due ruote 

I have these 2 sets of wheels to allocate to bikes. Wondering if one is better than the other; to me they seem pretty evenly matched. They are both 6/7 speed. One set is going to get bumped to 8 speed and go on our tandem; the other set will go on a single speed. They are both in pretty nice shape with not much brake wear.

First up: Deore LX M560 hubs laced to Specialized X23 rims. No eyelets, heat treated, stainless spokes.

Next: Deore LX M550 hubs laced to Matrix Single Track rims. Again, no eyelets, heat treated, stainless spokes.

The wheels came from an early '90s Rockhopper Comp and an early '90s Trek 950 Singletrack, respectively. As far as I know they were original equipment, but I'm not certain.

Any strong opinions as to relative quality?

jcb3

I've had good luck with matrix rims in general. Don't know about Specialized.

Suggest you pluck the spokes and see which set is more consistent in tone. This will tell you of any underlying weakness or bends in the rim

T-Mar

I know the 560 series hubs are a little lighter than the 550 series but I'm not sure on the rims. Personally, I'd be making my decision based on condition.

TenGrainBread 

This doesn't necessarily mean one wheelset is better than the other, but the Trek 950 was considered higher up in Trek's mtb line than the Rockhopper Comp was in Specialized's line.

I would simply weigh the wheelsets and compare if they are both in equal condition corrosion-wise.

Also, just about all aluminum rims need to be heat-treated (most of these are made from 6061 series aluminum, which requires heat treatment to be used), so I wouldn't use the presence of such a label to indicate quality. These are all heat treated regardless of whether they say it or not. Labeling as such is just marketing.

due ruote 

Thanks for the replies. I'll take all this into account. The 950 is going to be the SS, so there is some incentive to keep the Matrix wheels on it, but I'm not a slave to that if those are the better wheels overall. The tandem is likely to get more use and obviously has a need for stout wheels. That said, we are a fairly light team and just ride on pavement. Maybe a coin toss.