Im considering an upgrade of wheelset on my xc bike, ideally for xc short track/olympic/marathon. Any recommendations welcome, Boost spacing 29" disk.
I am looking for value, stiffness, weight savings and great rolling hubs. Ideally a wheelset i can take into my next xc frame upgrade.
I have the Hunt Trail Wide wheels, as does @Ghost. They are fast, light, and well priced. The hubs are good quality, have a nice noise and the wheels look good. They mount up tubeless tires easily and are well-sealed. Now, I did dent my rear in MRWA on a sharp rock, shortly after I received them, which sucked, so I had to raise my pressure a few PSI. They still sealed up easily. I ride fairly aggressively, so YMMV, but the rims are a little bit soft. For the price, I’d still buy them again in a heartbeat.
So made in Taiwan okay, as that’s where hunt and roval stuff are from?
If you are interested in buying “local” you might consider the we are one wheels, either the revives or the factions, which are laid in BC, hubs built in the you ess eh. I haven’t seen any out here but they’re quite popular on the west coast. Haven’t ridden them but I hear good things; I’ve got a set of factions coming next month and can report back them.
Edit: for some reason I assumed you were looking at carbon wheels. The weareaones will be double the price of the other stuff you are considering. I think velocity are the only company that make alloy rims in North America?
The only side to roval is they have a habit of having nice rims but meh hubs that are not upgradable. Make sure to check what hubs come with them. Other that that they seem good. Lots of R&D $$$ put into them from specialized. DT is always solid. I personally run Stan’s, and there customers service is awesome! I looked into the hunts and they seem great too!
I think everyone should build wheels, because almost always there is compromise in pre made wheels. Was looking at a new specialized, roval wheels, basically the lowest end shimano hubs you can get on it, so much so I think it was the same hub as my las 700 dollar hardtail. At 5800 bucks I expect more. Build light alloy or carbon wheels on Hope or DT hubs and have a life long wheel set.
The extra 200-300 bucks pays off when you can easily service them and the hubs hold up.
That’s part of the reason I have stuck with Stan’s, I have spare parts for them and they are easy to service. I would like to try building up a set of wheels some day. Would be fun.
Yes. I’m transitioning to e-commerce. I plan on selling hand-built wheels and accessories (tire inserts, tubeless kits) online. Once the supply situation improves I’ll start taking custom orders.
If you don’t mind buying wheels online you can get Hope hubs laced to Spank/Stans/ RaceFace for about $585USD plus shipping. Sapim spokes and nipples.
Our dollar is at about 80 cents right now, so for just over $700 Canuck bucks you can get a custom wheelset that will be a vast improvement over the ones that came stock.
I’ve bought several wheels from this builder and he has been excellent to deal with, and the wheels work perfectly. https://cyclewheelsusa.com/
I’d avoid Stans rims as they seem to be getting softer each year and I hear lots of people bending, denting them. YMMV
