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ZTR arch vs Crests


MTBiker

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Hi

 

I've been given a wheelset with American Classic Hubs and mavic x223 rims. The rims are a bit pinged and well used (3 epics will do that to them), so im looking to replace them with something lighter and hopefully similar strength.

I ride mostly trail and XC , think of like the medium jumps in tokai..

 

I get that the Arch rims are stronger and therefore weigh more. I weigh 70 kg. Can i get away with buying a pair of crest rims, or they just for xc racing and minimal trail riding. i dont want to break a new expensive rim set in a few months..

I'm wanting to start putting more time into marathon riding and so lightness is wanted. or should i just buy some dt swiss revolution spokes to negate the weight gain of the arch rims

 

Thanks Mike

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I think the weight difference is 90g per rim for the Arch vs Crest. You are well under the max weight limit of 85kg for the Crest rims, but seeing that you do some light jumping I'd say rather go for the stronger ones and have less worries about potentially breaking a rim. Have you considered the American Classic rims?

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If you have only 1 wheelset, then Arch with revolution spokes. Crests are race wheels, they are nice to have as a second wheelset.

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I've had two wheelsets build on Crest rims and they are super strong. Did jumps and drop offs with them and they never went out of true. I weigh 80kg. Having said that in the long run it's worth the extra weight for peace of mind. Remember its not just heavier, but also wider so can run a fatter tire with greater ease.

 

Crests: 370g

Arch: 420g

Flow 470g

 

Add 30g for white rims. There's a new Arch coming that'll drop to 400g.

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I've had two wheelsets build on Crest rims and they are super strong. Did jumps and drop offs with them and they never went out of true. I weigh 80kg. Having said that in the long run it's worth the extra weight for peace of mind. Remember its not just heavier, but also wider so can run a fatter tire with greater ease.

 

Crests: 370g

Arch: 420g

Flow 470g

 

Add 30g for white rims. There's a new Arch coming that'll drop to 400g.

 

Website shows them as being the same width, the arch rim is just a bit deeper...

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I have Crest rims, weigh 85kgs and have never had an issue. Don’t take big jumps tho, but ride lots on technical single track.

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Hi

 

I've been given a wheelset with American Classic Hubs and mavic x223 rims. The rims are a bit pinged and well used (3 epics will do that to them), so im looking to replace them with something lighter and hopefully similar strength.

I ride mostly trail and XC , think of like the medium jumps in tokai..

 

I get that the Arch rims are stronger and therefore weigh more. I weigh 70 kg. Can i get away with buying a pair of crest rims, or they just for xc racing and minimal trail riding. i dont want to break a new expensive rim set in a few months..

I'm wanting to start putting more time into marathon riding and so lightness is wanted. or should i just buy some dt swiss revolution spokes to negate the weight gain of the arch rims

 

Thanks Mike

 

The notion of "breaking" a rim is a bit of a misnomer. Rims only break i.e. the metal tears, in fatigue (at the spoke holes after many years of riding) or, from violent impact.

 

The type of impact that will break a rim will in anyway destroy other stuff as well, so having a rim break when your neck, frame and teeth are also broken, isn't a big deal. Besides, that type of impact will break any rim, no matter the weight.

 

Further, jumping off stuff, unless the tyre bottoms out, will not damage the rim. It flexes inwards and flattens, at the contact patch only, with no other stress elsewhere, including on the spokes and spoke holes. The notion of jumping with a bike and have the spokes tear out the top of the wheel (i.e. opposite the contact patch) is not what happens in reality.

 

Therefore, Crest rims will be strong enough for what you want to do. Where they will fail quicker than a heavier version of the same type of rim (same material, similar profile) is by not lasting as long before cracking at the spoke holes and, in accidents where there is considerable sideways force on the rim.

 

Crest rims have a particular weak spot and that is it dents easily when the tyre bottoms out. I estimate that 20% of my Crest customers have a come-back within the first three months with a dented rim. Each and every time the issue was soft tyres and a dented rim. They are particularly weak in this regard, mostly because the lack of bead sidewall. The dent is therefore directed directly to the body of the rim where it is difficult to repair.

 

Crests will be fine for you, but avoid the temptation of too low tyre pressure.

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