I’m after some cheap wheels and there seem to be some bargains around, does anyone have any experience with the lower-end Shimano wheelsets? Ideally I;m looking to spend around or under 100 quid.

RS10

R500

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I had RS10s on my last road bike and was reasonably happy with them. I ran them year round for over two years (c.10k miles). During this time I had the rear trued a couple of times and cleaned the hubs out once. Decent enough for entry level road wheels IMO.

My girlfriend has R500’s, they’re good, but a little heavy…

Personally I’d go for the RS20’s over the RS30’s as they’re lighter.

The RS30 are an aero wheel on the cheap and come in just under 2kg for the set!

I had RS20’s on my bike before I swapped them for RS80’s and did well over 1000miles and they were faultless, straight as a die and the braking surfaces were in perfect nick too.

I’ve got R-550, which I think are just a straight pull version of the R-500’s. Got them 2nd hand and they must be at 10,000 miles at least with me, no problems and other than an annual clean out of the bearings they’ve only needed a couple of light tweeks to keep them in line.

Not light, but most of the weight seems to be in the hubs on shimano wheels so they feel lighter than their specs would suggest.

I was about to give the usual STW advice and say that handbuilts are lighter/stronger, but for £70 the R500’s are a bargain.

I’ve broken 4 or 5 spokes on my rear rs-10. Every one has gone when under power (going up hill). 4 went at the start of the thread and the most recent one went at the mushroom head end. Maybe I got a rogue batch of spokes in this wheel, as otherwise they are quite nice wheels for the money – stiff (well, the rear is, the front is a bit flexy which I assume is the radial spokes). Hub sealing is OK, but they do benefit from the addition of more grease – shimano really don’t put much in in the factory. Piling more in just helps keep the elements out a bit longer.

They spin nicely and feel a lot lighter than their 2.1 kg bulk would suggest – as others have said, shimano wheel weight is all in the hub so they feel like lighter wheels on the bike.

My R500’s have been faultless, and strong – based on the hammering that the Bristol roads give them.

I’d like something a bit stiffer and lighter, but for a bike that get hardly used, they’re bang on.

Got R500s on my commuter, rear still going strong many 1000s of miles later, front only got replaced as I’d worn out the rim.

I’ve used both on my commuter and they’ve been fine, bit heavy but I’m not bothered about that.

As above replaced due to worn out rims rather than any other faults. No broken spokes either.

Running rs20’s at the moment (I think, maybe 10’s) and they’re fine too.

Thanks everyone for the advice – I’ve also seen an Ultegra 6700 wheelset for 160 quid, I could be tempted to up the auntie and get something for the 150 mark.