[sanjuro]

After the big discussion about ZTR rims, I was curious about people's opinions about Sun vs Mavic. I use Mavics except for a pair of Big Fat Mammoths on a commuter (no truing in 6 years).

Frankly, I do not even know which Sun rim to use for what app. I was wondering what people run out there and why.

 

[thaflyinfatman]

I've used 321s, 521, Singletracks and Mammoths. The Mammoths aren't very good IMO, they buckle and flatspot relatively easily (I used them for dirtjumping and urban hacking), especially the second any spokes loosen. The Singletracks were decent as long as they were kept up perfectly tight. The 321s are great, very hard to buckle but not so hard to put a small flatspot/ding in (although that's totally rider error on my part). The standout however is the 521. Those things are infreakindestructible. I beat the crap out of mine for two years, never managed to flatspot it, buckled it a bit but it always trued up nicely. Rode it with loose spokes, rode it WITHOUT spokes, it still just wouldn't die. I love those rims!

Anyway, to me it seems that Suns are decent but are very sensitive to spoke tension, whereas the Mavics are good (particularly the 521) flat out. Pretty hard to fault the 321 either I suppose, the damage I've done to mine has been due to making mistakes rather than poor rim/wheel build.

It's pretty hard to generalise though... one brand isn't necessarily "better" than another. Some Mavics are great, some Suns are bad, some Suns are great, some Mavics are bad. Depends on which one individually IMO.

 

[zedro]

The standout however is the 521. Those things are infreakindestructible. I beat the crap out of mine for two years, never managed to flatspot it, buckled it a bit but it always trued up nicely. Rode it with loose spokes, rode it WITHOUT spokes, it still just wouldn't die. I love those rims!

yeah, so stiff they're perfect for the lazy mechanic. My Arrow FRX was the same way, although it is a heavier rim. Both will tend to 'give' at the side wall, like a dent, rather than flat spot it seems

 

[springfield1911]

I have used my mavic deeMax for 4 years now with no trouble whatsoever. And the 321's on my hardtail seems to run forever.

springfield1911

 

[ChrisRobin]

I've used Doublewides, singletracks, 521s and now Atomlab DHRs.

If I had a choice right now to get a new set of rims, I'd be going for the Mavic 521 equivalent (729?? or 721??).

 

[seismic]

Used the 321 ...very nice rim...run Arrow DHX now...super burly !

 

[Strakar]

The standout however is the 521. Those things are infreakindestructible. I beat the crap out of mine for two years, never managed to flatspot it, buckled it a bit but it always trued up nicely. Rode it with loose spokes, rode it WITHOUT spokes, it still just wouldn't die. I love those rims!

Exactly the same experience I've had.

I've crashed (really) hard and every time I've been able to re-tension the wheel back to it's original shape.

I just built a singletrack and a DMR DV rim, I'm hoping that they'll be good rims, I don't have any experience with either one.

 

[ska todd]

Take a look at the new DT rims...FR6.1D...they look VERY promising.

-ska todd

 

[DHS]

SUN rims. or Arrow for that matter. i would be interested in the new DT ones
i like Mavic for racing, haven't had any that have lasted through stair gaps. and i ain't that smooth anyway.

 

[Slugman]

I've run Sun 'Mammoth' on my hardtail before, didn't do much for me. I've Run rhyno lites on both bikes without any complaints. I just check my wheels once a month to make sure everythig was tight. I actually had one rim that lasted through 2 different rear hubs. I eventually did put flat spots on them, but I was riding in Lynn woods in MA - lots of big drops to flat.

Now I have 521 up front and 321 on the back for my hardtail. i like that set up - 521 feels nice and light on the front, and I've cased a couple landings and the 321 was still true and no flats... and I weight 200lbs.

