Upgrade of 26" wheelset
I have a 2010 Felt Virtue 2, bought it new in 2010, rode on it about 4,500 miles, and recently was thinking about selling it and buying a 29ER.
But it seems that here in Israel the market of 26" bikes is really awful, and I get lousy offers for trade in / selling.
So now I had to put a new chain gear (for the 3rd time on this bike), and a new cassette (XT 11-34), new gear cables and the bike rides really great! The setup right now is mainly factory + tubeless kit, Kenda Nevegal front and Maxxis CrossMark rear tires, both tubeless.
Recently I made several rides after the mentioned repair, and though to myself - hey, I really like this bike! Love the frame, the suspension, my position on it, the handling, So I think I'll keep it, and maybe in the future will buy a hardtail 29ER.
Got the idea of upgrading the wheels. It has the factory Mavic XM317 rims on Shimano M525 hubs, which is very reliable but heavy - I see on the web that the weight of this wheelset is about 2200 gr.
I weight about 190 lb, on 6 feet.
Riding mostly long XC rides, not too harsh / technical.
In the past I bought several times great 2nd hand wheels for my road bike - new wheels for a bargain price, and this is what I also think doing right now.
Searched the list and found some interesting wheels, fitting my bike/fork axles, most of them though are from about 2010.
1. Mavic Crossmax ST 2010, about 1590 grams
2. ZTR Olympic rims on XTR 975 hubs, also ~1500-1600 grams
3. Mavic 717 rims on XT hubs (2010), about 1900 grams
4. Shimano XT wheelset
5. Shimano MT65 wheelset (almost new) ~1800 grams
6. DT Swiss X1800 / XM1550 wheelsets (new)
(all the weight data is from the web, not necessarily real / true)
The thing is that I want the wheels to be stiff, reliable, with minimum surprises and maintenance issues. I want to cut weight from the wheels, but reliability is more important to me than the wheel weight.
What can you recommend me?
Thanx,
Mark