|   WHEELS! | chaotic mess
Dec 17, 2003 2:49 PM | | I really need some opinions on good light rims for racing this year. I will only use them for XC races and can only afford $200-250. Any recommendations? What do you guys use? |
| XT Disc hubs with Bontrager Mustang rims | pimpbot
Dec 19, 2003 12:13 AM | | I got my wheels for X-mas last year. XT disc hubs, Bonti Mustang rims, DT Double butted spokes and Wheelsmith alloy nipples. All built up for $215 from Universalcycles.com.
The rims are super light considering how strong they are. I'm 205# and they stay straight for me. IIRC, the rims come in around 415 grams each. You won't find any rims much lighter than that. You can find uber light stuff in the 370 gram range, but not for the price you wanna spend. I also wonder how durable they are in that range.
The hubs are a bit on the portly side, but rotating mass at the hum is practically static weight. At least they are pretty dang bulletproof and cheap. |
| upgrade | thebronze
Dec 19, 2003 6:42 PM | | I'd stay away from bonti/shimano combos. I just taco'd a mustang rim and the hub began to seize after 3 months dry use. Alot of people love bonty wheels, and I did get a whole season out of them but I'm not happy with bontrager right now.
If you look around you should be able to find some american classic mavic combos for that kind of money. If you can build your own, universal has american classic hubs for $150 a pair, which is really cheap. You can find some rims on ebay if you need to keep it economical. I think jenson may even have hope xc's with mavic 517/519 for $250 or so.
Try to consider how often you ride and how much you can spend. If you ride more than 3-4x a week, cheaper things will wear out quickly. If you are a once a week guy than you can get more life out of the cheap stuff. I've found this out the hard way. This year I have gone through a lot of equipment. Wheels are also the best upgrade you can get, and a good set can easily last you 5 years, so spend a little extra if you can. |
| Wow.... | pimpbot
Dec 22, 2003 6:59 PM | | I've never heard of anybody trashing an XT hub. They do come from Shimano to the builders without any grease in them. I would imagine that they would seize up if the knucklehead wheelbuilder forgot to grease them and/or misadjusted the bearings. I even got an x223 Mavic on a Deore disc hub at a swap meet for free that was seized. It looked like the guy didn't know how to adjust bearings. I just put in new ball bearings and cones and it was good as new. The bearing races were flawless. they coat them with some super hard plating of some kind. Heh, $12 in parts for a new spare wheel? Hell yeah!
And usually the cheap stuff lasts just as long. I have a couple of thousand miles on the cruddy wheelset that came on my Giant Yukon without hardly any service. They just weigh a ton and won't stay straight with my clyde-ass on a Chineese made machine built wheel doing technical mountain stuff. The downside of cheap stuff is generally that it weighs a ton.
I beat the living tar out of my bontis on XT hubs and they stay straight... at least they do after I upped the spoke tension a bit. I've almost got the 'Rock Walk' mastered on my mt bike. and I weigh 205# on weight weenie-ish rims!
So far, I got a bazillion hard miles on mine, and they hold up. |
| sorry to hijack this thread but need xt hub info... | pilau ahi
Dec 23, 2003 11:43 AM | | and don't know which board to post on.
When I built up my SL, I used the singletrack/xt disc combo and when I let it freewheel, the cassette looks like it is wobbling. Anyone experience this before?
Btw, I used an SRAM cassette. TIA for any help.
stinky |
| The wobbling is pretty normal... | næstep
Dec 23, 2003 1:29 PM | | ...to some degree, anyway. If it's excessive, you might have a problem, but if the cassette is tight and the freewheel spins (and sounds) ok, you're likely good to go.
I usually get a tiny bit of "up and down" play (off center) and a small, small amount of wobble (off axis).
You working or what?
næstep |
| The wobbling is pretty normal... | pilau ahi
Dec 23, 2003 1:57 PM | | Hi Nate, yup. Hope they let us out early. We hit St. Jo's trail yesterday. Will hit SC tomorrow with some dudes from performance.
How bout you? Taking the furlough?
btw, thanks for clarifying that it is normal. Happy Holidays to you and your family. |
| Nice. How are your trails holding up with the rain? | næstep
Dec 23, 2003 2:46 PM | | And how's the new bike working out?
I'm gonna work through it, plus pick up some OT on New Year's Eve. New position I'm kinda staying busy with. Holidays are working out to be the perfect time to get up to speed. Email me sometime and I'll tell you about it.
næstep |
| St. Jo's seem to be holding up great. Not sure on Sta Teresa... | pilau ahi
Dec 24, 2003 7:21 AM | | I used the SL for the first time Monday. So far, it felt great. I saw a post by Fred on some guidelines in sizing. I think I made a mistake buying the SL, will try his guidelines later when we hit up a trail in Fremont this morning.
I should've listened to you Nate. Btw, congrats on the new position.
stinky emailin ya. |
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