Wanting to get some feedback on these for climbing in the Alps. Anyone use them?
cheers

Me

Stiff, ride nicely, accelerate well, braking’s great if you use the special black swissstop pads but a bit screechy when they’re new and the first set of pads will evaporate as the rims bed in.

Bearings are fine so long as you keep them adjusted.

If weight’s the no.1 concern You can build lighter wheels for less money but will they be as tough or ride as well?

I’m a big chap so wanted something reasonably light but very stiff with good braking and cornering, these fit the bill nicely.

Good high quality all rounders really, they’ve been on my ‘Sunday best’ bike for over a year now, have no plans to change them any time soon.

hatter
What sort of bearing adjustments do you have to do?
Also what are they like for climbing?
I’ve heard they are stiff but wondered if they are uncomfortable as well?
cheers

I have a set as well. Bearing adjustment is minimal, you get a wee tool for tightening them up if you get any play in the hub. I last bothered about 2 years ago… Still going strong! They are stiff but I wouldn’t say uncomfortable. Plus mine have one red spoke on each wheel which looks really cool. I was going to run them tubeless when I next need tyres as they don’t require a rim strip, just a valve to do so.

The only issue I have with them is the nylon bushing for the freehub, it wears out and you develop play in the cassette which was driving me mad. I have since fitted the hub doctor upgrade and it’s running really smoothly without the play in the cassette, so all good.

They’re great.
Pain to setup initially and they’ll squeal until the’re bedded in.
And yes you could build something up for less money but they wouldn’t look half as good or be half as reliable.

The Mavic tyre’s they come with are rubbish particularly in the wet and they last 5 minutes.

I may have said this already but they look great 😀

Can’t believe they’re £1200 these days. Sod that, I’d be getting some FarSports carbon clinchers. Two sets. With change.

They’ve brought them into the 21st century with the latest hubs, and once bedded in Exalith rims are good, but they sound horrific until then, spares are still hugely expensive and hard to come by.

What the Beard said about the bearing adjustment, it really is a 2 minute job, nowhere near the faff of cup&cone and if you keep on top of it they run very smoothly indeed.

I hate wheels that flex under heavy cornering or rub the brakes when climbing and the Ksyriums seem very good at not doing this so for me they’re ideal climbing wheels.

Comfort-wise I haven’t noticed any real difference compared to my ‘winter’ wheels (32-spoke handbuilts)

If you’re a 65KG Quintana lookalike the stiffness may be a bit much, otherwise just enjoy the improved cornering and acceleration, you’ll also appreciate the Exalith when you come to ride down the other side.

Like I said, you can probably buy better pure ‘climbing’ wheels for the SLR’s money but they’ll be compromised elsewhere, especially if you’re a bigger rider.

they are nice until a spoke breaks on your rear wheel , and your wheel goes so badly out of true it wont turn as it hits your frame..

In a word unless you like walking for miles after a spoke breaks – avoid like the plague…

I’d go for the Ksyrium 125 instead – £100 cheaper, 40g lighter and have a jazzy yellow spoke.

I didn’t pay any where near 1200 quid.

I’d been wanting a set of these for over a year. Couldn’t decide between the top-end R-SYS SLR and the model down Ksyrium SLR. Anyway, I found them for £700 from a German dealer so took the plunge.
On the bike, they are great wheels: light; responsive… and they look beautiful. There seems to be a slight amount of flex in contrast to my Ksyrium SL wheelset (non-black) but this may be the pads bedding in.
In the space of me ordering them and them arriving, a close friend with the same wheelset noticed that the coating on the front rim had started to wear off. He is a very diligent rider and had only ridden his bike with the SLRs on three times in grimy rain.
Whether his wheel is a bad one or not remains to be seen. For me, these are going to be my best set and only come out in dry weather.

@cubicboy… Which garman shop please?