Wheels advice please...

[Soupdragon]

Hi all, first post; be kind...

UK rider: I have a 2020 Levo HT and love it to bits. I have two main ride types; cinder trails on an army training area and country lanes.

The bike came with Butchers Grid tyres (29 x 2.3) on 622x25mm wheels.

The Butchers aren't great on slimy mud but are too aggressive for a nippy road ride. So I am considering getting another set of wheels, so I can have a good trails tyre and something better for the road too.

So... any recommendations for wheels please? Budget is probably £400.

Thanks!

Soupdragon

 

[Howz]

I have the same bike and would like to ask the same question? Thanks

 

[Bones]

Stick a 35mm rim on the front with a 2.6 hillbilly tyre and it will transform it.

 

[Gary]

into a draggy trundle bus?

Brilliant!

 

[Bones]

Ok smart arse what do you recommend

 

[Doomanic]

For the riding you're doing any budget branded wheelset will do.

You'll also need brake rotors, a magnet and possibly a cassette.

 

[Gary]

for greater versatility, strength and decent weight stick with a set of decent 30mm 32 J-bend spokes rims laced 3X patern to decent quality hubs.
There's actually no point recommending anything for to you to buy right now as stock of wheels is so low in the industry.

Are you looking for off the shelf or handbuilt?
Any decent wheelbuilder should be able to recommend hubs, rims and spokes suitable to the rider's weight and application

 

[stiv674]

I got a spare set of wheels a few months ago, as @Gary suggested there wasn't much choice in stock then either, I ended up with some Fulcrum rims on DT Swiss hubs, they're good enough for light cross country and road riding, got the wheels, tyres, rotors and cassette for about £400.

 

[Soupdragon]

for greater versatility, strength and decent weight stick with a set of decent 30mm 32 J-bend spokes rims laced 3X patern to decent quality hubs.
There's actually no point recommending anything for to you to buy right now as stock of wheels is so low in the industry.

Are you looking for off the shelf or handbuilt?
Any decent wheelbuilder should be able to recommend hubs, rims and spokes suitable to the rider's weight and application

That might explain why online searching is a bit thin! I was hoping it’d be simpler... OTS would be fine, but when I go online it’s not an easy exercise. Will do some google-fu and post some links of what I am able to find.

thanks!!!

 

[maynard]

I just purchased these from a wheel builder . I should of bought rotors with them . Cos that was a pain in the arse . But my LBS helped me with that .

 

[St4nley]

@maynard , what freehub do you have on these, is it standard or uprated to steel? Thanks

 

[maynard]

@maynard , what freehub do you have on these, is it standard or uprated to steel? Thanks

I think its steel .

 

[St4nley]

I think its steel .

Thanks for your reply, just looking into new wheels for my Rail and there’s not much info out there about steel free hubs so it’s good to hear what folks have had there wheels built with.
Cheers

 

[maynard]

I had the cassette of yesterday. I tapped it with a knife and it made a metal sound. So yeah i think it's steel. I'm hoping its better than the stock wheels anyway . I've already destroyed one hub.

 

[Gary]

as opposed to a cheese sound?

Aluminium is a metal too. neither taste as nice as chees though.

Mmmm... cheese

 

[maynard]

Yeah . Good point. Maybe its aluminum. That's the invoice for my wheels purchase. Although it doesn't tell u much

 

[Gary]

It tells you it's a DT 350 hubset
Steel or aluminium HG freehub bodies are available for this hub. And you also have the choice of, HG, XD or microspline.
Your reciept states XD driver included.
Did this come as a spare in the box, or did you specify you wanted XD?

If you are running an XD driver (for SRAM 11/12 speed XD cassettes) it doesnt have cassette sprockets directly sitting on it so there is no risk of gouging the freehub body. it's one of the improvements of XD over HG
it's Aluminium HG freehubs for older style shimano 7 to 11speed shimano cassettes that folk complain about their sprockets gouging.

 

[maynard]

Yeh i said i wanted xd .

 

[Gary]

in which case unless you specifically asked for the steel version your freehub body will most likely be aluminium.
There's no need for a steel XD freehub body really

 

[St4nley]

@maynard thank you for the info, just I know the standard was always to go with a steel free hub on emtbs but with choices in sram and 12 speed shimano l couldn’t find anything mentioned about steel.

 

[Mr-EPIC-3]

Has anyone had any experience with using Fulcrum wheels?
I was looking at a set of the E-Metal 700 27.5 wheelset, has anyone used these wheels?

https://www.fulcrumwheels.com/en/support/ruote-oem-en/e-metal-700-27-5-29