davidmikesell

I finally picked up my Salsa El Mariachi frame, after years of waiting. Now I need help deciding on wheels and a fork!

I ride a lot of XC, and plan to do a fair amount of bikepacking and dirt touring. I have my eyes set on the colorado trail one day as well.
Here are the parts I have already
-salsa el mariachi frame
-year old SLX groupset
-brand new XT brakes
-seatpost, bars, stem, blah blah

Anyway, I have my eye on a few wheelsets and forks, and was wanting opinions on which ones would pull the best double duty as xc and bikepacking gear.

I've decided on a stan's arch rim, but need help with the hub. It would be easiest to get the wheelset as it comes with stan's hubs, but it don't know how durable these are. I would love to get 240s or of course chris king hubs, but these run expensive. So i guess i'm wondering what a dt 240 would get me over the stock stan's hub. More durability? Better bearings? Enlighten me!

Also, forks. I've only ever ridden a rigid mtb, or very very terrible boat anchor sus forks. i'm open to a rigid carbon fork, but want to try out a nicer, non terrible sus fork. I guess i'm between the rockshox reba RLT and some form of the Fox 32 float 29. Basically, my only qualifications are, 100 mm travel, and a non sucky fork. I've heard bad things about the fox fork, but have never had ride time on one. Thanks for the info, if you have any!

garciawork

Personally, from experience, I would not buy a complete Stan's wheelset. I LOVE his stuff, but boy do his wheels need a lot of truing. I have run an Arch with XTR hubs, no issues there.

As for the fork, I LOVE Niner carbon forks, and since I have moved to 29er's, I haven't found much need for suspension. On my Lynskey Helix Lefty, I have it locked out most of the time anyway... My buddy has a Seven Sola with a Niner fork, I borrow that whenever I can!

davidmikesell

Any info on forks? How's the lock out on the fox vs the rock shox? Which one is more rigid?

garciawork

I am not the most knowledgeable about stiffness, as I am pretty light and rarely notice flex, but I have ALWAYS had better luck with Fox over Rockshox in terms of durability and lockout function. My last Reba died while in lockout actually, and I have since avoided them.

RIC0

I'm in the process of building a Santa Cruz Tallboy 29er right now, my choices are below.

Stans Arch rims, Hope hubs and DT Swiss double butted spokes, being built by local shop. Ran this with mavic 717 rims on my 26 for almost 8 years needed to be trued 2 times with thousands of miles on them.

2014 Fox Evolution 100mm CTD with remote for both fork and rear Shock. CTD stuff is the cats meow.