Mountain Biking - Backup wheels - rims or tires?

Hello all, I'm new to the MTB world and I'm looking for some good backup (or primary) rims for my bike. I'm eyeing up some Mavic X223 rims made for my Cannondale "lefty" setup but before I bid (yep, it's on Ebay) I wanted to know what was a better investment (or what would last the longest). Good rims or really good tires?

Like I said, I'm new and I'm sure it comes down to a matter of opinion, but I'll be doing a lot of trail riding (nothing too extreme) and on some paved paths.

So if that helps matters any...I'm also not afraid to pay for quality, I'm not cheap so name all the "Name Brands"!

Thanks in advance for any help you can give...

It is unclear of what your back-ups are for. If you need back-ups for flat fix and have tube-tires then a $7 tube is good enough. If you have tubeless tires or have money for a back-up wheels set to have different tires on them for use on different rides then I say go for it.

You can buy a factory pre-laced rim, or find a wheelsmith to build them for you.
A specific built wheel will be superior and more expensive.
If I bought a factory built wheel, i'd have my mech inpect and finish.

I would guess @ $150 for a wheel to be built.
Mavic is a fine company, Alexrims double wall seem to be fine for me as well -cheaper than Mavic.
The Mavic is rear (spend MORE on the rear it takes the weight, and harder to replace...a front wheel is a front wheel -any one will do really.) and is custom with DTSwiss spokes.
The front is a factory Alexrims I think, good enough.
If you are a heavy rider, building is good as you can use stronger spokes\increase the amount of spokes.

Also the rims have different joining methods, welded being stronger -slightly more $.
I wouldn't cheap out on the rear.
If you don't plan on wheel building, and ride a lot -you may need to get a good mech that does your wheel repairs and treat him nice...A Latte' will get you rolling again by noon.

A second set pf wheel IS a great idea if you do any road riding\ commute stuff on your mtb =run slicks and you have a fast bike for ashphalt, quick re-lease and run the second set w\slicks....and use cheaper rims for the road, keep the HQ set for the offroad where the strength is needed.

Are you planning on racing? If so then in my opinion buy the nicest wheelset you can afford and keep your originals as training wheels. Put a nice set of light tires on the race set and add some Stan's no tubes. If it were me I would go for some Mavic 717 rims and a nice set of spokes. Unfortunately I'm not all that familiar with lefty hubs so can't suggest much as far as that goes.

As far as the front rim not being that important I disagree. The front rim is usually the rim that will get tacoed so you need to have a good strong rim up front, especially when running a lefty.

Your upgraditis is really getting you isn't it. It's amazing how that gets into your system. I can't say too much though, I've done around $3,500 in upgrades to my bike this past month. :o

As far as the front rim not being that important I disagree. The front rim is usually the rim that will get tacoed so you need to have a good strong rim up front, especially when running a lefty.


Good points...I'm always landing rear first...and weight wise the rear gets the pounding.
Like don't skimp on it..but it's maybe more likely to be a write off as a taco...and easier and cheaper to replace.
Why I have a factory front, custom rear. I don't disagree Lowcel, a different approach perhaps.
Both good rims - a little extra rear..don't forget the dish..it's a less strong wheel, needs more attention.

...maybe not.

I have a 140mm spaced dropouts with the dish altered so to make it a stronger wheel...@ least what I've been informed.

Your upgraditis is really getting you isn't it. It's amazing how that gets into your system. I can't say too much though, I've done around $3,500 in upgrades to my bike this past month. :o

Holy @#$%!
That much cash you could have strapped one of these to your frame!
http://www.avalanchedownhillracing.com/mtn10.html ...I wish I rode with the skills that would need 10 inches of travel.

The Ellsworth is super nice.

I was thinking about getting a second set of rims and keeping slicks on them for around town, but since the chain and casette wear together, I didn't want to be swapping the cassette as well as the wheel and I didn't want my chain to start skipping gears on one or both bikes because of the wear.

alcahueteria - as long as you change your chain frequently enough you could get along fine with two cassettes. If you didn't want to do it that way you could get a sram chain with their quick link, only takes about 30 seconds to change chains that way you could have a chain for each cassette and it wouldn't be too big of a hassle. That being said I don't have an extra wheelset right now, I guess I'm just hoping nothing major happens to mine again. Last year I sort of split my rear hugi hub all the way across, would have been nice to have had a spare that time.

jeff williams - I had no intentions of spending any money on my mtb's recently so it has definately put a dent in my savings. I ordered the frame because mine had seen better days. It is still in pretty good shape just not what it used to be. I figured since I was ordering a new frame I might as well upgrade to SRAM components. I had to get a new front derailleur as well. This wouldn't have been so bad had I not just bought a new chain, XT cassette and XT rear derailleur a few weeks earlier. I went ahead and bought a new carbon bar as well, mine had quite a few deep scratches and scrapes on it. Anyway, I built the bike up and took it for it's first ride Saturday, rode like a dream. Fork needed a little TLC but nothing major. Well took it out for it's third ride yesterday and the fork decided to die on me. Air cartidge gave out and left me setting 4" lower in the front with no suspension. Not much fun going through switchbacks and rock gardens that way. Well on top of that my new ISIS bottom bracket started creaking. This is the 4th ISIS bb I've had in two years. Honestly I'm just tired of dealing with them. I figured I might as well go ahead and bite the bullet and order a new FSA carbon crankset with outboard bearings. Hopefully I'm done for a while now and Murphy will just leave me the hell alone for awhile!!!

Oh yeah, also snapped my chain yesterday. That chain made it a whole 118 miles and 4 races. Not exactly the longest I have kept a chain but at least it didn't break during a race, same goes for the fork I guess.

not a bad idea, but I've decided to save up for a new bike instead. One bike for streets and one for trails.

Sounds like a good plan to me. I have never regretted buying my road bike. It is a great way to train. Not to mention it really saves the mountain bike tires.