Hi, apologies for dark side content.
So I’m going to get another pair of wheels for my road bike, a winter set and summer set. I’ve got DT Swiss spline r24s at the moment.
Question is this – should I get a cheap set for wet riding, or should I get a more expensive set for summer riding. Obviously we all know which way I’m tempted to go.
But would a more expensive set make much difference to summer sportive type riding? I don’t do racing or anything serious.

I dropped 1kg swapping my stock wheels/tyres, which is a massive difference on a (then) 9kg bike. Less stark, still noticeable but unsure if it made me any faster – the new wheels also felt much stiffer, which was nice.

See what weight you could drop

First time I stuck my Reynolds 46’s in my road bike, I over-steered into a bush!

Wheels maketh the bike in my opinion, I’d be inclined to buy some nice summer wheels and use your DT’s for winter riding.

Just the encouragement I needed to buy some new gear. Thanks. 😆

Any recommendations?

Only if you plan on racing.

Otherwise just buy ones with good braketracks and easily servicable and reliable hubs.

If you’re riding a sportive I’d just go on whatever the most comfortable bike you have is. Maybe you might gain something buying some that are tubeless compatiable so you can run lower pressures on larger tyres? Sounds like a good idea.

Unless you’re planning on shouting strava at people on a sportive.

A decent set of summer wheels would be the better option, use what you have for the winter.

MavM40C’s are reasonable and light but strong and very very reliable.. doubtful whether you’d find the limits of destruction on them and lifetime warranty too.

You’ll be lugging the winter wheels around and not caring much about them, come the spring and you’ll fit the lighter ones on and feel the difference pretty much immediately ..

Whilst wheels are a huge part of a road bike’s overall performance, the R24’s are no slouches as basic OEM wheels go, they’re certainly not the 2KG, flexy boat anchors some bikes come with.

So I’d only bother upgrading if you can go considerably lighter or considerably more aero.

Otherwise you’re not going to get that much difference.

After your tyres, your wheels are the most important part of the bike.

Hope that helps your decision. 🙂

As above, rims and tyres def make the most difference. Good call in tubeless too!

What’s yer budget?

You might have to get a little spenny to make a significant weight saving.

These have a claimed weight of 1,470 grams, £550:

https://www.merlincycles.com/campagnolo-neutron-ultra-clincher-wheel-set-76087.html

I’d personally go for some Summer “specials” and keep the stock set for now… It’s slower riding in the Winter so the additional weight will give you more of a work out lol. My TCR Pro has some seriously light wheels straight out of the box but if I was thinking of changing them I’d be checking out “Hunt wheels”… sub 1500g and they’ll stick some tubeless tires on for less than retail cost on top… Reviews are good

Buy the heaviest wheels you can find for winter training, and then existing wheels for summer. You will be awesome come the summer