Guys, I have a 15.5lb road bike, but a heffer of a mountain bike.

Grad school and The Girl cut into my funding, and I've recently accumulated $200 in book returns on Amazon. I wanna build up a set of wheels to replace my stock ones on my Gary Fisher Cobia (with SuperCal Fox 32 fork ).

Gonna Use stan's 29'er rims, and DT Revo spokes (or CX rays if I can afford them later.)

For front and rear hubs, what are my best options when looking for a set with this criteria?:
* 135mm
* Disc (preferably 6 bolt)
* 9mm QR Traditional Axle
*** DURABLE FREEHUB
*** No more than $250-300 for both hubs
- I would like to stay with a silver/light/white option, but not 100% necessary.

I have to flush or replace the freehub on my Shimano M475 alloy hubs like every six months... I'm a knowledgeable roadie, but I don't know a whole lot about MTB componentry yet, so not sure whether this is just because they're low end hubs or if West Virginia mud is farking them up quickly?

I haven't bought rims yet, so number of spoke holes isn't too important yet. My LBS said he built up a pair of HOPE hubs recently, and really really liked their quality, serviceability, and the capability of changing the axle size.

Whadd'ya say guys? I know how to WW things up, but it's tough with limits. What would you suggest, and what should I look for when getting hubs?

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You can just squeeze some Hope hubs in on your budget. They'd be ~495g/set for your budget of $300 from CRC.

Another option is bikehubstore's hubs. They've got a good track record on the road, but I haven't looked too much into it for MTB - might be worth reading about as they are lighter (~414g/set) and cheaper (~130-150/set), meaning you could get the nicer spokes.

Other options include buying some XT hubs. Which'd run you about the same price as the BHS, but most likely be heavier.

I can't give you real advice as I don't have personal experience with any of them - but this might give you some ideas to go researching.

PMR - Thanks for the advice, that's a good start.

Also, are hope hubs the de-facto WW mtb hubs?

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Hope hubs are excellent, and are made 30 miles from my house. They can cope with East Lancs mud so I'm sure West Virginia mud will be no problem.

Only issue may be they need a cassette with a spider (ie >SLX/PG970) as there are reports of the alloy freehub body getting grooves with non-spider cassettes. They do make a steel freehub body though, and their customer service is said to be outstanding (haven't had to find out, and run Hope hubs and brakes).

Andy

Hope ProII hubs are excellent value for money, but IMHO they are not WW hubs. My rear Pro II is close to 300g vs 215g for my Tune Kong.

For your budget I think they are the best. I run them on one of my bikes since 5 years, and they have been very smooth and trouble-free.

Stefan

Another thought that occurs if you want to use Hope hubs and Stan's rims is that you might be as well looking at Hope Hoops - good wheels and will almost certainly be cheaper than a custom build for the same spec.

Andy

The ones on amazon seem to run about 5-10% more than it would cost me to buy and build. (Amazon credits = only cash right now.) I could totally snag the front wheel for that price!

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