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Hi all,
I have a 2016 Whyte t-130s and I am considering upgrading my wheel set as a birthday present to me! I am currently looking at getting a set of Hope pro 4 hubs with DT Swiss 471 rims. my question is is it actually worth the money to upgrade? Will I notice a difference other than the buzz? or is it just some bike bling? I currently have the original Whyte hubs with wtb I23 rims and apart from replacing a bearing last summer they have been fine. Do people recommend the above wheels or can they recommend another alternative?
Weight and stiffness will be the biggest things you will notice. How heavy are the current wheels and how does that compare to your new wheels?
Sometimes a similar weight saving can be made simply by changing tyres to a different brand, but similar type. I moved from Maxxis high roller 29*2.3 to a Specialized Butcher Control and saved almost 300g from the front wheel. It cost me £30.
Theres only really 2 main factors at play - rim weight and width. The spokes will possibly be lighter on your new wheels, bit more give, but I am not convinced you'd tell. Hubs will go round. They'll hope your spokes and make the bike go forward. Yes the Hopes will look nice and be noisy but functionally you'll not notice.
Rim weight is the critical one and the width too. So if your new rims are lighter by say 100g or more you'd really tell, or if they are wider by 5mm or more you'd know that too. Ideally you want wider AND lighter. For that reason I would consider the XM421 or 481 rims too. They are still very strong but the 421 saves a chunk of weight over the 471 (and so would really max out the weight saving) or the 481 is going to probably be about the same weight but 5mm wider. Only if you're looking for max strength do you really need EX series rims.
I've just replaced my WTB i23s with DT Swiss xm421s with hope pro4 hubs. They are 300 grams lighter than the WTBs with a slightly wider inner width.
Have noticed the rolling resistance is easier.
Tyres went on tubeless nicely too.
Wheels affecting rolling resistance...that's a new one!
OP good advice so far, lighter rims will feel nicer and better profile will allow lower pressure and better grip .
I'd get tubeless rims myself.
There maybe better ways to.spend that amount of cash tho. Skills days?
Thanks all for the advice. I will go for the XM421 on hope hubs. I have done several skills days and found them to be brilliant and really felt a difference in my skills in fact have another day booked at the end of next month.
Freehub pick up also makes a difference, try a really cheap hub with slow pick up and it's really difficult to ride some technical sections.