All this talk of rims wearing out on the disc brake thread has me worried.. my road wheels are old and are getting fairly thin.

They are 32h Mavic Open Pro on Powertap front and rear, but I’m considering my options.

1) Rebuild the same, at a cost of what.. £120 or so at least.

2) Buy some Mavic Aksium or similar. I reckon they would be significantly stiffer than what I have now which would be nice as I am doing more sprinty things and less distance and am now more likely to enter road races one day.

3) Flog the powertap and get something nicer still. I don’t currently use my powertap much but it is nice to have especially for pacing, and one day it might come in handy again.

I just don’t know if different wheels are going to make any difference, I only ride recreationally and for training, so I guess option 1 is the cheapest and best, so I think I’ve answere my own thread. Thanks everyone 🙂

Unless anyone has any better ideas for cheap stiff not too heavy wheelsets like the Aksiums

D – sell me your Powertap 😉

How much is my 2007 wired Powertap SL worth to you then? 🙂

Wheels make a huge difference regardless of how your riding. Training, commuting, recreation or racing you will still feel the difference between a high quality set and a budget set.

So the real question is then do you want to have that difference for recreational riding. I know I did so I bought a very good set of wheels (Shimano Dura Ace C35s) and they are fabulous. Between those and the hand builts there is a world of difference in terms of stiffness and speed and I like that difference a lot.

Aksiums are pretty mediocre; there’s nothing wrong with them but they are heavy and not particularly stiff or responsive. They are however relatively cheap.

Getting your hubs rebuilt would give you the chance to go with something wider though, like the Velocity A24 or the H Plus Son Archetype, both of which are claimed to give you a different tyre profile (being quite a bit wider internally) and therefore a much better ride quality. It’s apparently like how a tubular tyre feels. I use my Archetypes for commuting and with good quality open tubular tyres and latex inner tubes the ride is superb.

Re-rim what you’ve got. A wired SL is worth next to nothing now that the G3 Powertaps have come right down in price. Try lighter/wider rims if you want a change from Open Pros but downgrading to cheap bobbins like Aksiums would be a waste of time.

When I had the wheels built I was offered some sort of V profile rim over the Open Pro.. I guess I could go for that option, could be better for my fat arse. I still need 32H tho.

I assume when you say wider you mean deeper..?

Can you see the wear indicators yet on the braking surface? If not, don’t worry. If you can, rebuild on some lighter wider rims – as above.

Wheels do make a difference. I bought some used Ksyrium Elites and ride them and my Giant p-slr aeros all the time. But keep the powertap – Power will be the next big thing 😉

EDIT: no we mean _wider_, there is about 3mm difference in width between my two wheelsets (and 50mm depth). The Giant wheels make a 23c look like a 15. The mavics with mavic tyres look more like a 20!

Wider as in 23mm width like an Alpha or Archetype. Go deeper and unless they’re carbon they’ll weigh a ton.
Although there’s nothing much wrong with Open Pros. Good solid reliable rims that aren’t too heavy, they’re just not very exciting.

What do wear indicators look like?

And why would I go for wider rims? Is it just about ride quality?

Go deeper and unless they’re carbon they’ll weigh a ton.

Not always – i opted for bontrager aura 5s as i didn’t fancy carbon rims for racing in the rain, they weigh the same as my ultegras but are SO much better.

am now more likely to enter road races one day.

crits you mean, being a sprinter? 😛 let me know when you do, i’m interested to hear what you think of it! meanwhile i’m about to race 410km in 5 days over 6 stages with a few elites / pros…*little voice* GULP.

What do wear indicators look like?

depends on the manufacturer, but your looking for a hole, line or similar. On rims i have seen the rim is anodised black, then has a braking track machined meaning somewhere on the brake track there is a black something. When the black disappears the rim is junk.

To be honest molgrips, I think the advantage of different wheels is oft overstated. I’d buy some Mavic Ksyrium Elites or Equipes depending on your budget and get on with riding.

They’re not the most aero, they’re not the lightest but they are dependable and easy to service and look ok.

