[padrefan1982]

Love to get some time voices on this question for me-

Long story short- I had my Industry Nine 29er XC wheelset trued up today by a local shop. This wheelset in question is laced up with Arches. When I picked up the bike today, the mechanic asked me if I raced-- I said no, and his response was to be VERY CAREFUL because those rims are very fragile--he told me that it was only a matter of time before something happened to them.

This was completely opposite of what I thought-- I know that the 355 rims are more of a race rim, but I was under the impression that the Arch was a solid rim, for day-to-day riding.

Can anybody out there provide more clarity on the matter? The wheelset for me has been rock solid for a year now, but I'm curious if there is something I don't know! I'm am going to email Stans with this question, but I'm sure I'd get the company line about strength, so I'm curious what the public has to say.

Random information that might be important to the question-- I'm 6'3", low 220, and the wheels are on a Pivot 429. I like to keep the wheels on the ground when I can-- not much on airtime.

Thanks in advance!

 

[muzzanic]

He is wrong.

I try to talk people your size into going with the Flows because being wider/heaver thay will flex less & IMO hold the tyre firmer & stop the tyre from squirming as much at lower pressure & IMO faster for someone your weight.

But in no way would I be worried about the Arch's failing.

 

[kestrel242]

He's wrong. Arches are most definitely not "very fragile"

 

[meltingfeather]

He is wrong.

 

[Blaster1200]

He's wrong. Arches are most definitely not "very fragile"

They are just "fragile"

 

[sxr-racer]

Psssst, He is wrong.

 

[bt]

they are just frag

 

[edgerat]

I asked the same question of Stan's and they said 200 and over go with Flows, 200 and under you can start looking at Arch's and other options.

 

[byknuts]

find a new lbs? :skep:

kidding, this guy may not be aware of the different rims offered by stan's and may have heard that crests are really race only (or 355's for that matter) and he may not be differentiating between one stan's rim and the next.
might just be a misunderstanding, or like I said, he may not know that stan's offers more than one rim.

 

[Dankie]

Maybe he was worried about your rims specifically? How bad out of true were they?

 

[slocaus]

He is suffering a severe case of recto-cranial inversion.

I have a set of Arches going on three years and thousands of miles under a 200+ pound rider.

 

[FR hokeypokey]

I asked the same question of Stan's and they said 200 and over go with Flows, 200 and under you can start looking at Arch's and other options.

Stans has changed its advice on rim selection then. On their advice, I have had two sets of Arches for almost four years now. Perhaps they have changed specs in that time, but I was told they were a AM rim for my size and riding style.

I am 210-220lbs. (w/camelbak closer to 230lbs+) One set is on a Niner MCR w/Niner steel fork, the other on a Silk Ti/ sc32 combo. Several thousand miles combined riding on SoCal and Colorado singletrack and fire roads.

I have been very happy with the rims. No issues, trueing them only once or twice in that time. Tubeless has been easy, minimal struggles with tire bead seating during installation. Others here are touting stiffer Flows, but I have never had a problem abusing the Arches. I am not a big jump guy, more of an endurance XC rider that downhills like mogul skier. Keep momentum flowing with lots of little hops and jumps.

Just my 2 cents. Good luck on the search,
Tim

 

[edgerat]

Yup, I asked this question on Monday and Bob responded to keep my fat ass off Archs... At 230lbs ready to ride, currently, he said no no no.
isaac

 

[tiflow_21]

Guessing the guy at your lbs doesn't sell stans rims?

Arches definitely aren't race only. There are 3 29er rims that are lighter in the stans lineup, 1 heavier. Lighter: race, crest, 355. Heavier: flow.

 

[padrefan1982]

Thanks for all the responses-- I've now had these wheels for over a year now, riding mainly in Washington state, with some road trips as well. I've had no issues whatsoever. I only took them in to have the looked at-- they weren't horridly in need of any repair, just thought it would be good to have them checked out.

