, generally incredible, but mega bucks (£1800) aftermarket
2nd hand, got some DT Swiss 350 on XM401 off here for £170 collected, reasonably light (but not a concern as fitted to an ebike) and am happy with the build quality, if it is a little less shiny/bling than the hopes, maybe wanting a wider rim, but that’s just the spec of the rim. ymmv
Reckon Hope on a decent Alu rim is the best trade off