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In 27.5 flavour are the Arch EX rims still tough, and is the extra width of the Flow noticeable and worth having? Or does it just make the wheel roll slower and harder to accelerate? Ta.
They'll be similar to the 26 and 29er versions - the smaller ones being slightly stronger and lighter.
As to the width, a bit and depends on you/what you ride/
I've got both and I prefer the flows, easier to get tyres on and off of and feel a bit better on a ride.
Or for something inbetween, Hope Enduro wheelset 🙂 Bit wider and sturdier than Arch bit not as heavy and robust as Flows I believe.
I'm tempted to drop some notes on the hope enduro but the weight is putting me off.
Or for something inbetween, Hope Enduro wheelset Bit wider and sturdier than Arch bit not as heavy and robust as Flows I believe.
Enduros are heavier than flows although they are marginally tougher
How do the Flows feel different when you're riding, in real-world terms? More grip, more planted or what? And is it really noticeable enough to feel, not just see on Strava times or similar? Not being funny, just genuinely curious. Cheers.
Not according to Hope's site but granted there is only a few grams in it, not as much as I thought though.
Flows are a tad lighter than enduros, i've weighed them. They are also wider which is better for burp resistance when running tubeless and also allows you to run slightly less psi on high volume tyres. Theres no reason the wider rim should cause you to accelerate or roll slower, thats tyre and pressure dependent. If you don't plan to hurtle down rocky mountains, do drop offs of more than 3 feet or big enduro sessions then Arch are fine.
What kind of mincing are people doing to find Flows strong? I got them to save a bit of weight over my 721s, they are lighter, wider and better tubeless but in every other regard they are worse.
I will be buying heavier, stronger wheels next time.
What kind of mincing are people doing to find Flows strong?
I weigh 240lbs and have ridden a pair of Flows in my famous '****less lardcore' style for 6 years and found them strong and very durable. I'll get some more if and when these ones give up on me.
What kind of mincing are people doing to find Flows strong?
Comparing them with Crests, chiefly. Also, being 75kgs seems to help.
😉
I_Ache - Member
What kind of mincing are people doing to find Flows strong?
Just got one on the rear, got it well built, ride it hard, don't run silly pressures. Seems fine, perhaps you are just a little ungraceful on the bike.
It was interesting reading the pro core article about smashing through rocks and stuff at real low pressures, didn't make that much sense as not hitting that stuff makes for a much better/smoother ride through the rough stuff.
Will
You'll be wanting flows for the riding you do.
They give a much nicer feel to the tyre and area fair bit stronger too.
What kind of [s]mincing[/s] clumsy clattering around are people doing to find Flows weak? I got them to save a bit of weight over my 721s, they are lighter, wider and better tubeless [s]but in every other regard they are worse[/s] and because I'm not a forum riding god they work fine.
Fixed that for you
I have both Arch in 29 and (original, non-EX) Flows in 26.
The Arch is fine, but if I was buying again I'd get a wider rim - the Arch requires more pressure to prevent squirming. I'm surprised at just how noticeable it is.
Ha ha, fair enough I might not be a super smooth riding god but everything else on my bike seems to hold up just fine. If I was that bad surely something else on my 4 year old carbon trail bike would have broken while riding some tame DH trails.
The rear flow went from straight to needing to be trued in half a lap of the monkey trail at cannock. It takes a special kind of cheese to be that wobbly.
Spokes, nipples & build quality? Doesn't sound like the rim could be the only cause?
Yeah that's got to be a build problem. There is NOTHING on the Monkey at Cannock that should put a Flow anywhere near through its paces FFS. You've got to be trolling I Ache.
They were Hope Hoops, as were my previous wheels. I assume they are built to the same standards but they could have slipped through. They had previously been trued at swinnertons where I have had no issues before. I actually had to stop before the Original Monkey and true up my rear wheel as it was rubbing on the frame too much, it was fine at the start of the ride. I have had to resort to using a narrower rear tyre to give more wobble room so it goes longer in between needing trueing.
I had 26" flows (non ex) for a few years and they were pretty much bombproof, apart from writing the front one off during an incident with a tree.
I've been running 27.5" arch ex for a few months, they're fine, and have been reliable, but they don't feel as stiff as the flows did, under hard cornering I can feel them flex a bit which causes a little bit more driftage than usual. If you're building up an all-rounder then I think the weight saving is worth the trade-off, but it all depends what you want.
That sounds even more like a bad built or at the least, a built that has gone bad.
Sounds like a poor build or even a faulty rim (though I struggle to think how you could manufacture a faulty rim, assuming the joint is decent...)
I've had original Flows on my hardtail for years now and apart from a small amount of non-circularity from a hit hard enough to pinch-flat a UST tyre at Antur Stiniog they're still perfect. The Flow EX on my full-sus have had a fair battering over the last 18 months and they're as good as new.
For the marginal weight saving I wouldn't bother with Arch EX, especially as Flow EX are wider. Wider = less squirm at low pressures = more grip.
singlespeedstu - ayup there, how's things? Good I hope. You off to Verbier this year? I'm off to the Lakes with the Marks in September sometime - join us if you fancy some good epics and a spot of hike-a-biking. Up there before then too, but it will be day trips more likely, and mid-week.
everyone else - cheers, useful info there.
They're true with even spoke tension and have needed no attention, is that a bad build?
+1 obvious wheel build issue. Not even sure why you'd conclude it was a rim strength issue?
I wrote off 2 721s, a flow and a flow ex in pretty similiar use, so I'd say they're in the same ballpark. The flows are less[i] tough[/i]- they dent much more easily. But that's not a measure of strength and doesn't generally end a rim (Flows also straighten easily 😉 )
(the 721s cracked at the eyelets and one cracked in the rim after a pretty nasty case, the flow cracked at the valve hole, the flow ex I flatspotted so badly at fort william that tyres wouldn't stay on it reliably. Pretty happy with all of them)
[i]Sounds like a poor build or even a faulty rim (though I struggle to think how you could manufacture a faulty rim, assuming the joint is decent...)[/i]
I've seen some very queer Stans rims pre built (egg shaped, not straight ) they seem to be much worse than Mavic in that sense. You can recover most of that once you start building, but it can lead to uneven tension. loosening and an easily dinged rim.
Of the rims that's I've built (Mavic, Pacenti, stans) Stans seem to be far the worst for it
I'm good cheers Will. Just got back from BV. Fantastic time as usual.
I'll email you about your September trip see if we can sort something out.
singlespeedstu - cool, no worries. I'll look out for an email sometime. Glad you enjoyed BV.