ENVE makes bad ass wheels no matter what style of racing. I don't know if they do 29ers, but their other wheels are awesome.

do you want to buy a new wheelset or just repair the existing wheel?
from your comment I take it that the current wheelset has a weight limit?
if so, you still have a good 32 hole hub, so why not just get a decent 29er rim, some sufficiently robust spokes and get the wheels rebuilt as bullet proof mid weigh do anything wheels

if you want a replacement wheelset, then you have the whole marketplace to choose from, Shimano, Fulcrum, Velocity, Mavic etc etc plus all of the custom options to boot.
of late I've become a fan of Shimano wheelsets and they are confident enough of their product to not stipulate rider weigh limits, but hey, all of the main players make great wheels.

I'm a huge fan of industry nine wheels. But for a front wheel only suggestion build up a DT Swiss front hub laced to a Stan's flow ex rim. 32 spoke 3x build will be plenty beefy enough.

Or if budget ain't an issue enve has a couple of 29er wheels options out there.

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"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."
Hunter S. Thompson

Order a sweeeet CF rim from Light-Bicycle.
Wait the 2+ weeks for it to be manufactured and delivered.
Have your LBS build it up w whatever hub you fancy.
(I went with green Industry 9 hubs, to match the green trim on my Ripley)
Ride hard and fast. Lather, rinse, repeat.



Their CF rims are bomber, "cheap" (under $200 each, delivered) and very light. Weight like Crest, shape and width like Flow.
Best of both worlds.

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float , hammer , and jog

Stans Arch EX if you want bang for the buck aluminum. David K

+1 on stans. Good wheels good prices

The hub and brake are undamaged.

Do you have rim suggestions?

The DTSwiss hub is undamaged. What do you like about the Stan's rim?

That's two votes for Enve, is there something special with Enve?

The Stan's rims are pretty cheap and set up tubeless with minimal fuss. The enves are light ish and very stiff so the front wheel goes exactly where you point it.

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"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."
Hunter S. Thompson

One vote for Arch EX, and one for Flow EX. What are the distinctions?

Edit: After some web browsing, it seems the Flow's wider width is the main difference? The Flow gets a lot of love in reviews.

By "bomber" do you mean rugged? I'll check out Light-Bicycle

The brake and DTSwiss hub are undamaged, so I could use them if I build a wheel. Good enough, or should I explore other hubs?

Do you have a spoke recommendation? I've built one wheel in my life, and used cx-ray spokes.

Edit: Jesse H. Bugbottom!!!! MTBR forum has a 240 page thread on the Light-Bicycle rims. That'll take a while.

How bad is the wheel? Your bike shop might be able to straighten it. You should let them take a look.

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''Sweeney - you can both crush your AG *and* cruise in dead last!! 😂 '' Murphy's Law

ML, are those rims set up tubeless? How did it go setting them up?

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''Sweeney - you can both crush your AG *and* cruise in dead last!! 😂 '' Murphy's Law

The wheel was rubbing against the fork shock, thus wouldn't roll, so bent enough that I had to carry my bike three brutal miles to T2. Afterward, a mechanic with the race whopped the wheel against a tree enough that the wheel would roll, but felt "any respectable shop would replace it".

Since my original post, the Internet MTB forum pattern points to these stock Specialized wheels as a weakness, and they're available on eBay for $75...probably less than the cost of even tring to fix this bent wheel.

I'd have it replaced with a Stan's Arch or Flow. The Flow is like the Arch but a little wider

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''Sweeney - you can both crush your AG *and* cruise in dead last!! 😂 '' Murphy's Law

Thanks! Two solid choices have been presented in this thread. It seems like I can't go wrong with the Flow, and the Light-Bicycle rim looks lighter and stiffer, but a lot of riders on the MTBR forum are concerned this Chinese rim might be Italian.

They work flawlessly tubeless.

My LBS guy was amazed how well they built up.
So much so, he's been using those rims to build up custom wheels for customers ever since.
(And he's done a thriving business w ENVE also - but he feels the Light-Bicyle rims are much better value.)

I have a riding buddy who is an early-adopter on any new bling bike gear. He got the first iteration of these rims well over a year ago, and has ridden them very hard (like free ride and big dropoffs) and had zero issues.
He's the one who talked me into getting them.

PS - they are shipped direct from the factory in China.
They manufacture them to your specifications, rim style, matte or gloss, spoke hole count, and 3 different weaves.

Don't know anything about that Italy nonsense.

To the OP - we used Sapim cx-Ray spokes.
Can't go wrong with those.
If your hub is fine, just relace it into the new rim.

Bomber = strong.
I blew out the damper in my Pike fork riding crazy hard freeride stuff a fees ago.
The wheels are still perfectly true.

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float , hammer , and jog

I'll recommend Reynolds wheels (full disclosure, the Wattie Ink team is sponsored by them) but the alloy R series sound comparable to what you're looking to replace and if you feel like getting crazy with it, the carbon wheels are pretty great as well.

Stan's also makes a pretty solid product as well and lots of people ride them so you can't go wrong there if that's what you decide. Sorry to hear about the wheel and hopefully you're back out tearing it up soon.

How big are you? The Stan's Flow is a free-ride rim, i don't know why someone would recommend it as a race wheel unless you were 200+ lbs. Stan's have a number of rim profiles, check out http://www.notubes.com. I am 175 pounds and race on the Stan's Crest rims laced to DTswiss hubs. Super light and amazingly durable. Tubeless-ready on day 1, throw a pair of Specialized Fasstrack on them and its a perfect race wheel. My s-works 29er hardtail with Stan's crest wheels comes in at 20.3 pounds with bottle cages, pedals & garmin included.

Itallin = f-r-a-g-i-l-e There are photos on the MTBR forum of rims that broke up. they seem to be the old rims from 2012. Some people write these rims are stronger than the Stans though. i'm slogging through that massive thread.

Which rim width did you get?

Did you get the matte finish?

Been mtb-ing for a very long time and I've never ridden wheels better than Enve. Pricey but they put pretty much everything else to shame. Light, stiff, responsive and bomber.

Always been a fan of Bontrager Asym myself; the offset spoke holes just make sense for reducing dish and maintaining more even spoke tension side-to-side. I had my LBS order the rim as a "replacement rim" as Bontrager doesn't currently sell the rims separately. Before I went to 29, I had a 26" set with Asym rims on both ends that survived 3 years of MTB racing & training. Before that I used Mavic 517's, but they wouldn't stay true and they cracked. The bonty's seem to be a bit softer metal where they bend rather than crack, which I prefer for a failure mode. I can trailside-tune out a hop or small side pop, but the mavic's led to walk-backs.

Fra-gee-lay? Not from what I've seen so far.

http://www.light-bicycle.com/...le.html#.U6SY3Im9LTo

The "wider" carbon Mtn 29'er clincher rims.
Matte finish (like the Ripley), 3k weave, 28H.
390g weight is legit.
Weight like Crest, but wider like Flow. Which gives the tire a better footprint = better traction and handling.
Light and fast for XC, but strong enough for trail/freeride.

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float , hammer , and jog

easy to set up tubeless? does the bead hold