I’ve got Elites on my good bike and Equipes on my wet bike and they are good enough.

What do wear indicators look like?

My Open Pros don’t have them.

meanwhile i’m about to race 410km in 5 days over 6 stages with a few elites / pros…*little voice* GULP.

50 miles/day in a bunch? You’ll be fine.

And why would I go for wider rims? Is it just about ride quality?

Pretty much yes, at least that is the theory. Between the C35s I have and the hand built Archetypes, the latter are easily more comfortable than the former BUT I do have different tyres on them so it’s not entirely a fair comparison.

That said I had the Askiums before I had the Archetypes and moved from one to the other with the same tyres and tubes and there was a distinct improvement in ride quality. Not much in all honesty, but enough to be noticeable.

The biggest difference was going to the C35s. They are 35mm deep clinchers with an alloy braking surface and structural carbon fairing so they are both pretty light (about 1600g the pair) and have an aerodynamic advantage without being a handful in cross winds.

I really do love them; nothing is every ‘worth’ the money you pay in terms of the performance gain but the C35s are worth every penny in terms of enjoyment and pleasure.

This is a good thread.. it’s nice to talk about kit sometimes instead of arguing 🙂 Thanks for the advice, I think I will probably save money and go for a slightly different rim when the time comes – jsut for variety 🙂

let me know when you do, i’m interested to hear what you think of it!

Yeah when I find something close enough I will.. might try and get ready for the track this winter though, depends if I can organise it.

I’m with crikey I’ve a pair of aksiums that are at least 5 years old and are straight as a die, more than adequate for the casual roadie that I am ( about 50-100 miles a week)

Me too. My ksyrium elites are really very good. I chose the p-slr aeros as an upgrade for my new bike because it came with normal p-slr wheels, which are DT’s call on the elites. The profile is wider and of course much deeper, but they are both good allround wheels.

I rode the Elites through the winter – buy I bought them used.

Ypu, Aksiums are decent wheels. My brother has fairly hammered his and they were second hand when he got them. Ripped all the spokes out of the rear a couple of weeks ago though, although he was towing a 30kg trailer over Whinlatter pass and they were about 4 years old. Braking surfaces were still pretty good.

Thanks for the advice, I think I will probably save money and go for a slightly different rim when the time comes – jsut for variety

How does that work? Use the same rim you can re-use spokes. Different rim adds to the cost…

I was told not to re-use spokes…

They’ll be fine. If you were changing rims maybe, but OP to OP isn’t a problem.

Hm.

Has anyone had a wheel collapse on them because of rim wear?

What about Fulcrum Racing wheels? I know it’s an all new purchase rather than replacing parts but N+1 applies to all bike parts too, no? (Don’t own them but 2013s are on sale)

I’ve seen a few in shops, one of which was on a ride a friend was on so he verified the loud bang aspect of it. It definitely happens – this was on an mtb before discs though.

My Cannondale came with Aksiums while not the lightest wheel set they do seem pretty tough. The roads around me are terrible and they seem to be holding up pretty well and haven’t found the lack of stiffness a problem with them.

the rear rim on my mavic kyseriums cracked through wear cost a fortune to rebuild apparently so bought some fulcrum 7s which seem fine

I have a pair of used (unbraked as used with discs) open pro rims (32h) goind cheap if you are interested?

Maybe, how true are they? How much?

I’ve worn an Open Pro down so thin that it disintegrated on me whilst going over a busy roundabout. Made a very loud bang and scared the life out of me.

But a new Open Pro rim only costs about £40 and a couple of hours of my time to fit – that’s why I build most of my wheels out of them!

Must admit when mine need replacing i’d be going for a nice traditional 32 hub and rim.

Molgrips, with the use of a roll of duct tape, you can stick all your spokes together, undo them 1/2 a turn at a time, then move your de-rimmed wheel across into another rim and respoke it using your original nipples. I did it years ago on a mountain bike wheel and the wheels are still in one piece.

I did take it into a shop for the final tensioning though!

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/re-using-spokes-is-it-ever-okay