I’m looking at a new pair of new road wheels.

Will I notice the difference substantially between

Giant SR-2 wheels that I currently have that are the stock wheels on the defy
OR
Mavic Ksyrium
OR
Hunt Race Aero – Road Wheelset

The aero wheels don’t seem that much more aero, but are a little (very little) lighter than the mavic’s.

If you can save a couple of hundred grams you’ll notice the difference.

It won’t make you a world class athlete but you’ll notice it’s slightly easier 😆

I’ve never tried aero wheels so no idea how much change that will make 8)

only if they have more cooler stickers.

Aero beats weight every time. Ideally you want light and deep, but that ain’t cheap.

Aero beats weight every time.

I think that depends….

When I had a Defy, I swapped the stock wheels for Ultegra ones and the difference felt massive. For general riding (ie. not racing or tting) I would take light weight over aero any day.

I have a Giant Defy 1 which I picked up a few years ago, I ran the stock wheels for ages but then got some Fulcram wheels whcih are slightly aero from a buddy second hand and it made the bike feel quicker off the mark and carry speed better, I set loads of new PR’s on my commute too!

You’ll def notice the difference.

Aero beats weight every time

[Panto] Oh no it doesn’t![/panto] 😈

Windy days, for example?

Campag Zonda C17s, in either q/r or bolt thru, are supposed to be decent upgrades. The bolt thru disc variant are £400 at Probikekit and they now have the 6-bolt disc with Shimano freehub in stock.

I moved from an older pair of Ksyriums to a set of Nextie Carbon rims on DT Swiss hubs. I didn’t notice a massive difference at first but when I swapped them back the Ksyriums felt noticeably vaguer around corners.

Is Campag AFS the same as Centrelock? Does anyone know what size bolt-thru they are? 12mm?

Yes you will notice the difference, mainly in lightness for accelerations and stiffness for handling. I have the same wheels on one of the teen;s Defy and swapped them to some old Ksyriums.

Windy days, for example?

Most people forget that when cycling INTO a headwind, the advantages of aero wheels are greater then normal. You do, of course have to be able to handle cross winds – and that can be very tricky when it’s really blowing. In October, I raced my 60 mm wheels at Paignton Velopark on my aero bike in a very strong cross wind, and the 40 mph gusts almost took me off!

Aero beats weight every time

yep, in this years national hill climb the go to wheel was an 80mm zipp…

If you’re spending small money (i.e. less than 500 quid), don’t go aero they’ll be a brick (unless, perhaps they’re chinese carbon).

You do, of course have to be able to handle cross winds – and that can be very tricky when it’s really blowing. In October, I raced my 60 mm wheels at Paignton Velopark on my aero bike in a very strong cross wind, and the 40 mph gusts almost took me off!

I bought a set of 80mm rim wheels. Probably 8 months of the year here it’s windy during my main riding times and my first ride on the 80s was the last. Utterly uncontrollable in crosswinds, and I was moving so much on the road it was dangerous. Regular wheelset is 30mm, that’ll do unless I start to race.

when I swapped them back the Ksyriums felt noticeably vaguer around corners.

Try fitting some tyres next time 🙂

Superstar elite 30 good value, £230 but no doubt a discount code is imminent. Check them when they arrive and you’ll be fine, just over 1500g and 30mm deep. Just Kinlins on standard hubs but they work and they look nice.

yep, in this years national hill climb the go to wheel was an 80mm zipp…

Yet it was won on a pair of much lower profile carbon rims, or it could’ve been the rider 😉

The top 3 were all on shallow’ish lightweight rims

Utterly uncontrollable in crosswinds

Most serious testers have gone to 60 mm on the front, unless they are heavy – bike control is seriously affected.

A 45 mm aero wheel is an excellent all rounder, a 30 looks a bit shallow – and I have CXP33s, pSLR aero 45s and 60s. Nothing deeper on the front!

Small plug to the OP… If you’re after some Ksyriums on the cheap, I am selling some brand new for a good price right now, and I’m not too far from you either.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-road-bike-wheels-disc-non-disc-brand-new-unused-mavic-dt-swiss

As for the original question… Generally the faster you’re going (or trying to go) the more you’ll notice a wheel upgrade. Your original Giant SR-2 wheels are very heavy entry level wheels, so even something like the Ksyriums will be a significant upgrade. Splashing out on a full aero setup will be faster once you are going faster, but you probably won’t notice it as much until you are. And aero wheels are invariably heavier unless you’re spending some decent money too (or they’re not offering any proper aero advantage even if they claim to be).

