I have now (finally..) got pretty much all the stuff together to finish off my SS Inbred 29er. The only remaining thing to purchase is the wheelset. After quite a bit of looking around 'Just Riding Along' seem to be a reasonable choice. I've been thinking about XT hubs (budget won't stretch to Pro 2's unfortunately) with Sapim spokes and brass nipples. I was thinking of Stans rims but wasn't sure which to go for, am I right in understanding the in terms of robustness and strength it goes Crest then Arch then Flow? Being all roughly the same price I want to go for the one that is the minimum weight while still been strong enough to cope with trail and bikepacking use.. Any ideas which would be most appropriate? Additional info.. I'm about 70kg kitted up, then perhaps a max of another 10kg with full bikepacking kit inc food and water. The bike is rigid I want to use it for trail riding too. I'd probably go for 32 spokes per end.. What would you suggest to be the best choice? Or is there anything else I.could consider? I don't want to spend much more than £250. Sorry this rambles a bit.. Ta Jack

Crests will be fine.
I'm closer to 90 kgs and run crests for bikepacking duties. In 2 years I've put a small Pringle in the front(stacked it) which straightened out no problem and the rear needed a minor tweak about a month ago.
I'd buy crest again without a doubt.

I'm not a fan of cup&cone bearings (i.e. most Shimano hubs). Arguments rage back and forth and that's best left to STW (IMO). I just like hubs that run cartridge bearings as they're a no brainers in terms of maintenance and replacement.

Superstar are/were doing 29er wheels for £200. The set I've got haven't had any problems though some folks claim reliability issues. I think this may have been an issue but is less so nowadays.

Not sure what rims and spoke patterns they do.

Update
Just had to replace the bearings in a Superstar hubs after 2 yrs (on a flow rim)
Same bearings as Hope use on Pro 2's, so easy availbaility. Got uprated ones from BETD Goldtech
No other problems to report

I've got 2 sets of Superstar 29" wheels, one pair running their older rims and a pair with the new XCX rims. At £130 the pair you really can't go wrong. The older pair have had bearings changed once but have had some real hammer, neither pair have needed truing.

As CM says they're knocking out Stans sets for £200 at the moment too.

Been beating the S**t out of a set of Crests this year, bikepacking, racing and general training - reckon I've done 1600 miles on them since March and they've yet to step out of true.... Would definitely go for them again plus they're the easiest rims i've ever had to set up tubeless

These any good to you.... http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/WPS ... dium=email

I've got two pairs of the Superstar Crests and would hesitate to buy them if necessary. Flows are/were the same price and not that much heavier if you want more durability.

I'm fairly sure I'll be going for the Crests now after plenty of browsing and looking today. I'll take the weight saving over the extra durability of the Flows as this bike ought to see light-ish use (in terms of terrain and bashing), I've got the 26" hardtail for doing rougher stuff. And I'm keen for this to be a reasonably light build. Thanks for the input all. Now I have to decide whether to use Superstar or Just Riding Along.. You can get 29er Crest with Sapim spokes and the Switch Evo Hub for £244 using the Superstar Custom Wheel Builder or 29er Crest with Sapim spokes and XT hubs from Just Riding Along for about £250. What would be your recommendations, do I go with Cartridge Bearings from SS or Shimano Cup and Cone? I'm not overly fussed about maintenance and greasing the Shimano ones and I've heard all the STW tales of woe about Superstar service and relability (taken with a pinch of salt) so I'm a little cautious of them..

(Just to point out I know that you can get the Superstar £200 deal on Stans but unfortunately they only do white 29er rims which I'm not at all keen on, just to be picky..)

Ta

Merlin are doing Stans Arch (black) on Shimano hubs (not XT though) for much cheapness*.

http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/w ... -rims.html

*I know it's not actually what you're after but they are silly cheap.

johnnystorm wrote:I've got two pairs of the Superstar Crests and would hesitate to buy them if necessary. Flows are/were the same price and not that much heavier if you want more durability.

That should read "wouldn't hesitate" to buy again!

This is what I would get
http://www.bikeoutlet.co.uk/products/Ho ... 74-73.html

At £260 you can't go wrong

Actually, I'd go for Flows, or wider. They are heavier, but on a rigid bike efficiency and overall weight is good as it is. What you may come to love (I have) is the bigger rims and tyre's float at lower pressures - a real bonus when you're tired or slogging over rough ground when loaded up, more so than the ~200g saved I think. Hard to prove/quantify, but the reduced jarring from 2.4" tyres at 20-25psi on a loaded bike is worth it to me when I'm done in and getting sloppy on lines or just enduring a long section of bumpy trail. Rolling resistance is certainly lower on everything bar smooth tarmac.

I honestly hate to think what my wheelset weighs. Rims are 600g each, tyres are 800-900g... I wouldn't go back to narrower rims though.

jameso wrote:What you may come to love (I have) is the bigger rims and tyre's float at lower pressures - a real bonus when you're tired or slogging over rough ground when loaded up, more so than the ~200g saved I think. Hard to prove/quantify, but the reduced jarring from 2.4" tyres at 20-25psi on a loaded bike is worth it to me when I'm done in and getting sloppy on lines or just enduring a long section of bumpy trail. Rolling resistance is certainly lower on everything bar smooth tarmac.
.

Im with Jameso on this one, got a 2.25 Nobby Nic up front and its ace.
Although with tubeless I'm finding im able to have lower pressure, 10-15psi, with no problems