[frorider]

well at 200 lbs i wasn't interested in the Flow rim for DH, like i said above. but look at all the lighter DH riders out there on DT 5.1d rims (for example). in terms of width, the flow is wider than a 721 and nearly as wide as an 823, i think.

what concerns me about the Flow rim is the low sidewall height. seems like that would compromise hoop stiffness. and my other concern is the lack of eyelets.

but if there are 150 lb DH riders on the Flow rim, then i'd consider it for my all-mountain bike.

 

[Patan-DH]

What about the Bontrager King Earl wheelset? (the ones with carbon fiber in the hub shells) Ive heard those are very light wheels, and maybe with a rim change those would get to be the lightests ones

 

[Lollapalooza]

My friend has the King Earls. They're the same weight as Deemaxes (or whatever the plural of Deemax is).

 

[Rip]

The rear hubs suck though on the king earls. Same issue as the WTB hubs, pawlings go away.

 

[JK:UK]

As for the 819's.

I've ridden them on a lot of man made DH, but mostly natural trails, i.e. 1/2 ft wide singletrack at 3000m+.

plenty of rocks / snow / loose boulders, and nothing MADE for a bike, so i'd say they've had their fair share of boulders.

To be fair there's a slight knock in each, but nothing a bit of trueing won't sort out.

I built both these wheels, and SAPIM spokes are exceptionally strong. I know many others who use 819's up front instead of 823's. And my previous build was DTs on 823's. I won't say they were sooooo much more suitable, like the Mavic marketing would have you believe.

My dh bike is light.

 

[Mani_UT]

like the Mavic marketing would have you believe.My dh bike is light.

I am sure that your bike is light. No question about it. May be you're a skinny dude with mad skills and running 40 psi in each tire? Who knows? I still think recommending the 819 as the ultimate light DH wheel set doesn’t make sense. Who want to ride DH on a rim that narrow anyway? Anything bigger than a 2.2/2.3 would suck on it.

As far as marketing my approach is simple. I try everything, ditch what doesn't make sense and use what works for me

forgot to mention: I love my 819s.. Just not on my DH bike!!!

 

[frorider]

i've had 819 rims on my xc and am bikes for a long time. overall they work okay as a rear rim but aren't bulletproof. way too narrow to work well with the kind of tires i prefer up front. i can't even imagine using them as a DH rim unless i lost 60 lbs of muscle and only rode loamy trails that don't require a real tire with a biggish footprint.

 

[JK:UK]

well yeah i guess it's not the approach for everyone, but 40psi and 2.5" tyres are on too! nope, the pressures aren't quite that high, but i'm just saying what works for me!

 

[JK:UK]

ps. i weigh about 160lbs.