Xt wheels M775

I've been running these wheels for over a year. I have one pair of the 775 and one pair of the 778 (15QR front).

Pros:

Relatively light
Have needed little truing
Seal extremely well with UST tires - no sealant needed
Shimano tech support in US has been awesome

Cons:

Early freehub bodies had some durability issues
Freehub body bolt is prone to loosening - use some Loctite if it ever loosens up on you. Shimano may be adding Loctite at the factory on newer models
Supplied alloy spoke wrench will do more harm than good - source a Park or Shimano steel one if you ever need to true
Proprietary spokes/nipples are likely a special order item

For $400, I'd say go for it.

-D

mathoss said:

Hi,

Reviews on the wheelset seem to be hard to find!
On chainreaction's website, they asked 400$ for both, this is could be a good deal?

thanks

Click to expand...

Maybe. I wrote a bad review on the 775s but I've learned to live with them, because getting something better would be so much more expensive. My replacement freehub hasn't had any issues, and I've stopped popping spokes. For my use of riding in rocky arizona at 200 pounds these wheels are just a bit too light. Once in a while I'll forget that I'm riding boutique wheels and jump off a little two-footer -- not a good idea.

I noticed yesterday that the rear wheel had loosened up a bit (again) and so spent an hour this morning re-tensioning and re-truing. These wheels are high maintenance.

The wheels have their good attributes, though. They are nice and light, and work very well with UST tires. The bearings have been reliable, even though a shop mechanic tried to kill them by over-tightening.

If you are riding relatively smooth trails (in other words, you don't have to get out of the saddle when you are riding uphill) or are relatively light, you'll probably be OK with these wheels. Otherwise, forget it.