Mountain Biking - Wheelset suggestion?

My rear wheel's about had it. I'm in the market for a new wheelset but I want something that's good looking and aerodynamic (I do quite a bit of road biking on my MTB).

Has anyone had experience with Shimano wheels? I was looking at these ... but the price is a little high.

http://www.nashbar.com/nashbar_photos/medium/SH-WHM540.gif

Or I might go with something considerably cheaper, like the Mavic X517 w/ XT Hub wheelset. I'm not sure. I commute about 16-18 miles a day on weekdays, and I do about 10 miles of XC riding on weekends.

http://pricepoint.com/media/Wheelset_XT_Mavic517.jpg

For us to better understand what you want take the cycling component test, this test will work with anything related to a bike...

Pick the 2 that are most important to you:
-light
-strong
-inexpensive

-Middi-zon

How about these Gipiemme MX-Tremes?

http://www.nashbar.com/nashbar_photos/medium/GP-MXT.gif

Originally posted by Middi-zon
For us to better understand what you want take the cycling component test, this test will work with anything related to a bike...

Pick the 2 that are most important to you:
-light
-strong
-inexpensive

-Middi-zon


Light and inexpensive.

I'd go with a mavic rim and a shimano hub, light, traditional, on the cheap side. Shimano's history with wheels have been a bit spotty, some years good, some bad. I'm a big fan of Mavic (I don't really know why, on my first race I won a Mavic hat, the next day I went and got new Mavics).

-Middi-zon

I know I've asked this question before. I just wasn't sure what I really needed. Now that I have a better idea of what I use my bike for (and what my budget is), I'm positive about getting a set. I've given the Mavics a lot of thought, and they'll be the most likely set I get, despite the high spoke count ... maybe there's a different way to build them? :confused: I like the performance of the XT hubs (I have a front one) but I haven't had any experience with anything else other than the XT and STX-RC hubs. The Mavics I have are cracking (which is the reason why I'm so reluctant to buy more), but they are the lowest model X138 series.

I like the slim look of the Mavics, so the Sun Rhyno Lites are pretty much out of the question.

Go with the X517 rims on XT hubs, their incredibly light and accelerate really fast. If not, look for a set of 24/28 spoke wheels, they look cool with a radial laced front wheel.

Not a big fan of low spoke count wheels. Why? In order to make the wheels strong, they have to beef up the rim. Weight at the rim is worse than a lighter rim, but with equal total weight. Why? Rotational Mass. A lighter rim will "Feel" lighter even if the total weight is the same, or even more.

Plus, trueing low spoke count wheels can be a beech, and especially the Shimano's, the spokes cross sides and you have to think totally backwards. Plus, your stuck in the whole, "Now you HAVE to use Shimano hubs or rims for replacement" issue that I won't go into again.

Get the Mavic's with the XT hubs. That way, you can build a solid, reasonably light, very strong, affordable wheel.

BTW, I've got some Profile Racing hubs for sale. Super strong, very smooth and top top top quality.

L8R

Go with an atom labs aircorps.

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I think I will go with the Mavics after all, like you guys suggested (sorry, danka24 but I don't know where I can get those wheels). :)

You don't need to get Rhyno Lites if you're getting Suns. Their zero degree XC rim is awesome, and the new UFO looks pretty nice as well. I've got 3 sets of 0 degree XC rims and they've all held up great. The Ringle hubs are great too-easy to service and durable (2 sets of those).

The only Sun Ringles that I can find in the immediate area (I don't want to order online--pay shipping) are the Rhyno Lites. But if I do see different Suns :p I'll certainly look into it.

http://www.atomlab.com/

Chi, any shop will be able to order up any Sun rims or wheelsets. If they're not officially a dealer they will make essentially no money on it so they might not be tremendously eager to sell them to you, but they can be had.

One thing that does strike me about the Shimano wheels in your first post, and their road cousins too, is that there are only four tangentially-laced "pulling" spokes in the rear wheel.