 

[Repack]

This will probablt echo what has already bee said, but here goes:

I have owned/abused Mammoths, Rhyno Lites, 521's, 321's, and Double Wides. (Can't remember, the Mammoths had the black vynal tape?) Also, in many years as a mechanic, I have worked on many other rims from Sun, Mavic and others. One thing that I found is that seemingly across the board, Mavics are made out of a stiffer alloy. Sun uses a softer alloy on some of its DH rims to allow for a flat spot where a pinch flat might otherwise happen. Interesting logic. I will likey never use a Sun rim again for DH, but I love the Rhyno Lite as a heavy duty trail rim.
My DH riding evperience is that Sun rims turn into octagon-like shapes after much use, but Mavic's moght develop some small crakcs around the sorat dents, but it seems to have no effect on trueness.
I'm short on time, but the last strw for me was when the Intense mechanics were relacing their wheels to Mavic 521's b/c they were so fed up with the performance of the SIngle Tracks. It was the first time I had heard of them referred to as Single Runs.

 

[Spunger]

I have a set of the D521's (EX721's) on my all around bike. They seem like very solid built rims, that if in a pinch I'd toss on my DH bike and use them.

I run Arrow DHX's. They have to be some of the beefiest rims you'll find. I weigh 240lbs with gear so and I am not smooth so this works.

I think Sun rims MTX's are suspose to be pretty decent. Alot of members run them and it doesn't seem there's too many complaints.

I'd still pick Mavic's over Sun rims. They just have a better proven track record with many people and even shops. I know the only issues you hear is their tubeless rims and it has nothing to do with the tubeless part. Mavic just needs to make a EX728 tubeless instead of all this gram cutting to make their DH tubeless rim. Too many people are eating them up.

 

[Repack]

EDIT: The only drawback to the 521 that I know of is that it is a single eyelet rime. I believe that the 721 is built the same way. If 521's were laced to discs, the warranty was voided. I have only seen a couple of 521 eyelets crack, but it was after a couple of seasons of use. I would certainly not call it premature wear, but a 321 will last longer. The 521 was Mavic's original purpose-built DH rim. They came out before discs are a requirement.

But it still seems stupid to me that a Mavic Open Pro road rim has double eyelets, but a 521/721 does not.

 

[Acadian]

EDIT: The only drawback to the 521 that I know of is that it is a single eyelet rime. I believe that the 721 is built the same way. If 521's were laced to discs, the warranty was voided. I have only seen a couple of 521 eyelets crack, but it was after a couple of seasons of use. I would certainly not call it premature wear, but a 321 will last longer. The 521 was Mavic's original purpose-built DH rim. They came out before discs are a requirement.

But it still seems stupid to me that a Mavic Open Pro road rim has double eyelets, but a 521/721 does not.

what is also strange - Mavic says it void warranty if you use discs with 521's, yet most of their sonsored riders use them.

 

[Spunger]

what is also strange - Mavic says it void warranty if you use discs with 521's, yet most of their sonsored riders use them.

I guess that's the perks of being sponsored rider. It's nice of them to let the pro's run them, normal people see that and go build a wheelset up and then find out they crack or bust.

 

[Repack]

what is also strange - Mavic says it void warranty if you use discs with 521's, yet most of their sonsored riders use them.

B/c they are narrower than the 321 and lighter. It keeps the tire rounder but is strong enough that it will not blow up unexpectedly. As I originally said, while they do develop cracks, it takes a while for them to show. I have built many 521's for use with discs at a custommers request. They were informed of the warranty status, but did not care. I have even raced DH on them. The fastest that I have ever seeb eyelet cracks develop is ~2 seasons. The 521 disc wheels that I built were mostly for FR bikes. I weigh 200+ and raced them DH with no trouble. But I am a very good wheel builder and fairly smooth for someone my size.

 

[mobius]

I was having the same question about rims the other day but pretty much come to the conclusion that sun rims are more affordable but they require more work. I have singletracks on my heckler and they get little wobbles in them but if you keep the rims in check they will hold up. I had 321s and they held up great and i didnt check them ever in the season and they were fine. I'd definetly run 521/721 instead of singletracks if i could get the money for them to put them on my trail bike. Sadly mavic doesnt make 24" rears so i gotta get the sun mtx rims.


the DT rims definetly look nice and i might get some of those for my bikes.