Mike T

Hi Rod Ti. New wheels should be smooth from the beginning. Might loosen up with use but should not make your pedals turn when you spin the wheel. I Have a pair of XT hubs on my spare set of wheels which were tight in my opinion - took them back to the lbs and they sorted them out. If the hubs you have are sealed bearing ones and there is no adjsutment then these are defective. Mike T2007-05-09 10:42:39

Definitely!!! I have made a decision but I think I will keep this to myself before I spark another debate! Problem with this MTB thing is that one has to spend a lot of money for sometimes very little weight loss. Also so many choices and not sure how good they are - can you really go by others opinions as often these are not formed under ideal or test conditions?

Bike = Merida mission 3000 only ride XC and marathon, - don't really want 203 rotors but I find very few 180 mm bolt on rotors on CRC's website. All 160 or 185 or 203 mm or 6" or 8" . All I'm trying to do is set up a light pair of wheels for racing.

O K, here's another problem for you techno gurus to solve: If I have a wheel hub which can only take a 6 bolt, bolt on disc rotor, what good, light disc can I fit that is compatible to Shimano XTR calipers other than Shimano XT bolt ons (in 160 and 180 mm)? Also, if I want to change the front disc to 203 mm is it possible to get an adabter for this?

I stand corrected, but the Merida's back shock is an Manitou Radium R L - works similar to the Fox Brain shock - only activates once the going gets bumpy and can also be locked out manually via "poplock" on the handle bar (however this is not really necessary at all). No pedal bob - I can vouch for this - in fact works very well.

Have a look at a Merida Mission 2000 - RRP = R17990.00 but I'm sure you can bargain that down a bit. Good bikes, value for money, Quality A+ and made in the Specialized factory - basically the same frame as Specialized Epic with a similar setup to the Epic Brain. Write up on this in the last Bicycling MTB magazine.

Thanks for the advice Titusti. Buying road wheels is fairly easy but we all know that MTB wheels get a lot more abuse so when you spenda the bucks you want to do it right first time balancing reliabilty with weight. Definitely like the DT hubs - look like real quality and have good write-ups on the net but again probably can't go wrong with good old XTR. Customizing seems to be a good way to get what you want.

Can get CRC to make up a custom pair using DT 240 hubs laced to Mavic 819 rims - using DT's claculator a pair could be below 1500g. Only problem is that they do not have stock of DT 240 hubs!

Yep, can get a good one: DT XR1540 for just over R5 k but only drawback is that they have to be converted to tubeless with a kit. Where can one buy Stan's kit from? CRC do not appear to have in stock.

Thanks for the advice. Thought of the custom route via CRC but not sure of the final weight of the wheels - would that combo of hub and rim be nice and light? What spokes does one use?

Hi all I'm old roadie vet but got bored with the road - rappidly getting into the MTB scene but the more you get into it the more high tech it becomes! Road bikes are so simple - get a light frame and wheels, pump the tyres hard, slip stream as much as possible in a race and you do just fine. Now I'm faced with words like hardtail, full sussers, sag, rebound not to mention how much tyre pressure or what tyres to use! All very confusing, but what I want some advice on are wheels: I thought Mavic was good (I have a set on my road bike and they are oh so smooth) but I hear some muttering about c**p Crossmax freewheel bodies. I also had a lok at Shimano (M965) but they seem to have too few spokes for offroad and I note that they have spoked their new 07 wheels with more spokes. Also had a look at DT swiss - look very good but frustratingly are not set up (out of the box) for tubeless. So whatsa best??? Budget around R5 - R6 k Also: can one run normal Maxxis tyres eg Maxlite as tubeless?