My rear wheel, (Shimano R500) on my kaffenback commuter/road/very easy CX bike is on the way out after 4,500 miles. The spokes keep breaking and the bearings are ****

So recommend me a new one please. Budget of £100, should be
1) Virtually maintenance free
2) Round
3) Strong enough to bump up / down kerbs & ride down the ridgeway in a jeyboy stylee
4) Not silly heavy
5) 9 speed compatable

Ta

ps what’s a “clincher” wheel?

Parker build a 105 hub / mavic open pro wheel for about £100, which is what I’m thinking of getting, but I’m not sure if the hub will work with 9 speed too. It shouldn’t be massively heavy I guess. I figure getting something that is easy to repair if I do break it makes sense, rather than the stupid Bontrager wheel I currently have, which is a right hassle to true.

Clincher means not tubular tyres, ie. normal tyres that have an inner tube in.

Joe

‘clincher’, conventional hooked bead seating in hooked rim, i.e. not a tubular.

I’d try to pick up a 130mm spaced cartridge bearing rear hub and lace it 3 cross to an open sport or CXP33. An old 130mm hope mono would be perfect.

Is the Kaff steel? I’ve run 135mm mtb hubs in the back end of my steel tourer no problems.

Second a 105 hub laced to a 32 hole ceramic Open Pro (for braking surface longevity) using double butted spokes.

I can recommend just the person (mail me if you want to know more), and it will cost you less than £100….

I’ve used a set of Mavic Aksiums for commuting for the past 18 months. Done about 8000 miles on them and the bearings still feel good. 4 loose spokes on the rear at the moment which I need to get fixed and funnily enough I’ve got r500 wheels on at the moment and a spoke on the rear during the week.

and the rims are worn down to the brake level indicator, which isn’t bad for over 8000 miles.

Mavic Aksiums

I would beware of Mavic special wheels with funny spokes – getting the spokes can be a nightmare, especially if you keep them for long enough for a new model to come out, meaning they are a special order from France item. Person I knew it took several months before their wheel was rideable again after they broke a couple of spokes.

Joe

Spa Cycles in Harrogate do some good builds. I recently got a Rigida Chrina on XT for my Roadrat from them for £95.

As most have said get a wheel built 105/ultegra/hope hub on ambrosio rims something like evolution/excursion/excellence all very good, or go open pro, open sport. If it was me I’d go for hope/ambrosio combination.