Morning

 OK, so Mrs Dan is giving me £200 towards some new wheels for my Birfday. I'll probably add £100 or so so am looking at about £300 for the pair.

The obvious choice for my kind of riding is DT 5.1's on Hope Pro11 (in a spangly colour).

How do the Shimano XT all-mountainy ones stack up for example, or equivalent from Easton or Fulcrum?

Are spokes/bits much harder to replace on these? Is there anything really that much lighter than Hope/DT combo?

thanks

Personally I'd look at the 819's over the 5.1's.  Weight's on a par, they're seemingly bombproof & you have the option of going 'proper' UST if you want.  719's are a tad lighter but non-UST.

Alternatively, Merlin were doing the XT 775 wheelset for about £280.

I got me some Bonty Rhythm Elites a few weeks back after looking at easton / fulcrum.

I am chuffed with them.

Nobby, the Mavic 819's are just a bit too slim for 2.5'' tyres .. which I do occasionally run.

I've had a front DT5.1 for a while and it's been great.

re the XT's at Merlin; aren't the 775's the proper XC version (776's all-mountainy??)

Hmm Bonty's are worth considering.. I used to have some old superstock's that lasted me ages.

So... is it a real pain in the @rse replacing spokes and the like on these factory wheels?

Is it worth it?

Go UST & run narrower tyres at lower pressures?  Would stop any pinch flats too

Not sure about the XT's, just remember seeing 'em in an email recently.

I don't wan to run narrower tyres though Nobby -  it's not just about pinch flats  - my poor bike needs to be capable of xc and lightish DH stuff too -  hence the big rubber requirement!

Hmm... decisions...

The XT 775 wheels are XC, the rim is 23.3mm wide on those.  The 776 is the heavier duty wheel at 26.4mm rim width.

Rhythm's are tubeless ready. First rim I can fit/unfit tyres without levers, look great and use normal spokes.

Yeah.... worth a look Alex...ta

Mike.. what's the expert (that's you) opinion then? Is it worth going for something like XT 776 over a normal DT/Hope combo?

Is there much weight to be saved in going for any of these "factory wheels"?

 Easton Havoc's any good?

I'm in a similar situation Dan and have been waiting for the Stans Flow Hope Hoops wheelsets to come out as they are a tad lighter then 5.1s and I've heard nothing but good reviews about them.

http://www.hopetech.com/database/HOPE%20HOOPS%20MTB%20A4.pdf

£200 for your birthday, you spoilt cnut!!!!!!!

Dan, I have a couple of mags with recent AM wheelset tests, thar wanna look??

Btw conventional wheels are better for getting spares and keeping true.

If it was a handbuild, i'd be looking at a new rim, spokes and build, but because it's factory, spesh have offered a crash replacement for £100, which is a lot more reasonable than the rim and spokes!

If it was a handbuild you'd easily get a rim and spokes for £100, unless you'd gone mad and used a carbon rim or something

You can pretty much always get something lighter (and more repairable) for the same money by going for something made out of your choice of parts rather than "factory", although I'm slightly biased here because I'm happy to build my own. I like the Shimano ones because the graphics look funky when they're spinning.