What would you buy? Seen deals on fulcrum 3s at £270 and rs81 c24 at £310. To be a nice set of wheels on my longer distance bike, equilibrium with new 105.

i have some RS-81’s for sale, ridden twice, e-mail in profile if you’re interested.

Tons of threads on this, shimano pre-built seem popular.

I went with 105/cheap lightweight hubs and stans alpha (self build) no regrets.

Shimano hubs, cup and cone – ick.

H Plus Son Archetypes on Novatec hubs. I love mine.

And so it begins again…

I’d suggest hand-built too. You could have a really nice pair of rims on decent hubs, or Hope/similar hubs with a mid-range rim. I’ve got nothing against cup-and-cone so would probably go 105/Ultegra hubs with H+ Son/Pacenti rims.

Shimano freehubs are more of a problem than the bearings. but there’s still nothing wrong with Al’s choice (for him). Even when a shimano freehub does die you usually get a little notice and it’s still usually possible to engage the pawls to limp home.

this never ending question does my head in.

no one ever bothers to describe their riding or themselves.
what’s good for a fair weather lightweight may well be shit for a tough mile munching pie.

Also. WTF is a longer distance bike? 😕

No idea what is meant by the term “longer distance bike” in general – maybe a training/sportive bike for someone who also races crits etc? But in this case the OP did tell us what the bike is.

Definitely agree that freehubs are more of a concern than bearings on Shimano hubs although in our experience it’s mainly the cheaper hubs that have dodgy FH bodies and higher-up the range the quality is better.

I’d go with a nice handbuilt set on an equilibrium. In fact I did. Dura Ace / Open pro (although currently running an SV dynamo on the front). Serviced the rear hub last week, bearings still looked new and grease fresh after a couple of years use. Popped fresh bearings / grease in there anyway, should be good for many thousand more kilometres 🙂

I’ve just got a pair of Ultegra wheels fro wiggle for £215. 17 stone max rider weight so they’ll do big lads, I’m a featherweight at 15 stone tho 😉

Longer distance, meaning all day comfy rides but where I still want light weight and to maintain a decent average. I have a carbon road bike I can ride centuries on but it’s not that comfy and currently set up for tt’s much after 2hrs it’s a bit firm. The equilibrium is for rides whereit is more about comfort.

What are miche hubs like vs shimanos? Reliable?

Weight wise I’m around 72-6kg so not a heavy weight.