looking for a lightish wheelset for my (yet to be built) summer road bike

liking the look of the aero hope hoops but if the sp3 hubs are as loud as pro2 i'm not sure they'd be welcome on the club ride. how would we hear all the witty chat and cake eating over that? ( yes, i shouldn't be freewheeling, i know…)

the krysium elites were £325 yesterday – don't seem such good value at £360.

both about 1550g, by all accounts.

any thoughts or obvious alternatives i've missed for similar money? total build will be circa £2500, should i be spending more on the wheels?

Campag Neutron is a nice wheelset or alternatively Eurus if you prefer medium deep section rims.

quite bit more money though. and might look odd with the ultegra group 😉

I'm sure folk will be along to recommend handbuilt Open Pro/Ultegra style things shortly, but I'm a big fan of Mavic factory wheels.

The Elites are decent enough and as robust as these things get, not the lightest but light weight is overrated.

Another alternative is to pop into your LBS and see what they can flog you.

The Krysium Elite are fantastic wheels; strong enough for even the biggest rider, light enough for everyone else.

The Elite are nice and the freewheel is quieter than my Ksyrium ES'.
Have you looked at the Fulcrum wheels, they are nice too.

I think I'd be spending a higher proportion on wheels.

I'd be looking at tubeless

How about Reynolds, Ritchey or FFWD Fast Forward Wheels?

planet x model b

how about the planet x model b. Just ordered another set for my road bike ( use them all year round and front has lasted 1.5 years but 2 bad winters. There quite light as well and feel there quite quick and good looking. £99

If you want some road wheels that are light, and a decent price, get some XERO's. I had some a few years back, cost me £150 or so for the pair (not through a shop mind..), they were actually the same weight as the top end Ksyriums at the time. Worth a look!

My Ksyrium Elites have been just great. Not a problem in the last 15 months or so.

I went for Elites as seemed a good balance between cost, weight and strength.

I was looking at the Hope Aeros a few months back but just couldn't imagine a hub that noisy on the road so I got some handbuilt open pro / ultegras which are great at this time of year, especially when failing to avoid potholes in the dark but weight about 1800g. Come the summer I think i'll look at the Mavics or maybe the Ultegra 6700 tubeless wheels.
The most important thing with factory wheels is to make sure that spares are readily available (preferably at your LBS).

I've had a pair of Elites for nearly 4 years which have done 1000s and 1000s of miles. Bearings in the R hub have just expired other than that, they've been as good as gold.

Seems bizarre that Mtb wheels are so much lighter.

cynic-al – Always amazes me too. Guess it's because of the larger wheel (realistically only accounts for an extra 3" of extrusion on the rim) and the far higher pressures the rim has to deal with.

In addition, road rims have braking surfaces which have to be made thick enough to stand a bit of wear. MTB wheels tend to use disc brakes, hence the rim can be lighter. Add in the weight of a couple of rotors (125g for 160mm??) for a better comparison.

Replaced gash Xero XCR-1s with Ksyrium Elites last year when only Merlin was doing them for £350 (cheapest everywhere else was £400+).

Fantastic. Light enough at 1500g, and strong as. I rode them in the Étape last year, and will be battering them on the cobbles of Flanders this year.

Thoroughly recommended.

@ cynic-al – Ever heard of the german brand 'Lightweight' ? 1080g/Pair for the 'Standard' model. 😛

Got the Elites and a set of Fulcrum 3's
Both are really good but the Elites have the edge for the road.
When I asked around the Elites were recommended by several people including my LBS

Cheers paddy – how much?

Druidh I don't see how discs are relevant…and what about 355s?

Ah. £2K. Don't mtb wheels get light more cheaply?

I had a pair of the older elites and they were fine for 3/4 years but then the rear hub just "blew up". There was a thread on here a couple of weeks ago and the same thing had happened to that Guy's.

I would still buy another pair – even at full price for factory built wheels they seem like a good deal re price versus weight compared with the much more considerably expensive ES/SL/Premium models.

Personally I would take a step down in groupset to get a better a wheelset (e.g. Ultegra rather than DA) if money was tight

which better wheelset though? budget isn't fixed so – couple of hundred quid more?

so: which wheels for £500?

seems to be very little choice below about 1550g, even getting down to 1450-1480 seems to cost £££

they say it's not all about weight, so after the collective's widom

Fulcrum Racing 3's; light, stiff, campag bearings. They don't need rimtape and take tubeless. There are some 2009's still kicking around for about £350…?

