Mountain Biking - Wheelset time is here

Hey everybody,

All the info I can find on the wheelset of my 2002 Trek 4500 is the following:

Matrix 750 Rims
Shimano RM40-8 Rear
Alloy Front Hub
14G Stainless

I don't have enough money and I don't think I ride aggressive enough to buy a Mavic Crossmax wheelset. My question is:

In your humble opinion, would a Mavic Crossroc wheelset be a worthwhile upgrade, compared to my stock wheelset now? The other day on my local trail I wrecked, carving my initials into a massive tree with my stock front wheel. Afterwards, the rim would scrub against the brake pad once every rotation indicating a warped wheel. I took it to the bike shop to have it adjusted out if possible but the wheel still has visible wobble when it's spun. I'm looking at potential stronger wheelsets now. I weigh about 155 lbs. Any suggestions? The Mavic Crossroc UST wheelset at pricepoint ($229.00) is right at my price range.

The crossroc is a good wheelset, but I think you can get a better wheel than that for the price.

So, how often do you plan to take on a tree?:p

I would say purchase an inexpensive rim to get you by and save up some money and have a wheel set built for you. If you do decide to go this route I would suggest Chrisking ISO hubs, Mavic 317 rims laced with DT Swiss or Wheel Smith 15g spokes.
I recomend the 317 rims because they are light but they can handle some abuse. My wife has them on her bike and every now and then I will ride her bike and the rims have held up well. I am pushing 265lbs. So I think 155 should not be a prob.

Unless you want to go tubless. I have not ridden any tubless wheels yet so some one else who has could answer you on that one.

lol I don't plan to compete head on against trees anywhere in the near future. I priced Chris King hubs and the things alone cost 3/4 of the total cost of my bike!! On the other hand that wheelset could be transferred to a newer bike whenever I upgrade.

If I were to get an "inexpensive rim to get me by", would that mean that my lbs would have to take apart and rebuild my wheel for me? If so, isn't the labor for that kind of job around $60-80?

Edit: What exactly does ISO/Hayes specific mean?

ISO means International Standards Organization. Meaning standard mounting I'm assuming.
I've had a set of Crossrocs on my NRS2 for 2 years now with no problems. You might want to check on which hubs are on them though. Mine came with Formula hubs. The front is fine but the rear Formula hubs suck. The next year after I got mine, they switched to XT hubs. I would ask, or maybe the specs on Pricepoint might even say which hubs are used.

I have had great luck with a little known brand of wheel called equation. They are diamondback's in house brand. Mine are the x16 race, they are almost identical to the mavic crossride (I think thats the one), they are a 32 hole radially laced front and non drive rear with a 3 cross on the drive side. The best part about them is the bearings, they are cartridge style, so they can be replaced. After a year of hard riding the only problem I have had is a few fatigued spokes, which was mostly my fault. They run about $320 for the whole set. The only downside is the spokes are straight pull, so they can be a little difficult to get replacements for, and you can only get them at a diamondback/raleigh dealer. Quality is awesome for the money though.

Originally posted by Dirtgrinder
You might want to check on which hubs are on them though. Mine came with Formula hubs.

Pricepoint states they have "Mavic Cartridge Bearing Hubs". The picture pricepoint uses is the exact same picture that the mavic website has for the 2003 Crossroc wheelset.

I was thinking about getting some Crossrocs as well. Nothing I hate more than pinch flats and I think it would be great to be able and run a little bit lower pressures, especially in the winter snow. Tubeless roll a little faster too. Don't Mavic tubeless wheelsets have to be sent back to Mavic though if they are damaged, atleast thats what I remember hearing. I think having your LBS fix/repair them voids the warranty or something like that. (I am not positive about this but I thought when I was looking at them a few months back someone mentioned this, PLEASE correct me if I am wrong I don't want to be misleading.) If that is true you may want to have another spare wheelset laying around incase they ever have to be sent to Mavic and then you wouldn't have anything to ride on :( . Swing by MTBreview.com, they have a bunch of reviews on the crossmax (too expensive for my blood) and the Crossrocs. I forgot to mention tubeless wheels look extra spiffy .:lol:

I would like to know if the crossrocs will be as strong or stronger than my current stock Trek 4500 wheelset. Can anyone offer any insight into this?? I posted the specs of the wheelset in the first post.

I've gotta recommend notubes.com yet again :) A simple rim strip will make your wheelset tubeless...and if you use their sealant you can kiss punctures goodbye.


http://www.notubes.com/images/enlarge/after.jpg

Still rolling!

Mavic wheels in general are not designed to be servicable at your LBS. It depends on what needs to be done, obviously. One major drawback of tubeless tires is that they require the use of an air compressor to properly seat the tire initially. Not everyone has access to this, and if you have a flat you just put a tube back in. For me (IMHO, obviously) the benefits of a tubeless stystem are not sufficient to outweigh the drawbacks just yet. As was mentioned above, the Equation wheels are a solid bet at a ridiculously low price. Otherwise, Sun Ringle has some killer wheelsets as well. www.sunringle.com

I carry a C02 inflator with me. Quicker and easier to seat the tires.

I've re-seated my tubeless tires with a mini-pump several times with no problem. Of course, flats are not as common with tubeless either. They seem to leak much more slowly than tubes. I noticed my tire losing air last Fall quicker than normal, and when I checked it, there were 11 holes in it. It would still hold enough air to ride for two days. (Kenda Kharissma)

How do you like the Kharismas?

