Wheely good advice....

[simcfarlane]

Need to pick your collective brains....

I have a '97 Pine mountain. Someone has swapped the original wheels with cheap, nasty replacements. Should have Mavic 221 on White Industries up front & Shimano "Silent Clutch" on the rear.

I mainly do XC riding.. so want something light relatively strong - and not too expensive! Not adverse to some heavy winter mud.

Don't mind building my own wheels - I've re-laced some Araya's with parallax hubs \ stainless spokes.

What do ya think I should go for?

 

[stevet1]

Re:

Hope xc on Mavic 618 was my favourite xc type wheelset.

 

[petitpal]

I used to (and still do) like Mavic 217SUPs. Nice, lightweight XC rim but quite tough.

 

[Remko]

I used to (and still do) like Mavic 217SUPs. Nice, lightweight XC rim but quite tough.

I must say I've not yet seen a 217 / 517 rim with zero cracks between the holes. Maybe I was just unlucky but my feeling is that they crack easily. Cracks start small and thin but get worse quickly.

 

[simcfarlane]

Re:

I have Richey Rock Comp OCR with STX-RC on one of my my CX bike.

They seem to hold up well.

Is there really much difference between STC-RC & XT hubs? Seems to be a lot of Deore LX about.

 

[petitpal]

I used to (and still do) like Mavic 217SUPs. Nice, lightweight XC rim but quite tough.

I must say I've not yet seen a 217 / 517 rim with zero cracks between the holes. Maybe I was just unlucky but my feeling is that they crack easily. Cracks start small and thin but get worse quickly.

Weirdly I don't think any of mine have ever cracked (still ride them on my Zaskar and have a couple of rims spare). Maybr I've just heen lucky.

 

[hamster]

Definitely Mavic were bad in the mid-90s. I certainly cracked some older 217s. The problem was solved largely later.

Personally I'd look for some Rigida / Ryde wheels from Spa Cycles. They have an excellent reputation in the touring community.