Hi,shimano dura ace 7850 CL are 1380 grams or near, get rid of the supplied DA QR skewers and replace with some KCNC ones and you will have a very lightweight, strong and free running wheelset. They also have alloy braking surfaces. Was recommended them by them by epic cycles guys, as i too was looking at Mavics originally. I rate the shimano ones with KCNC very highly, ridden for 1200 miles last year with no problems, anyway, hope this is of some help.

Can anyone calculate some silly lightweight hubs + revolurion spokes + stans crest rims?

A road wheel being aero is more important at the sort of speeds you travel on a race bike, as well as them being bigger means the wheels are heavier.

I have a light-ish set of open pros on Ultegra as they get used as both my training wheels as well as my cross race wheels. Built by Hewitt cycles, they are proving to be nearly bomb proof.

I also got a pair of Krysium elites second hand but I haven't really used them loads. They seem ok, no complaints about them yet.

What do you want the wheels for?

not racing! i have a racelight T for winter training and touring – it's been doing all my road work till now as the only roadie in the garage.

will be building up a summer bike over the next few months, most likely a cervelo RS with ultegra. to be used for loooooooooooooong days out, sportives, club runs when i don't need 'guards etc.

more interested in lightweight for climbing than for aero for speed. i'm about 83kg, so not looking to go Uberlight.

marmotte ultimate goal, really, in a couple of years. though i'd like to be significantly <80kg at that point though…

A road wheel being aero is more important at the sort of speeds you travel on a race bike, as well as them being bigger means the wheels are heavier.

Why do no pros use aero rims road racing then?

sockpuppet – in which case, the Ksyrium Elites will be just the job.

Sounds like a nice build. Enjoy..!

Why do no pros use aero rims road racing then?

Er, they do.

Shimano RS80s seem to be well recieved, and alarmingly good VFM: Shimano Ultegra hubs with the same "Carbon Laminate" (read: thin alloy + thin carbon + a bit more carbon where needed) rims as the Dura Ace CL 850 wheels. 1521g for £325 from Merlin.

Or on a completely different note and £££, Ambrosio Excellights on PMP hubs, with Sapim CX-Ray spokes for £525. Nom nom nom!

Considered American Classic Sprint 350s?

£400 – 1410g

We've sold an awful lot and had no issues yet, ive got the hubs on one of my mtbs and they have been faultless, freehub design is good too, very little drag.

The mavics are always a great buy though.

I have a set of the older versions of K. elites.
As training wheels they were a bit of a disappointment next to my other pairs of higher end Ksyriums (need frequent re-truing) , but the steel spokes aren't as prone to snapping so thats in their favour.
I'd certainly look at the updated versions if I was buying again, but a set of black CXP33s on Tune/ DT/ Dura-ace hubs would be my first choice.

The Fulcrum/Campagnolo wheels mentioned are slightly better quality than Mavics, but what always puts me off them is how tight most tyre beads sit on them, (important if you ever puncture), and the often narrow brake tracks.

Why do no pros use aero rims road racing then?

Err. Point out to me a pro racing setup which isn't then? Even the climbers are using wheels which are slightly aero. Krysiums use bladed spokes and a slightly aero rim, which adds to the weight. If weight was all they were interested in, then they wouldn't have this.

OK "why don't all road pros use aero rims in races"?

Traildog – rim depth = strength, you can't assume every rim with a bit of depth is "aero" – I was meaning the likes of CXP etc.

Aero rims mean weight more, but more importantly aren't as comfy and don't handle as well. So take your choice.

Not sure what you're saying regarding CXPs. I have a CXP wheelset for cross, but I usually use Open Pros for racing as these have proved more than strong enough. Looking out for some GP4s though.

I recommended CXP 33s too, cant say I've ever found them too stiff or bad handling (I've yet to ride a 'too stiff road wheel'!) though they seem to last longer than Open pros, even the braking surface.

The DA 7850-CLs are really nice wheels, where my money would go if I was after new road wheels.

FFWD do some good value properly light wheels, but they go to tubs.

Can anyone calculate some silly lightweight hubs + revolurion spokes + stans crest rims?

We've had this conversation, Crest rims are disc specific and thus not particularly useful on the road. I'd also be concerned about pressures. You could possibly use the old 29er 355s, but that would be a bit pointless, just wait for the new ZTR Road rims.

I had some Aeolus 5.0 clinchers, and although they weren't that heavy at 1600g, they felt slow and sluggish on the climbs. I'd be really interested to try something like FFWD F4Rs, 40mm deep and 1200g-ish. Or the Reynolds/Lew Rzrs, or the new Lightweight Standard III Clinchers, both of which are properly nuts.