To cut to the chase…
New higher end 26” rim brake wheels are no longer made. NOS, or excellent, used higher end wheels go for a fortune on eBay. Cheap 26” wheels are still relatively easy to find, but may not be worth it.
You first job is to measure the dropout width. It is probably 130mm or 135mm. Before you do anything, you need to know that number. Pretty easy to do. Take out the rear wheel and measure it. 130mm = 5-1/8”, 135mm = 5-5/16”. If you can’t do that you have nothing as no one can tell you, and the previous owner may have cold set it to 135mm for a better chainline.
The wheelset I would look for is a Sun Rhyno Lite with Deore T610 hubs. The hubs are decent, and easy to service. You, or an LBS, need to re-pack with grease and adjust. Even though they are new a lot of new Shimano hubs are not adjusted properly. If you don’t do that you’ll be posting again in a few years. Usually they are 135mm OLD, but it is possible to take them to 130mm/132mm and that should work.
Velomine used to have this wheelset, I bought one as a backup to one of our bikes or for our son. It is not light, but it seems pretty bullet proof. You can also find them on eBay, usually sold by Velomine, or other mass producers.
They are getting a bit tougher to get since decent non-disc mtb hubs are no longer being made.
Good luck.
John
Last edited by 70sSanO; 07-13-21 at 09:22 AM.