I'm currently on a trip down in Cali, and used an LBS that has been good and straightforward with me to me in the past, so that was part of my shock when I hear the guy's advice.

As far as I know, they don't sell any of Stan's rims (I think all their tubeless stuff comes from Spec and Trek) so I'm going with what others have said above-- that the guy in question may have mistaken my Arches for 355s, or assumed all Stan's rims are like the 355s.

To wrap up, I'd have no problems recommending Arches to pretty much anybody who is looking for a good XC rim.

 

[nzumbi]

I've been told that if you tension them beyond the Stan's spec, then they fall out of true easily. That may be the case with any rim, but I've also been told that Stans non-eyeletted rims require pretty low tension numbers. That may be true of any non-eyeletted rim as well.

I had a big dummy mechanic at a shop over-tension mine and pull it 1/2" out of dish. I now do all my own wheel work. So far, so good. Point: mechanics aren't always the best source of reliable information (or skill).

Both my rear race wheels are Arch-Hadley. Never had a problem at 185lbs.

 

[JMH]

Your mechanic isn't right or wrong. The standard answer: "it depends"

It depends on your weight and riding style. It depends on the quality of the wheel build. ALL of the offerings from Stans are pretty darned light, it's important to remember that the downside of that is typically going to be reduced strength.

I have found that I can only use the 355 as a front wheel for XC. The Arch is holding up better in back, but at 175lbs I can still knock it out of true pretty easily if I don't watch my lines carefully.

I have Flows on my RIP 9 and I can't keep the rear wheel true if I am riding down in the desert (Fruita, Grafton, Grand Junction) but it's fine up here on the smooth singletrack of northern Utah.

So I would imagine at your weight that the Arch might be a little bit light, of course it depends on your local trails or riding style.

Gonna go with Muzz and say that the Flow is probably better for the reasons he mentioned.

JMH

 

[meltingfeather]

Your mechanic isn't right or wrong. The standard answer: "it depends"

It depends on your weight and riding style. It depends on the quality of the wheel build. ALL of the offerings from Stans are pretty darned light, it's important to remember that the downside of that is typically going to be reduced strength.

I have found that I can only use the 355 as a front wheel for XC. The Arch is holding up better in back, but at 175lbs I can still knock it out of true pretty easily if I don't watch my lines carefully.

I have Flows on my RIP 9 and I can't keep the rear wheel true if I am riding down in the desert (Fruita, Grafton, Grand Junction) but it's fine up here on the smooth singletrack of northern Utah.

So I would imagine at your weight that the Arch might be a little bit light, of course it depends on your local trails or riding style.

Gonna go with Muzz and say that the Flow is probably better for the reasons he mentioned.

JMH

A pretty well thought out answer and I don't think you're wrong. However, according to the OP, the mechanic said, "to be VERY CAREFUL because those rims are very fragile [and] that it was only a matter of time before something happened to them."
While "very fragile" is somewhat subjective, it is a blanket statement that doesn't seem to take into account rider-specific factors, and I think based on my own experience and that of many others that it's a mischaracterization of the Arch, which was Stan's high strength rim before the Flow came out. It has an additional structural web, and the Flow shares the profile, just scaled up a bit in both dimensions.

 

[Juanmoretime]

find a new lbs? :skep:

kidding, this guy may not be aware of the different rims offered by stan's and may have heard that crests are really race only (or 355's for that matter) and he may not be differentiating between one stan's rim and the next.
might just be a misunderstanding, or like I said, he may not know that stan's offers more than one rim.

Crest race only? I've been on my Crest rims for over six months and still straight as the day I got them.

 

[LyNx]

I think you need to "read between the lines" of what the mech said and understand what he's saying is....I really don't know WTF I'm doing with those fandangles, propriortory i9s and may have fvcked them upo for you,o to cover my arse I'm gona tell you to be careful so when they fail you won't come looking at me as the culprit.