I have a set of ultegra 6800 wheels that I have been very happy with but the front rim is quite worn and they both have a fair few stuck nipples so they can’t easily be tensioned. They seem to be out of stock everywhere have they been discontinued. If so what options are there for alternative wheels around £300.

Some alu wheels from Hunt for around £369?

They are replaced by WH-RS500 and are pretty much identical to the 6800.

Or JRA Lark.

RS81s?

Handbuilt? For £300 handbuilts are a lot lighter than Shimano.

Novatec hubs: £60 (290g)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-pawl-Road-Bike-Hubs-20-24-24-28-Shimano-Sram-CAMPAGNOLO-9-10-11-Speed-/271235393191

Velocity A23 rims: £104 (900g)

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/velocity-rims-a23-road-rim

DT Rev’s : £35 (230g for 52)

1410g for £200 plus pay someone to build them or an evening learning. You could save another 150g going for Stans rims but they’re a bit thinner in the brake track so don’t last as long.

WH-RS500s, Fulcrum 3s or for more money the RS81s

I’ve gone with Fulcrum 3s this time, the advertised weight is 100g lighter (no idea what the reality is) and they have most of the other features, including serviceable cup and cone bearings which can be adjusted without cone spanners (although I’ve yet to try it).

That being said, the Fulcrum QRs don’t seem as nice as the Shimanos, they’re effectively external cam QRs made to look like internal cam. Am sure it’s not important on a road bike with rim brakes though.

I went for the Hunt wheels, bought a Giant Propel recent and it came with rubbish bendy wheels so I wanted to swap them before Velo Brum. They’ve been fantastic, really solid feeling, decent weight, wide rim, sensible freehub design.

The only issue which may bug some people is how loud the free wheel is, people have made fishing reel comments while riding with me before 🙂

Hunt didn’t have any stock, but Sigma Sport did.

I’ve found Cero wheelsets from Cycle Division to be really good. Bargain at £249 at the moment for the AR24’s.

Fulcrum 3s are popular around these parts.

I have been looking at Campagnolo ZondaC17 for around £300 or Novatec Jetfly £315 ish.

Those Cero’s look very good though !… Superstars look good too for the money if you get a good set

Edit: the web page says only campag freehub on the AR24’s

Looking at Hunt etc I can’t really see what you are getting for your money. Apart from a Chinese rim built ‘with care’

I have some Zondas very nice imo.

open pro on hope

FunkyDunc – the Cero wheels come with Shimano as standard. The Campag freehub is an option. Ring them and confirm though – they’re really helpful on the phone and I found them great people to deal with.

What bigrich says. Buy them and never worry about discontinued parts again.

Looking at Hunt etc I can’t really see what you are getting for your money. Apart from a Chinese rim built ‘with care’

I know the carbon ones can be fairly easily replicated from the likes of Farsports, are the alu ones just as easy to find? Never actually had a look into it, £370ish for a fairly light wheel never seemed bad enough to warrant it

Open Pro tubeless

never worry about discontinued parts again.

can I get two proprietary spokes for a rare wheelset?

no.

Salad Dodger – I’ve picked up a set of the Cero AR24’s EVO’s and they are very well built and mine weighed exactly 1500g – the rim stickers are easy to remove as well if they bother you. Tubeless setup was a doddle. My query is how loud is your freehub? On my set it is very loud. Before I open up the freehub to see how much grease is in there I thought I’d ask someone who has a set.

My freehub is fairly loud but not at the same level as a Hope. The hub is easy to service and takes easy to get hold off sealed bearings so even a numpty like me can change them. I’m on my second pair of wheels now and I’ve only changed them as I wore through the rims after many ‘000 of miles.

Would like the security of open pro’s on hope but they are just a bit to heavy. Those Cero’s look very tempting.

Double post

Not a big difference in weight – 50g or so?
I’d trade that for the bomb-proofness of the Hope wheels any day. In fact I did, but I am a fat git.

The hope open pros are more like 1750g where as the Cero are 1450g more like 300g difference than 50g unfortunately. I have a bomb proof set of wheels on my winter bike with disc brakes and I know home much difference it makes to the feel of the bike that extra weight on the wheels.

Very good deal on Novatec Impulse at the moment . 1,520g – £400 at Halfords etc

£226 at Probikekit !

PSA – the Cero AR24’s are now £189 !

I’ve ordered some this morning

Cheers FunkyDunc I order a pair of the Cero’s on Friday for £189 should be with me tomorrow. Hoping they are good, cant really go wrong at that price.

How are you guys getting on with the Cero AR24 Evos? I’m thinking about a set

Looking at Hunt etc I can’t really see what you are getting for your money. Apart from a Chinese rim built ‘with care’

Last time I looked Hunt’s alloy rims were Kinlin ones. They’re available from the cycle clinic among others

How are you guys getting on with the Cero AR24 Evos? I’m thinking about a set

I’ve been out on mine twice now.

Very very light. Skewers work well. I come in about 75kg on the bike and haven’t noticed any brake rub etc. The freehub is loud. It sounds daft but it sounds slightly cheap too. They role vey smoothly. They lack a sense of spring, but I cant work out if that’s because they are super stiff and transfer all the power, or not stiff and soak up the power (if that makes sense) certainly the low weight means they spin up very quickly and my avg top speed has definitely gone up 1-2mph.

For £189 you cant go wrong ! I would love to compare to something like a set of Zonda’s though

I’m swithering between the Cero AR24 Evo and the Novatech Impulse…. Can’t decide!

Get the Cero AR24’s. You’re welcome!

I actually found some Ultegras (which was what had led me to this thread) on Merlin 🙂