Recommendations on entire wheel build upgrade.

[BOTG]

Hello all. I am looking at getting an entire new rear wheel for all mtn 7, I am wanting something better quality with better bearings for a start. So here is a list of things I'm looking at any advice would be much appreciated.

Hope hub
Hope rear wheel
New 12 speed cassette
New chain
2x jockey wheels
New front chain ring.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Was advised the below, any thoughts?

Hope Pro 4 entire wheel.

The rest unsure.Hope the more experienced gear heads could help and where to buy from. The current tire on the bike is the one that came with it.

Cheers Andy.

 

[TR5_20]

Hope Pro 4 entire wheel.

Hi Andy,
I've been considering (and researching) this option over the past few days, so will be interested on opinions too.
Seems to be a bit of a wait for their complete wheels at the moment though.

 

[Sidepod]

Why not learn to build your own? YouTube is rammed with info.
Buy an old wheel/bike off eBay for 50p , take it apart and rebuild it. When you can do it then build the wheel you want. Come on FFS.

 

[KennyB]

This is what you need.

Wheelbuilding

A tutorial on how to choose parts for, build and true a spoked bicycle wheel

www.sheldonbrown.com

 

[BOTG]

I am not. I repeat. not.. Building a DIY wheel. I would kill my self. This is not a this is how to do it, I am wanting to buy the best gear I can on the bike to stave off shitty haibike bearings and piss poor hubs. grrr. Thanks anyway. I am not doing any more DIY.

 

[Zimmerframe]

Don't mess around with that crap.. Just buy a nice lump of aluminium and CNC the whole wheel/hub/spokes/cassette out of the single piece !

You'll get impatient making your own, cut corners .. literally ... and end up with this ..

Which would be good for simulated rock garden video's ...

 

[KennyB]

Just do a whole bike

 

[Norange]

First question, do you need to replace the cassette? At this point, 12 spd cassettes are very difficult to get - at least the mid range stuff is.

If your current cassette is OK, you need a microspline freehub. If it's not and you can't find an SLX or XT 12psd cassette anywhere, you have other options. I'm still running the old shimano HG freehubs, you can get a 12spd cassette from Sunrace to fit these but it's still nearly impossible. With an XD freehub, there seems to be at least some availability in the UK but you're buying a more expensive cassette.


In your position, I'd be visiting as many local bike shops as you can to see if someone has the bits you want. Online is hosed at the moment.

 

[Mikerb]

If I was going to go for a new rear wheel I would buy it complete...ie a built wheel with hub and freehub. I would chose a wheel that uses the Shimano HG freehub as its the easiest to maintain, I would opt for 10 or 11 speed drivetrain. I see no virtue in 12 speed or XD drivers and certainly not the Shimano microspline. If I wanted to use Shimano I would use SLX throughout, if SRAM I would use GX throughout.
Most complete wheelsets or single wheel will specify the hubs and bearings used but they are easily changed anyway. I change rear hub bearings annually ( I use Enduro Bearings). Lastly I would want a wheel/hub/freehub combo that is easy to find assembly/disassembly instructions for and to access spares. The brand I would probably chose would be DT Swiss.

 

[R120]

DtSwiss Hx1700 can’t be beaten IMO for a good value wheel for an EMTB.

As a general rule I have gone though a set of wheel bearings on most of my mountain bikes that get heavy use year round no matter what the brand of wheel - riding hard though a UK winter kills bearings and drivetrains. Good thing about DT Swiss is they are easy to get hold of.

Just given my bike it’s post winter service and replaced cassette, chain, wheel bearings, frame bearings, gear cable and outer, dropper cable plus brake pads at both ends, and would expect to do similar most years

 

[RickBullotta]

If I was going to go for a new rear wheel I would buy it complete...ie a built wheel with hub and freehub. I would chose a wheel that uses the Shimano HG freehub as its the easiest to maintain, I would opt for 10 or 11 speed drivetrain. I see no virtue in 12 speed or XD drivers and certainly not the Shimano microspline. If I wanted to use Shimano I would use SLX throughout, if SRAM I would use GX throughout.
Most complete wheelsets or single wheel will specify the hubs and bearings used but they are easily changed anyway. I change rear hub bearings annually ( I use Enduro Bearings). Lastly I would want a wheel/hub/freehub combo that is easy to find assembly/disassembly instructions for and to access spares. The brand I would probably chose would be DT Swiss.

The problem with many HG freehub bodies is that they're soft aluminum, and combined with the design of the splines they often get destroyed by eMTB torque. You can use an XD freehub and still do an 11 or 12 speed cassette that would be compatible with SRAM or Shimano drivetrains.

 

[Neverbeentomoab]

Hi boots. I’m after a set of wheels too for my e bike I’m probably going to go for a set of hope pro 4 hubs with either dt swiss xm 481 or ex 511 rims. I’ll be getting them from moonglu in ripon. Check out there website it has detailed info on different rims and hubs etc.

 

[Neverbeentomoab]

I’d go for hope jockey wheels too because I like colour matched bits and bobs.

 

[Gyre]

I am not. I repeat. not.. Building a DIY wheel. I would kill my self. This is not a this is how to do it, I am wanting to buy the best gear I can on the bike to stave off shitty haibike bearings and piss poor hubs. grrr. Thanks anyway. I am not doing any more DIY.

Okay, understood that you're not going to build this wheel yourself. Some questions to better understand what's on your mind:

1) Are you just looking to buy a pre-built wheel "off the shelf" or do you have a wheelbuilder?

2) If you have a wheelbuilder, is this someone who is going to give you a hard time unless you buy the parts from him or won't care?

3) Budget and timeframe?

