Ed -

I've been beating on an 819 for about a year not, and an Arch for maybe six months, both rears. Both have needed a couple little tweaks here and there, courtesy my sometimes riding like a bowling ball. Just recently have an Arch front/rear setup going on the Reign-X, but only have a few rides on them so far. Not a lot of time, but I've not been treating them with kid gloves.

All the built up wheel weights came within 100gms of one another, so the weight really isn't as bag an issue - it's the tire you end up with that'll make the difference. They all, tape or no, sealed up super easy with a regular UST tire - didn't even need goop, though I've added some anyhow to help with pointy things. The front of the Flow wheelset is running a non-UST DHF 2.5 3C EXO and it sealed up super easy with a little goop, and has been trouble free so far.

819 - more of a pain building with the fiddly little nipple holder thingies, but not rim strip required.


Arch/Flow - easy to build, but needs the strip. No eyelets. May or may not make a difference in the overall longevity of the build.

No experience with the EX models, since they are newer, but can't imagine them being much different other than the width. Hell, see if you can find a deal on the older Flow rims - since the new ones are out, places are blowing them out here and there from what I hear. Go for whichever you can get a decent deal on.