[mrspickless]

I am looking into buying a carbon frame as I currently am the proud owner of a very heavy giant yukon 2007. I am doing quite a bit of heavy climbing and some quite technical descents and I am no longer a skinny young lass and so need something a bit strong and hefty to cope with my riding. What rims do you advise me to look at?

 

[Ken in KC]

Loaded question...

I am looking into buying a carbon frame as I currently am the proud owner of a very heavy giant yukon 2007. I am doing quite a bit of heavy climbing and some quite technical descents and I am no longer a skinny young lass and so need something a bit strong and hefty to cope with my riding. What rims do you advise me to look at?

What's your budget?
What do you define as technical? Drops? Freeride?
How much do you weigh?

 

[mrspickless]

Hi, am not sure of my weight at the mo... no scales anymore but pretty heavy.. probably 180 poundage. I´ve been doing some small drops but the rest has been really rocky root ridden stuff as I live in a mountain national park. As for budget.. I would like to start off as low as poss and then look to upgrading later when I get more cash flow ( the frame I am looking at is an ebay special..) so in essence, something to tide me over for now.. maybe I could take the wheels off the lovely Yukon for now ( though they do seem to be a little worse for wear already)

 

[ej63090]

Why not continue to ride the Yukon and gauge the strength of that. You may find that it would be suitable. Plus the carbon frame benefits wouldn't be huge unless you were in tip top shape.

 

[rockcrusher]

If you want a cheap set of strong wheels you could easily go with a set of Sun Rhynolites on Shimano hubs with a quality spoke. The rims are lightish but strong and they build up to the shimano hubs nicely which while not light are nicely reliable and easy to get.

At your weight you could pretty much go with any pre-built AM style wheel, lower end mavics, performance brand wheels, etc. Go with a medium width rim (something in the 25mm or wider) and 32 spokes if possible.

Still the best wheel for you would be a handbuilt set from a local builder. DT competition spokes, brass nipples, wider rim (aforementioned Suns or Stans Arch or Flows if you have the cash) and hubs of your choice.

I am assuming as well that this is 26" size.

 

[fireball_jones]

180lbs might be heavy for you, but I imagine it's about the average for a mountain biker. So... any wheels should be fine.

 

[mrspickless]

Ive shifted a fair amount Of weight and am riding three to four times a week so should be increasing the fitness pretty sharpish. Thanks for the info !

 

[Pooch]

I'm pretty good sized (220) and have Easton XC Ones on both my 26FS and 29 HT. They are pretty light and I think the price is not too bad. Price point has the 26 for $320 and 29 for $380; complete set.

 

[jeffj]

For your situation, I think that you would do well with a set like this (XT hubs with Mavic X719 rims)

Bicycle Wheel Warehouse - Mavic 719 V-Brake Shimano XT 6bolt

These are a little wider than a standard XC rim, and should be a good match for your Yukon or anything a little more trail oriented.

Or for something a tad more burly (XT hubs with Mavic EN321 rims):

Bicycle Wheel Warehouse - Mavic 321 XT 6-Bolt Disc

These are not superlight, but not horrible heavy either, they will take all the tech you can throw at them, they have enough width to give a nice fat profile for AM type tires, and at $154.95 (plus shipping) it won't hurt the pocketbook too much.

 

[DH.FR.0ne]

You've no worries at all at 180lbs, any half decent rim should handle that with ease.

Have a look at Sun Ringle MTX rims. I know from experience that Sun Ringle EQ31 rims can take a real thrashing - mate left his pump at home and was hitting rocky downhills with minimal tyre pressures (he wanted new wheels anyway) but the EQ31s remained intact.

WTB Laserdisc downhill and freeride rims have served me well, I'd recommend them for their strength, weight, and price :thumbsup: