Originally Posted by
JasonJ
The Hope's would be nice. I'm actually toying around with building them myself, after I build a set of rim brake, "road only" 26" wheels for my wife's MTB. I'm just not sure I want to be my own guinea pig for XC riding.

JJ
if you are patient and mechanically inclined and ask for help here i highly recommend you do it yourself.
my first wheel actually came out perfect and is as good as subsequent builds. i wouldn't hesitate to do your first build on yours. myself or others will double check your spoke length calculation for you. i recommend supercomp dtswiss with aluminum nipples.
i would also recommend the cheap park tensiometer, i thought it was a great help at any rate. i can also summarize some other tips so you don't have to search the net for them