My road bike is currently fitted with Mavic Aksium wheels, which came stock with the bike.

Although they have stayed fairly true, minor tweaks 3-4 times in 2 years, they creak awfully and seem very flexy.

I built my own MTB wheels and they have been bombproof for 4-5 years, so I am keen to build some road wheels to replace the Aksiums. My budget would be about £3-400 for the parts, my time will be a labour of love! I am about 95kg, typical rides are around the Lancashire/Yorkshire pennines, 50-100km at a time. Non-disk at this point, unless there is a chance for future-proofing?

Let’s have your recommendations for parts which will build up into a nice strong set of wheels. Thanks in advance.

Matt

Bookmarked as I’m in the same boat – although looking for ready made!

Ditto – looking for a set myself, in the utterly reliable format of 32h/32h.
Thats what i’d recommend going for, with standard butted SS spokes.

My rear Aksium also creaks although I am a lump. I love the simplicity of tweaking a ‘standard’ built wheel.

H Plus Son Archetype rims on Shimano Ultegra 32H hubs with Sapim or DT swiss double-butted spokes should get you well in that price point. They should be stiff enough for your weight as well but you could go to 36H if you really wanted to err on the safe side.

If you thought you might want to run tubeless at some point in the future then consider Pacenti SL23 rims but they are more expensive than the Archtypes. Some people are also using the Archetypes tubeless but they are not designed as such.

Something like this (choose Ultegra option):

http://thecycleclinic.co.uk/collections/road-rim-brake-wheelsets/products/h-plus-son-archetype-wheelset-with-shimano-dura-ace-9000-hubs

H Plus Son Archetype rims on Shimano Ultegra 32H hubs with Sapim or DT swiss double-butted spokes should get you well in that price point.

Exactly what I built (with DT Comp spokes). They make a lovely set of wheels for the winter bike. Much preferred to the 105/OpenPro they replaced (though braking was better on the OpenPro.)

Here’s my front…

They are quite heavy, which you may want to consider if you do a lot of climbing. I live down south so I don’t care 🙂

Blimey 1900g + !!

forzafkawl just hit the nail on the head.

Only thing I might be tempted to change is the hubs. Shimano are fantastic but I would quite like to try some Hope Monos so I’d probably go for them if it was me.

40mpg – Member
Blimey 1900g + !!

If you want some stiff, solid reliable wheels that’ll last for ever; get some that weigh 1900g.

mrblobby,

A nice wheel but for future reference you might want to limit the number of spokes that you radially lace with. From memory I think the suggested limit might be 24 but I could be wrong. This is because the extra strain that each spoke puts on the hub flange with a radial spoke pattern.

Obviously the more spokes you have then the smaller the distance between them and the less metal you have in the flange. You probably won’t have any problems with 32 spokes but I’d keep an eye on it over time if I were you.

Don’t forget, if you’re looking at the weights of handbuilt Shimano wheels, that there’s an additional 200grams worth of steel axles in there, compared with something a bit more ‘aluminium-ey’…

So, in terms of nippiness, that lovely acceleration you get with light wheels, 1900g Shimano wheels feel like 1700g non-Shimano wheels.

Sort of.

Ish.

Yeah I didn’t really want quite so many spokes but I got a deal on 32H rims. All front wheels use to be built radial BITD too!

Re weight, they don’t really feel like heavy wheels despite the weight. Not super fast accelerating but once up to speed they hold it really well. And Shimano cup and cone hubs are silky smooth 🙂

Well the budget will get you a set of
http://www.justridingalong.com/wheels/jra/jawbone-wheelset-380-440.html from Just Riding Along, built and ready to go. Pick your exact spec to suit.

I’ve had a pair of the Build 3’s a bit over a year and so far they’ve been faultless. Light enough, sodding stiff (although my ultimate power output isn’t huge) and 24/28 spoke should be pretty tough – certainly I’ve had no issues on Peaks roads.

I think the Pacenti rim is about the best on the market at the mo (although H+Son are very nice too), CX Rays are a bargain upgrade at that price, and the hubs have quite a good rep too (the only down side is the click isn’t as nice as Hope).

HUNT Race Aero Wheelset

These look good for ready built.