I know Shimano tests the darn things, but it's still hard to imagine putting nearly all the power through just four spokes and having it hold up well. Rev. Chuck mentioned that the road wheels are holding up well in real life for his customers, however, and that's the acid test.

Should I get silver or black?

http://www.jensonusa.com/product/50/XTBKM517.JPG

Originally posted by Chi
The only Sun Ringles that I can find in the immediate area (I don't want to order online--pay shipping) are the Rhyno Lites. But if I do see different Suns :p I'll certainly look into it. I'm very happy with my Rhynolites and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.

Originally posted by Waldo
You don't need to get Rhyno Lites if you're getting Suns. Their zero degree XC rim is awesome, and the new UFO looks pretty nice as well. I've got 3 sets of 0 degree XC rims and they've all held up great. The Ringle hubs are great too-easy to service and durable (2 sets of those).

I'll second the nomination of the 0-degree XCs. I'm quite happy with mine and will probably replace them with similar Sun rims. I'm currently using XTR hubs which seem to work pretty well for my riding but then again I've never serviced them myself.

Originally posted by a2psyklnut
Not a big fan of low spoke count wheels. Why? In order to make the wheels strong, they have to beef up the rim. Weight at the rim is worse than a lighter rim, but with equal total weight. Why? Rotational Mass. A lighter rim will "Feel" lighter even if the total weight is the same, or even more.

I'm always a little suspicious of low spoke count/paired spoke wheels especially for offroad applications. It's probably unfounded fear but still... On the issue of beefing up the rims, I'm not so sure that's a bad thing especially if one's running rim-brakes. It would increase the life of the rim. Then again I'm no longer racing and don't care too much about the rotational mass but I agree with the point.

Are you guys talking about the Sun Ringle RPM and RPM Lites? I found these on Cambria but I don't know any shop locally that carries them.

The 0 degree XC rim is used on the RPM wheelsets. Again, your LBS can get them. Lites have a 24 spoke front wheel and alloy freehub body; the RPM has a steel freehub body and 28 spoke front wheel.
http://www.sun-ringle.com/ShowRoom/MTB/Wheels/rpm.html
http://www.sun-ringle.com/ShowRoom/MTB/Wheels/rpmlite.html
Again, your LBS can get these for you if they don't have 'em in stock-don't let them tell you they can't because they're not a dealer.
http://www.sun-ringle.com/states/california.html

I like these! :D

http://www.sun-ringle.com/ShowRoom/MTB/Wheels/images/rpmlite.jpg

Ok, it was really difficult finding those Suns, and if I did, they had to be custom made, which meant that the price went beyond my budget ($300+). I settled on some really nice Mavic X517 w/ XT hubs instead. They look very nice, very shiny rim there, and even though they weigh about the same as my old X138s, at least they're not cracked. I got them at PerformanceBike for about $205 - 10%.

I will probably try to clean out the old rear STX-RC hub, get a new rim, and rebuild the wheel myself. Good for learning and practice. :D I'll probably drop by here and ask some questions about that process, I'm sure.

Thanks everyone for your help and input!!

Chi, I reccommend going with something "standard" as a2 has said, low spoke count wheels are a beatch to true, as I have found radial laced wheels are too.
My specialized has a radial laced front wheel and it requires truing much more than the other wheels I have had.

The XT / 517 set up is pretty standard, and a good quality wheel.
Those wheels are better quality than what most stock wheels are on decent bikes.

Scoob

Thanks for the advice, Scooby. I was reading up on wheelbuilding in the Barnett's Manual and I got the idea that a 32 spoke wheel is the best balance between durability and performance. That, and some double butted 2.0 or 1.8 mm spokes. I'm very glad i got these wheels :) and not the radial lacing ones, even though they do look nicer. With the riding I do, and my laziness, I don't think I'll be a happy biker if they rub the brakes all the time. :mad: