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A bit boring I know but I got some great advice when I came here seeking help when I was looking for road wheels so here goes. Any help is very gratefully accepted.
I’m looking for some 29’er, disc brake (obviously, I suppose), thru axle front and rear, non boost wheels and my budget is up to £600. Less is better. £600 my maximum. I’m by no means adverse to carbon rims etc. Will be on my XC hardtail. Almost all rides are in and around the Peak District (I’m based in the High Peak).
Thanks in advance (again).
You can get hope pro 4 with normal alu rims for about £425, it would take something to beat those for the price ime. Hubs can be fitted with different end caps for use with boost or not.
Been really impressed with the Stan's Flow Mk3 wheelset I bought to put on my Stooge MK4.
Nice width (30mm id), pretty light (listed at 1870g I think), nice quick pick up with the Neo hubs. Comes pre-taped with valves, and went up tubeless with just a track pump first time!
I lucked out and picked up a set for £230 from Rutland, but of a bargain.
I'm riding the peaks on stans arch factory wheelset in 29er. 1760 grams. feel well made, hubs engage well and have a non-obtrusive, fishing reel sounding buzz.
some on ebay brand new for 380.
i'm riding 2.3 tyres and they are designed to take a 2.5 max. Maybe look at Crest if you are running narrower on your XC bike, as they are lighter still.
Hunt wheels, cheaper than Hopes and just over half of your budget.
If you're happy to spend £600, then DT Swiss 240 hubs on decent alloy rims of your choice, built with DT Super Comp spokes.
If you wanna save a few quid, then go for the Hunt XC Wide... When they're back in stock that is, which is an annoying 9-10 weeks away it would seem! ☹️
I'd go for DT hubs and rims. Have a look on actionsports.de for custom builds and decent prices. The build quality seems excellent and the set I bought last month came in just over a week.
Bike Discount de in Germany for DT Swiss wheels. Loads of stock and good prices. Just ordered a set and they arrived in 5 days even with the restrictions in place. X1700 with 25mm rims non boost will set you back about £460.00 For DT Swiss the prefix in the description will tell you what the wheel is meant for (X is XC, M is All Mountain/Enduro) Most DT swiss wheels are Centre Lock disc brake but do come with adaptors for 6 bolt. DT swiss also come with tubeless valves and are ready to go tubes/tubeless too
Why not get Hope hubs and Stans rims?
Not the cheapest but you will end up with a set that last for years with spares available for the hubs from almost every decent bike store in the UK.
I ran Hope/Crest on my old Clockwork 29er and was really impressed with how light they were plus tubeless tyres go up instantly.
Thanks for the pointers.
Being able to buy from a UK retailer ‘off the shelf’ does appeal. I had heard that Mavic were closing down. Is that correct? That puts me off of them, quite a bit. Also, I was under the impression that part replacement was tough so a repair outside of warranty would be nigh on impossible. This does make the Hope wheels more appealing.
Anything else to consider before I make a purchase (or the funds get waylaid elsewhere so I ought to buy very soon).
I'd be reasonably confident Mavic will stay in business in one form or another.
I only buy their wheels on heavy discount, but they are good for XC/trail use. Riding some XA Elites and they've been the perfect lockdown wheels (for the long pedal over to the hill).
If I wanted non-boost I'd look to save money buying used though.
Or get Hope pro 4 with DT XM481 custom build for about £500.
I was just in exactly the same dilemma, looking for a wheel set for my 6 year old Turner Czar. I case the frame doesn't last many more years, can't get spares especially bushings, I didn't want to buy hubs that would be out of date should I buy a Boost Frame - so I went for Hope Pro4 as they can be adapted.
The Hunt XC wide were appealing at the price but as said above there's a long wait. Also I saw it mentioned in reviews that the Stans Crest rim is lighter than the Hunt rim.
So I bought Hope Pro4 on Stans Crest, 1730g on my scales with thru axles, £500 from Moonglu - delivered in 7 days.
To clarify- 1730g with fittings for thru axles.
I think I’ll go with the Hope option. Thank you. At this amount of money, I’ not going to be looking at 2nd hand but thanks for the suggestion.
Could somebody kindly advise what the Hope names and numbers are all about? It’s been quite sometime since I bought new wheels for the mountain bike at this sought of price.