Learning how MTBs work: Cotic Soul

I have those

You want these though..

Unused sticker space all I can see.

https://www.canyon.com/en-gb/accessories/?category=10411#id=61643

This set works out to be £260

Personally.... I would get something like these WTB KOM i23 rims , some mid-level Shimano or Novatec hubs, and then get them hand-built with either DT Comp or Sapim race double butted spokes.

I think @Howard or one of the other CX crowd should know where to get hold of Novatec hubs.

Bargainz all round

At risk of doing the classic forum move of just recommending what I've used, Bitex hubs are also a good alternative to Novatec. Sealed bearings, 54poe, centrelock, plus end caps are easily changeable. @hoops also recommends them I think

I'll also point out those ^^^ WTB rims are for XC riding. If you want to start doing sick jumps & stuff, there's burlier options*. Lightweight wheels are nice though, if you can get away with using them.

*such as this: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/nukeproof-generator-am-tcs-rim/rp-prod132454

54poe

Sounds good. High engagement hubs make a lot of sense on mtbs.

Yeah something I really noticed on my SSCX coming from low end shimano hubs. Makes a real difference when climbing off road.
Other pros of the Bitex I forgot to mention, light and cheap. £130 a pair and can be <380g depending on what end caps youre using, CK and Hope are both 500g+ usually

Personally.... I would get something like these WTB KOM i23 rims , some mid-level Shimano or Novatec hubs, and then get them hand-built with either DT Comp or Sapim race double butted spokes.

I think @Howard or one of the other CX crowd should know where to get hold of Novatec hubs.

I have those I23s on my Habit.

Novatecs can be had from Superstar for £100ish the pair.

Trouble is, by the time you've built them up and sourced some non-shit rubber for them, you've spent more than the £330 or so that CRC want for those blingy Mavic XC wheels, which come with UST tyres.

I have those I23s on my Habit.

I think you have the Frequency i23s. The KOMs are lighter, and do away with the 'i-beam' feature, so not quite as strong.

£60 rims
£100 hubs
£70 for a pair of good tyres

£100 left for spokes and build, and the bonus of not ending up with a Mavic wheelset :-)

I thought Tester was the only person who still used UST tyres?

and the bonus of not ending up with a yellow wheelset

zut alores

plenty of folks use UST rims with whatever rubber they can find. It's the rim that makes things super easy; pair it with a UST tyre and it's a no-brainer. But I guess you already know that, right?

It's the rim that makes things super easy

Main advantage I can see is not having to faff about with rim tape to get them airtight. The aluminium spokes freak me out though D:

Mind you, I do have a 1.8kg rear hub...

You can run them without sealant, tyre dependent, of course. UST tyre? Probably.

The aluminium spokes freak me out though D:

Well, yeah, but so what? Run em till they brake, chuck 'em away. Novatec hubs will die well before those Mavics crack, assuming R-Mash isn't a 130kg masher

Run em till they brake, chuck 'em away

You young people, with your disposable society..

No. I have a lot of defects but being 130kg is not one of them.

As things go wild on the wheel front, I think I'm going to spray this myself and see how it goes. Going to use this spray.bike colour...

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You young people, with your disposable society..

I'm doing the decent thing and running those performance tyres into the ground before binning them!

Yeah I don't think I'm going to get into "sick jumps and flying off mountains" -- I already have a predilection for cycling injuries (broke leg in 2 places and removed foot from leg a couple years ago while road racing, smashed my face into pavement while commuting to work about 1.5 months).

Maybe they don't need to be bomb proof but maybe r_mash proof

removed foot from leg

Impressive.

I hope they stuck your foot back on?

Not sure if you can see how dislocated the foot is...

It's been put back together with some metal roads and is being held together by fishing wire....

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This is why road riding sucks ^

Ouch. Hope there's no long term damage.

Pics or it didn....HOLY SHIT NO, NO PICS