Laura, I don't have the bike here, it's in the shop but the components are Shimano XT 2003 vintage. The fork says "scarab" on it, not sure if that's the brand or model. Wheelset is Cane Creek Zonos SS that I had bought in 02 for my old mtn bike.

Bike shop guy says the brakes aren't traveling correctly when weight is put on the fork, does that make sense, so new brakes won't work. That's why he's recommending disc brakes, if the fork is bent the brakes won't touch the rim. If you turn the bike upside down and spin the wheel it spins perfectly.

If you look at it the space between the brake and rim it looks clear. I've tried moving the brake away from the rim but as soon as I brake the noise comes right back. A friend suggested I change the way the spacers were arranged, I did, but I ended up losing one of the spacers and yea! no noise. Last year the shop that tuned it insisted on reinstalling the spacer and the noise came back.

The shop is recommending the Mavic Crossride wheelset for $270,if I do front and back. They say they are good entry level wheels. Will I be happy downgrading my wheelset? I paid $500 for the Zonos wheelset and it has around 2,000 miles on them. Is an entry level wheelset of today equilivent to the higher end wheelset of 10 years ago? I'm a super light weight and I don't need an overbuilt wheelset. I just don't know enough about wheelsets to determine what is right for me. For my road bike I had my wheelset handbuilt, which the shop said they can do for about $650.

Thanks for your help, I trust the shop but just need more information.



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