4) Are you using 6-bolt or centerlock rotors?

In general, Hope is usually a safe choice for hubs. The pawls are very loud when you coast, so you need to be okay with the noise. I've heard about a couple failures on Facebook posts lately, so that's odd, but it's just a thing to note at this point, I wouldn't call it a pattern yet.

A safe alternative is DT Swiss 350. One nice thing about those is that they sell different types of ratchet rings, so you can pick a ring with very fast engagement to help ratchet your pedals over technical spots or lower engagement for a quieter/lower pitch sound when coasting.

Whatever wheels you get (regardless of whether they're pre-built or custom built) really should be 32 spokes laced "three-cross" with 2.0/1.8 double-butted spokes and traditional square-head brass nipples. This part shouldn't be a matter of debate and I would worry if anybody tried to sell you on any other spoke combination.

Unless your cassette and chainring are actually damaged or worn down, I wouldn't replace them just because the rear wheel is having a problem. Same with the jockey wheels. With the chain, it depends on the chain "stretch". You may need a tool for this or have a shop check on it for you. If the stretch is 0.5% and undamaged, keep the chain. If it's 0.75% or more, definitely replace the chain. If it's much more than 1.0%, then it may be time to think about replacing the cassette and chainring, but I have a hard time imagining you have that much wear this early.

 

[RickBullotta]

Okay, understood that you're not going to build this wheel yourself. Some questions to better understand what's on your mind:

1) Are you just looking to buy a pre-built wheel "off the shelf" or do you have a wheelbuilder?

2) If you have a wheelbuilder, is this someone who is going to give you a hard time unless you buy the parts from him or won't care?

3) Budget and timeframe?

4) Are you using 6-bolt or centerlock rotors?

In general, Hope is usually a safe choice for hubs. The pawls are very loud when you coast, so you need to be okay with the noise. I've heard about a couple failures on Facebook posts lately, so that's odd, but it's just a thing to note at this point, I wouldn't call it a pattern yet.

A safe alternative is DT Swiss 350. One nice thing about those is that they sell different types of ratchet rings, so you can pick a ring with very fast engagement to help ratchet your pedals over technical spots or lower engagement for a quieter/lower pitch sound when coasting.

Whatever wheels you get (regardless of whether they're pre-built or custom built) really should be 32 spokes laced "three-cross" with 2.0/1.8 double-butted spokes and traditional square-head brass nipples. This part shouldn't be a matter of debate and I would worry if anybody tried to sell you on any other spoke combination.

Unless your cassette and chainring are actually damaged or worn down, I wouldn't replace them just because the rear wheel is having a problem. Same with the jockey wheels. With the chain, it depends on the chain "stretch". You may need a tool for this or have a shop check on it for you. If the stretch is 0.5% and undamaged, keep the chain. If it's 0.75% or more, definitely replace the chain. If it's much more than 1.0%, then it may be time to think about replacing the cassette and chainring, but I have a hard time imagining you have that much wear this early.

Just like I wouldn't recommend alloy HG freehubs for eMTBs, I'd stay clear of the 54T DT ratchet rings for an eMTB. The 36T version engages very quickly, and there are some suggesting the DT recommends 18 for eMTBs. I went with the 36T on my latest wheel build and am happy with them.

 

[Gyre]

Just like I wouldn't recommend alloy HG freehubs for eMTBs, I'd stay clear of the 54T DT ratchet rings for an eMTB. The 36T version engages very quickly, and there are some suggesting the DT recommends 18 for eMTBs. I went with the 36T on my latest wheel build and am happy with them.

That's a very good point, I don't know how strong the ratchet teeth are, but it would make sense that coarser teeth would take more abuse. For reference, it looks like the DT Swiss 1501 Spline One wheels that came with my Wild FS have 24T.

 

[salko]

Yes, Hybrid specific ratchet is 24T.

 

[BOTG]

Shimano 12 speed cassette, I'm worried I say to bike shop I want something decent they will go overboard and I'll end up paying for something over kill on the wheel and hub.

 

[Orangie]

Industry nine builds the best wheels on this planet. If you want to spend less, pick dt Swiss with 350 hub.

 

[Sidepod]

That's a very good point, I don't know how strong the ratchet teeth are, but it would make sense that coarser teeth would take more abuse. For reference, it looks like the DT Swiss 1501 Spline One wheels that came with my Wild FS have 24T.

What makes you think the teeth are more coarse? There are just more/less of them.
I am believer of multi teeth. Less backlash when the motor torque kicks in so less shock loading.

 

[salko]

Because on the same ratchet circle space you can have more or less teeth, if there are less of them they just have to be bigger/coarser to fill up that space ...

 

[Sidepod]

Radial spacing yes, height/surface area, no.

 

[Gyre]

Radial spacing yes, height/surface area, no.

Anyone got a couple sets of ratchet rings and digital calipers?

 

[Orangie]

I beat the heck out of the 54 tooth with no problems

 

[Gyre]

Back on track for a bit. Boots, I’m assuming Heidi wears 27.5” shoes, a boost rear end, and that you don’t have a wheelbuilder at hand. With that said, something like this Hope Fortus should be sufficient as a substitute rear wheel. It runs a little on the wide side, so keep in mind its preferred tire choices:

Hope Fortus 35 Mountain Bike Rear Wheel | Chain Reaction

Hope Fortus 35 Mountain Bike Rear Wheel - Lowest Prices and FREE shipping available from The World's largest online bike store - Chain Reaction Cycles

www.chainreactioncycles.com

Also, I mentioned before about how noisy Hope hubs are when coasting. If that doesn’t bother you and you don’t think it would be trouble for your vlog audio, then this may be a good starting point in your search.