What wheels you running?

[ATXZJ]

23 minutes ago, Chongo Loco said:

I was reading a bunch of posts on SC owners' Farcebook page about reserves recently.  There's always a bunch of knuckle draggers that break everything and piss and moan about speed of warranty claims, but the general consensus was they stand up to the warranty without question on the reserves, and most were riding within a week.  This was even on overseas posts.  Pretty impressive.  Just can't justify the expense on the wheels yet.  I eventually break frames not wheels. 😞 I found on frames it's the shop not SC that makes the difference. BSS did great on mine.

If I were to do carbon again, santa cruz would be my first choice.

 

[TheX]

I would have needed carbon the way I rode 20 years ago. Now that I'm 60 and have left over damage from too much stuff, I ride an XC bike and the Stans work well for me.

[AustinBike]

I am the same way in my 50's, though I am not sure that I would ever have been a "wheel breaker" with my riding style. For me the biggest challenge was wheels eventually coming out of true. Because of the size of tires these days, rim strikes are less likely. 

In my mind the best combo has been Chris King hubs, DT Swiss spokes, and Stan's rims. But if I had to build new wheels I'd probably opt for DT Swiss hubs because they are almost as tough at a fraction of the price.

Is anyone else finding that trashed wheel rims are going the same way of broken frames? It seems like the old days of biking saw a broken frame and dozens of trashed wheels each month. Perhaps the manufacturers are getting better at building for our conditions.

[JRA]

 Stan's rims+DT comps+quality hub of choice(not Stan's). Cheap and easy to source parts to fix if you break a spoke or ding a rim. No specialty spokes or nipples to order and wait for.

1 hour ago, AustinBike said:

 

In my mind the best combo has been Chris King hubs, DT Swiss spokes, and Stan's rims. But if I had to build new wheels I'd probably opt for DT Swiss hubs because they are almost as tough at a fraction of the price.

 

[AustinBike]

2 hours ago, JRA said:

 Stan's rims+DT comps+quality hub of choice(not Stan's). Cheap and easy to source parts to fix if you break a spoke or ding a rim. No specialty spokes or nipples to order and wait for.

 

Yep, that is what always kept me away from I9 and other fancy "better" wheels. To me better is about how quickly can I change a spoke and be back on the trail.

[notyal]

4 hours ago, AustinBike said:

Because of the size of tires these days, rim strikes are less likely. 

I'm always pushing the lower limit of tire pressure. Larger tires for me just means lower pressure and the same amount of rim strikes.

[Teamsloan]

How often do you guys break spokes? I think I haven't broken one in...7 years?

Then again, my wheels have always had specialty spoke nipples due to both Mavic's UST rims with their FORE spoke holes and DT's use of squorx nipples and washers on their rims. Both of those rims were more of a pain to lace up, but they were bomb proof.

Especially if the fancy spokes/lacing method are designed as part of a stronger wheelset, then what is the worry? Sure it's more of a pain when one does break, but if I only have to worry about that once a decade, then I think I'm okay with that. I always thought that when your wheel starts popping spokes, it meant that the whole wheel was starting to go. Replacing a spoke is only a bandaid fix.

 

[Barry]

7 minutes ago, Teamsloan said:

How often do you guys break spokes?

At least 1 every 3/4 months, sometimes more. It's a bit of a pain with my current wheels having j-bend spokes, but at least they're easy to find. 

[Haught Diggity]

21 hours ago, fontarin said:

I'll throw in a shout out for a local wheel builder/company - Solid wheels from what I've seen and I'll probably get my next set from them.

https://www.dirtcomponents.com/29-36-1mm-rc-1

 

I have a set of carbon 29ers on my Tallboy, and I love my Dirt wheels!

[AustinBike]

1 hour ago, Teamsloan said:

How often do you guys break spokes? I think I haven't broken one in...7 years?

 

 

About once every 2-3 years. But if I don't replace the broken spoke immediately I will end up breaking additional ones. Every time you replace a spoke you need to check the tension on all of the remaining spokes.

[Cafeend]

At least 1 every 3/4 months, sometimes more. It's a bit of a pain with my current wheels having j-bend spokes, but at least they're easy to find. 

But you ride in another dimension of awesome

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

[Tree Magnet]

How often do you guys break spokes?

I’ve broken 3 spokes on 4 bikes in 10+ years including multiple DH trips, greenbelt, Emma, Moab, etc. I’m with Brian, it has never been a problem for me. When I broke them it was because I did something stupid like hit a stick or something.


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[AntonioGG]

I broke 2 on the same wheel which happened to have different size spokes in some spots, and the tension was all wrong.  I replaced all the wrong spokes with correct ones and I haven't had a failure since.