Anybody have any thoughts on these wheels?? They're not too expensive and look pretty cool. Shimano seems to back them pretty well, but then again of course they'll back them if they're trying to sell them.

2003 Shimano WH-M540 Non-Disc Wheelset (http://bike.shimano.com/Wheels/Wheels_-_Mountain/componenttemplate.asp?partnumber=WH-M540)

Keep in mind I'll be using V-brakes so I can't go for a disc-specific wheelset here.

I'm guessing the WH-M535 was last year's model, and on mtbr.com they got pretty good reviews.....the only negative ones were weight issues but I'm looking for strength, not weight savings. I pretty much only do XC riding on the trails around here.....no hucking or freeriding as of yet. They're priced good also. $270 for the wheelset and that's almost exactly my budget. I can go no higher than $300.

Originally posted by Jim311
How do you like the Kharismas?
They are a little harder compound than the Hutchinson Pythons, so they don't corner quite as well, but they are really an all-around good tire. Take a lot of abuse and wear pretty well. Don't cut easily at all. My first few Pythons cut like crazy. I sent two of them to Hutchinson and they sent me two new ones. The new ones were the Tech+ tubeless. They seemed to wear a lot better than the original ones.

what about mavic 517s and lx or xt hubs? I think you can get them built for around $200-250.

Originally posted by Dirtgrinder
They are a little harder compound than the Hutchinson Pythons, so they don't corner quite as well, but they are really an all-around good tire. Take a lot of abuse and wear pretty well. Don't cut easily at all. My first few Pythons cut like crazy. I sent two of them to Hutchinson and they sent me two new ones. The new ones were the Tech+ tubeless. They seemed to wear a lot better than the original ones.


To the Kharismas roll fast? I want something that corners pretty well, and is fast in the hardpack. But I don't want something REALLY narrow because I ride in loose sand occaisionally.

Originally posted by Ktulu
what about mavic 517s and lx or xt hubs? I think you can get them built for around $200-250.

Would anyone recommend this setup compared to Mavic Crossrocs or the Shimano wheelset I linked to earlier?

I think they roll pretty fast but don't have a lot to compare them with. They measure 2-1/8" at the widest point. Here's a close-up pic of the tread pattern in case you haven't seen them.

Gel, I would go with the Shimanos (if you're not interested in the Suns :p) We have a guy that comes into our shop, he used to break spokes left and right and his wheels were constantly out of true otherwise. He got the 535's and I don't think we have even had to true them since. They're definitely not light but they do hold up better than most any other wheels I've seen.

Originally posted by Waldo
Gel, I would go with the Shimanos (if you're not interested in the Suns :p) We have a guy that comes into our shop, he used to break spokes left and right and his wheels were constantly out of true otherwise. He got the 535's and I don't think we have even had to true them since. They're definitely not light but they do hold up better than most any other wheels I've seen.

Wow, sounds like a good wheelset. The 540's are supposedly lighter and stronger, too. Thanks for the info Waldo.

You bet. If the 540's are lighter I'd say they'd be a great bet (haven't read through all the new Shimano info we got so I'll take your word for it). Now that I think of it we've got at least 2 other guys riding the 535's with no problems as well.

For the 540's the tire size can be 26 x 1.5 to 2.25

Could I squeeze a Panaracer Fire DH Pro on there (the DH model measures in at 2.3)?? Or are tire size requirements unbreakable rules...

Personally I haven't tried it but I think a buddy was running 2.3's on his set. It's pretty darn close and I would imagine the folks at Shimano are smart enough to realize that someone's probably going to try to push the limits so they give a conservative size range.

Originally posted by Waldo
Personally I haven't tried it but I think a buddy was running 2.3's on his set. It's pretty darn close and I would imagine the folks at Shimano are smart enough to realize that someone's probably going to try to push the limits so they give a conservative size range.

Good to hear. I think I'm gonna go with the 540's and some panaracer fire dh pro's. Can't wait to get em on!

Good deal, let me know how that setup works for you.

my wheels are Mavic X3.1UST laced to M965XTR disc hubs by DTswiss Revolution Black spokes. A light strong wheelset which is suitable for my kind of riding (XC Racing)
They're serviceable by myself or my LBS, I can get spares for them almost anywhere, They're tubeless and roll very fast. The tyres don't leak,(i use Stan's Latex mix) heck I even had a pair of Hutchinson Airlight Pythons on them before i fitted the Michelin Wildgrippers.

I think you should get a good set of wheels hand built for you. Try Wrenchscience.
My receommendation on your budget would be the X317 laced to Shimano DeoreXT hubs (disc if you like) or if you only plan on going to disc brakes later, get the disc hubs anyway and use the Mavic X517 rim. They're light strong and servicable.

Also read the reviews on the Crossroc at <http://www.mtbr.com>
They mostly complain about the hubs.
Good cup and cone hubs can't be beat for value

TimB, got the best advice yet! (IMO), get a decent set of disc hubs professionally hand built to a pair of Mavic rims (your choice), I like the D521's for myself, as they are a bit burlier (stronger) but still accept rim brakes. They're not as big as the D321's, but not as light as the X317's. For what you've described, you can't go wrong with the X517's.

Get them laced by someone who knows what they're doing. If you go mail-order, get them handbuilt vs. machine built.

L8R

I just got some hand built Mavic X517 ceramic (black) rims on XTR hubs with Wheelsmith 14/15 spokes and some nice nipples (dont remember what brand) for $300. I don't really know if I got a good deal or not but the wheels are nice.