In short, almost any half decent £200+ wheelset will make a noticeable improvement to your bike vs the stock wheels. After this it’s a law of diminishing returns though, and you need to spend a lot more to make a small improvement (which you may or may not notice depending on how fast you are).

A 45 mm aero wheel is an excellent all rounder

Agreed.

Anything deeper (for general road riding this is) and the extra aero benefits are usually outweighed by the downsides. Anything much shallower won’t bring much of an aero benefit.

I’ve ridden a fair number of wheels of differing profiles, and just find as a superb all rounder, my 42mm Reynolds Assaults are a fantastic all round setup. There’s faster wheels and there’s lighter wheels out there, but not much else competes as a superb “Jack of all trades” setup.

yep, in this years national hill climb the go to wheel was an 80mm zipp…
Yet it was won on a pair of much lower profile carbon rims, or it could’ve been the rider

sorry, I should have used the [sarcasm] tag…

It sounds like the wheels I’m thinking about will help out so will look at getting them

mboy- If it wasn’t right before Christmas I might’ve snapped them up, I’ll send a message in the new year if that’s ok to see if they’re still available then (doubt it mind)

Dunno what Defy you have, but I used Ksyrium Elites on my old Defy Advanced and they were a really good match, the frame had a bit of a vague feel with the stock wheels and the Mavics sharpened it up nicely.

They’re quite a “direct” wheel so they make a bike fast, but can be a bit harsh with some frames.

PS. they’ll be a big difference to the stock wheels yeah

It’s stiffness that makes a difference and you’ll feel it from the first time you turn a corner or climb a hill. For amateurs I bet aero makes little difference. I love my Ksyrium SLs and am just trying to source a new rim for the rear wheel because I don’t want to stop using them for want of a worn rim.

Aero beats weight every time

I’d not class any of those wheels as aero.

If your after a decent set of wheels for training then either of those will be fine and will feel quite a bit different to the Giant ones, mostly due to less weight. They’ll just feel a bit quicker as they’ll accelerate that bit quicker. I might go for the Hunt because I could easily source replacement parts, or I might go for the Mavic as they look a bit nicer and they’re apparently very good tubeless.

Properly deep section aero wheels (50+ mm) you need to be going quick to get the benefit, and the faster you go the more benefit you get. Also if you’re not going quick then they can be a handful. Pootling to the start line with an 808 (80mm) on the front of the TT bike on a windy day can have me wondering if I’ve not made a big mistake, but once I’m up over 25mph it’s usually very stable. And as TiRed said, on a windy day if into a headwind you want every bit of aero gain you can get.

For amateurs I bet aero makes little difference.

Depends what you’re amateur at and what you categorise as a difference I guess. On z2 training rides if I go from my normal training wheels (which are a bit like those Hunt ones) to a set of 404 then my average speed on rides goes up about 1 mph.

I think the Giant wheels are pretty good. Probably equivalent to the alternative wheels you’ve listed. I think you’ll need to go up a notch or two to notice a difference.

I’m just looking at the Prime wheels on wiggle to throw on my winter bike. Road/cx/grrrravel bike.

The Pelotons look fine and 1870g isn’t too bad (and is much lighter than the ones I currently hatehave on it) and are £99 or £110 for disc.

The Race are around 1470g I think and just over £200 from memory.

They also do some nice looking carbon ones for £450ish and up, The shallow ones are around 1370g.

Are you after disc wheels or rim?

If rim Have a look at Cero AR24’s £189 and light.

Everything I read suggested aero only made a difference above 22mph.

Hunt aero alloy wheels aren’t actually aero. I own a set, however because of the v shaped profile they suffer in cross winds,(worse than zipp 58cm deep u shape carbon) build quality and materials are poor too IME . I rode a set of ksyrium sl in Majorca this summer and they were brilliant would have them every day over the Hunt. I put them on after a couple of days on stock hire wheels and they made a noticeable and measurable difference in terms of power output required on the climbs.

I’m just looking at the Prime wheels on wiggle to throw on my winter bike. Road/cx/grrrravel bike.

I just bought some of the Prime RP-38 carbon clinchers. Reasonable price for a carbon wheel and about the right combination (for me) of depth vs lightweight. They’re nice wheels, if the gravel version are as good then you won’t go wrong with them.

It’s a CRC own brand but that should mean decent warranty and back-up.

Mary Hinge – I bough the Wiggle Prime Peloton Discs for my winter bike as I couldn’t find anything else with a cost/weight ratio that came close.
Done about 1k miles on them,very happy with them.