p.s. - not that you wanna spend 4x the amount of money that you're showing with those DT's above, but... DT EX471 rims, Hope hubs, brass nipples, DT Comp spokes... get them built up by a good shop, they'll literally never break or come out of true. bulletproof shit man, its the golden combination. probably about $750-800 though built up. I'm hard as fuck on stuff tho man... i've broken frames, cranks, pedals, spokes, rims, seats... i've had these wheels for 5 years now and haven't ever serviced or trued them. DH bike and 29er 140mm travel bike both. shit, Aaron Gwin ran an entire race on an EX471 with no tire a few years ago. i understand saving some bucks, but if you can, i'd suggest the buy right, buy once way of doing things with bikes if you think you'll use it enough to warrant.
I have definitely found that hand built wheels last far longer than machine built. I'm anxious to see how the wheels hold up on my Intense as they seem pretty damn burly to me. I'm anxious to get them set up with tubeless as well but waiting on some Michelins to come in first.
its the components too though... Stans rims are noodley, so unless you're a little dude, they're easier to fuck up. side to side truing is one thing, but once they're ovalized, you'll never stop breaking spokes no matter what you do. i've heard they improved that over the years, but no need to bother when there's so many other options. Chris King hubs everyone loves, but they're finnicky and need adjustment all the time or they start slipping the free hub. aluminum nipples look neat because people like the colors, but if you ride where its wet, they get oxidized and corroded and will snap in half eventually. Hope hubs have slightly less engagement points (that most people won't even notice), but are burly as fuck and will take anything thrown at them without ever skipping a beat. brass nipples can be had in black, black should be good enough color wise, match up some other stuff. DT rims are tried and true and used by a million pro teams. I'd rock Spank stuff, and I9 stuff too probably, but shit man. i'm over trying to have the lightest shit possible by a few grams to deal with that kinda nonsense. overbuild wheels, get beefy cranks, get dope brakes, and the rest will mostly take care of itself.
I picked up some i9 hubs for my fat bike this past winter. Good lord they are nice. Hail Hydra! Never going with cheap hubs again.
My Trek Roscoe 7 has Boost hubs or something. I guess they aren't super great? I'm too new/dumb to know what is good, so i'm just gonna ride the bike until stuff explodes. Then upgrade. On an "update" note though. the mountain biking is definitely helping my stamina. I used to be whipped after a weekend at the track. Now I go mountain biking on the Monday. Also, the wife crashed again and bruised the shit out of her tailbone. TBH I'm surprised shes crashed this hard this many times before me. I'm supposed to be the dumb one. She's an animal though and refuses to call it quits. Demanded that we finish the ride. She rules.
Yes you have to use good stuff as well. I just meant you can get higher end machine built stuff but I'll take something that was built by hand for sure. My wheels are DT but they are machine built so we will see how they go.
Boost is just the width description. Most wheels have appropriate adaptors. Ive found most stock wheels work well enough til you find a better set but really not worth putting any $$$ into should they break. Mavic makes some decent mid range wheel sets if you dont want to spend carbon $$$
Mavic supposedly got bought out recently after they've been in some financial trouble and shall be "concentrating on the wheels again" according to their mission statement. i DO know that every DH bike 8-10 years ago everywhere had Deemax's on them. i had a set of Cosmic Carbone Premium SL's on my road bike 10 years ago and they were the shit. hopefully they continue on with quality.
Fat bikes SUUUUUUUCK! I flat don't understand the attraction to them and glad they are losing the steam of their fad around here real quick. They don't do anything really well other than snow. And there are plenty of fun things to do in snow, fat biking isn't one of them.
Come run the Fat Tire National on the beach for 26 miles, in Wrightsville beach, nc. You wouldn’t last 1/2 a lap.
I've recently built up my first few wheels and I'm surprised how well they came out. Paid attention, took my time, and they compare surprisingly well to my professionally built wheels. The process is kinda "fun" as well, if you're into that kinda thing...
Only 26 miles? How about 25 hours XC race solo? In actual mountains/desert, not on a flat-assed beach? You wouldn't last a half hour. Fat bikers all think they are the shit.
Been having a blast on my little Vitus hardtail. Though our trail systems around here are more of the pedal up, then bomb back down variety. Been fun chasing people on much bigger rigs with no rear suspension and really helped me learn. Figured I would get an enduro rig and ordered up a Megatower. Should be here Friday. Looking forward to some lift serviced riding at Mt. Hood next week.
Nice I demoed a mega at deer valley a couple weekends ago, they are nice. I'm still digging my strive for enduro and lift served, but the mega is a sweet ride.
Shopping for new enduro and thought there might some interesting info here... Nope, just walked in on a purse fight.