I've been on carbon wheels for 2 years on my 29er and love them. They are my only wheels and have been bulletproof on XC races, Marathon races and everyday training / enjoying myself. $1500 is a good midpoint price from a quality brand, so if it is in your piggy bank, you will be happy with them.

My buddy put on a top-shelf set of Enve / Chris King wheels for ~$3K, they work just the same as my Chinese carbon wheels ( I did put a nice set of hubs in them ) that I built myself. They were the first set of wheels I ever built and they are still true after several thousand miles of singletrack. Mine have 1-2 cosmetic dings from flying chunder on the trails, but I stripped them down for winter cleaning and fresh Stans sealant recently and they look great inside and out.

A new set of wheels is a great mid-life upgrade for a bike, it will get you jazzed to hit the trails again without dropping $5k+ for a fancy brand new bike - so it really should be viewed as a cost saving measure :-)

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" I take my gear out of my car and put my bike together. Tourists and locals are watching from sidewalk cafes. Non-racers. The emptiness of of their lives shocks me. "
(opening lines from Tim Krabbe's The Rider , 1978

A set of stans with hope hubs would be awesome for 98% of people. The rest would be fine on Hong fu carbon rims with solid hubs

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http://RoadID.com/...te/4HC4V-TAFQ9XPJDTX

This has been done to death on mtbr.com. Basically you'll have people telling you to buy generic carbon rims vs. branded rims. I think you're instinct is correct to go for the specialized rims. I have carbon Reynolds 29er wheels and I had to have them rebuilt but I still think they where a good buy for what i paid. Unless you buy some new bike take-offs from eBay I think $1500 is quite good. Of course they have to be available in the configuration you need. I think the hub on some spesh wheels is proprietary for the epic bike.

The Rovals are good hoops from what I hear. There's a rider here that free-rides/enduro races with them so they seem to tolerate the abuse. I saved $500 and got the Sun Ringle Black Flag Pro SL and would wholeheartedly endorse them. They are incredibly durable (they are my every day wheels too), have great engagement, and are part of the formula that got be to below 21 pounds on my hard tail. They are similar in weight and stiffness, but are alloy. The best budget upgrade out there are the Stans Crest (500 ish and similar weight to my Back Flag SLs) or their Race Gold (i think around 800, lighter than mine, but with a rider limit and a reputation for being pretty flexy) stuff, but the San's hoops are much more flexy and have rider weight limits...I also have a couple friends with the stans hoops, and they seem to be breaking spokes on a regular basis and their rims need quite a bit of attention over the year in terms of truing them.

In summary...I'd take a long hard look at the Black Flag Pro SL wheels. They have the wide rim profile that the industry goes for, are comfortable with any axle configuration, and are REALLY close to carbon light (though I imagine they may be a bit less stiff, but I can't notice any flex). Other wheels at this price point would be the Mavic Crossmax SL (they are a bit more 'sexy' than the black flag, but I really don't understand whey they are more popular than the Black Flag). The Crossmax have a narrower profile, and worse engagement than the Black Flag... their hubs are notoriously easy to work on...but they also require more maintenance than the Black Flag and the Black Flags aren't exactly hard to work on...

I love Carbon Mtn. bike wheels. They feel way better than the Stans wheels I usually ride.


I need to sell a set of Lefty Reynolds 29er carbon wheels. I've used them as my race wheels on my F29. I'm upgrading the bike this year to a Cannondale FSI so my wheels won't work for me. The Reynolds wheels are one year old and are both 10 and 11 speed compatible. I'll sell them for $950 shipped if anyone is interested.

Only thing I would add to this is that the Rovals typically have a fairly lightweight spoke. Depending on your weight, you might want to rebuild with a heavier spoke, or go with something like Mavic Crossmax.

I busted a LOT of rear spokes on my Rovals.