[Bamwa]

On 9/19/2019 at 1:56 PM, mack_turtle said:

Crests are generally considered super-light XC race wheels for lightweight riders. I'm 160 pounds and I dented the hell of a rear Crest is short order riding in Georgia, which is much less rocky. YMMV and all that, but most people riding CenTex terrain would be wise to avoid them in favor of something wider, stiffer, and stronger. 

Considering I'm 190 and raced these on rocky ledgy ass TMBRA circuit, sounds like rider error. (Hardtail things?) They are rated up to 190lbs and I'm that plus or minus 5lbs plus gear. Sure I got a ding once but it straightened with a little coaxing and pliers. I also splash in creeks and do deep water challenges and the hubs have never missed a beat yet. Bonus : They are quiet.

[throet]

20 hours ago, Teamsloan said:

How often do you guys break spokes? I think I haven't broken one in...7 years?

Then again, my wheels have always had specialty spoke nipples due to both Mavic's UST rims with their FORE spoke holes and DT's use of squorx nipples and washers on their rims. Both of those rims were more of a pain to lace up, but they were bomb proof.

Especially if the fancy spokes/lacing method are designed as part of a stronger wheelset, then what is the worry? Sure it's more of a pain when one does break, but if I only have to worry about that once a decade, then I think I'm okay with that. I always thought that when your wheel starts popping spokes, it meant that the whole wheel was starting to go. Replacing a spoke is only a bandaid fix.

 

I was breaking a rear spoke every other ride at one point on my backup bike. After about the third spoke change, I just replaced the stock wheels with a set of Stan's Arch MK3s that came with Speed Tuned Super 6 2.0 hubs and DT Swiss spokes for $400 (complete set). Haven't had another spoke break in the 2 years since, although as a backup bike it gets limited duty. The new wheels were noticeably lighter than what came on the original bike.    

[Chief]

22 hours ago, Teamsloan said:

How often do you guys break spokes? I think I haven't broken one in...7 years?

Then again, my wheels have always had specialty spoke nipples due to both Mavic's UST rims with their FORE spoke holes and DT's use of squorx nipples and washers on their rims. Both of those rims were more of a pain to lace up, but they were bomb proof.

Especially if the fancy spokes/lacing method are designed as part of a stronger wheelset, then what is the worry? Sure it's more of a pain when one does break, but if I only have to worry about that once a decade, then I think I'm okay with that. I always thought that when your wheel starts popping spokes, it meant that the whole wheel was starting to go. Replacing a spoke is only a bandaid fix.

 

I've only broken two spokes on my MTB due to snagging rocks with the spokes. Recently my gravel bike has been breaking spokes for no apparent reason other than being 24h wheels. So onto another wheel build for my gravel rig. Going DT Swiss 350 straight pull 28h laced to DT RR481 hoops with comp spokes.

[mack_turtle]

4 hours ago, Bamwa said:

Considering I'm 190 and raced these on rocky ledgy ass TMBRA circuit, sounds like rider error. (Hardtail things?) They are rated up to 190lbs and I'm that plus or minus 5lbs plus gear. Sure I got a ding once but it straightened with a little coaxing and pliers. I also splash in creeks and do deep water challenges and the hubs have never missed a beat yet. Bonus : They are quiet.

Like I said, YMMV. Every single other review and experience I have heard about these is they are weight weenie rims for skinny people. Based on dozens of reviews over the years, I would not recommend them for most central Texas riders with a clean conscious.

[TheX]

I have the Crest rims on my Scalpel SI, but I'm old and injured most of the time.

[ATXZJ]

 I had some Flow MK3s built and they  were some of the softest rims I've owned. Like ENVE, never again.

[Chief]

Stans have gotten worse since the MK3's. Very soft and they have a terrible weld joint that makes getting the wheel true and round very difficult at best. DT have been the truest roundest wheels I've dealt with and the easiest to build aside from carbon hoops.

[AustinBike]

I have some Flow EX and MK3s and I like the MK3s, they have been solid. 

[ATXZJ]

1 hour ago, AustinBike said:

I have some Flow EX and MK3s and I like the MK3s, they have been solid. 

Beat the shit out of my EXs on several bikes including my old cross bike that had 38c tires on it. That cross bike spent most all of its time on MTB trails, including the brusy creek stuff with many trim strikes without any dents. Came up short on one bunnyhop and my brand new MK3s looked like this. 

The 2.35 EVO racing ralph tire was completely fine, thats how soft those MK3 hoops are.

 

 

 

Edited September 21, 2019 by ATXZJ

[Bart]

I was looking at those MK3 hoops with I9 Hydra hubs and DT butted spokes for around $1200 on wheelbuilder.com. Not bad for a 1500gr wheelset. Plus I can run these on my CX bike.