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Need a new set of wheels for my road bike. Looking at various Chinese offerings, but need educating on what people have used and what is good. My worry is I buy some wheels and then after a few years the free hub goes and I can't get a replacement or something. Don't want to spend more than £1000, ideally less.
Anyone got recommendations I am after something no heavier than 1.5kg for pair. I have never used deep aero so not really sure about depth. I prefer climbing but need more help on faster flat sections to stay with groups....
Any ideas, advice, suggestions or piss taking appreciated
I've had a couple of pairs from China. One from Tagoola on aliexpress which were about £200, 50mm deep with pawl hubs and about 1.6kg. They're fine but I'd not expect to be able to get parts so they're effectively disposable.
After plenty of forum browsing (Chinertown is very useful) I bought a custom set from Zen Carbon built with their own 45mm depth, 25mm internal rims, Sapim spokes and H-works SR318 hubs. They weigh in at 1.45kg and are lovely. I could have gone lighter with a lower weight limit but prioritised longevity. Total cost was £450 and I'm confident I'll be able to get spares if needed.
£1k is a good budget and you should have plenty of choice.
I've bought several wheelsets in this price range and upwards from DT and Hunt. So not a whole market comparison, but hopefully my experience helps.
If you want some well-packaged wheels with good performance, good price and reasonable durability, then go Hunt (or find similar non-branded if you are happy with that route). But I would always go DT if I could... at first it looks like your extra outlay buys little or nothing extra, no wow-factor; yet over time it becomes clear that the quality and durability is just better.
I have some Elitewheels SLR Gravel that I use on my road bike (with 35mm slicks but they're fine down to about 28mm), were around £400 delivered inc. duty paid from their official AliExpress store. They've been good so far (around 1500 miles, a lot on crappy wet roads), they're ratchet hubs but not obnoxiously loud (unlike my Scope R4.A's...). Not particularly light but decent. Look out for AliExpress voucher codes/deals as they have them regularly.
If you want to spend more personally I'd go either Lightbicycle or 9velo (the former as you can spec. decent hubs, the latter as their hubs are decent anyway). Make sure you use affiliate codes if ordering direct from their web-site (I used Hambini10 for 10% off my 9velo GV 45's but they are too wide for road use).
Rim depth I'd go 40-50mm for a balance between aero, weight and cross wind stability. I'd avoid anything with carbon spokes personally - whilst they save a bit of weight they make for a more uncomfortable ride, a lot of hub designs are still non-captive (and therefore dangerous) and they de-tension a crazy amount once a tyre is fitted so actually replacing a spoke would be a challenge as you don't have much clue on the correct tension to use.
Not sure if you're planning to run tubeless but if so I found the rim tape supplied with the Elitewheels was garbage so replaced it with Stan's (luckily those rims have drain holes otherwise I'd have blown up one rim as the tape leaked).
I wouldn't buy anything high end that wasn't on King, DT, Shimano or equivalently well supported hubs, personally. Disc road wheels can last ages and it's the hubs that need looking after.
I'd call a good wheel builder, go for low spoke DT, Ultegra or Dura-Ace hubs on a carbon rim they're happy to build with, JD.
I went with Lightbicycle rims (AR56) on DT 240 EXP hubs with CX-Ray, been super happy with them. Cost was around the £800 mark delivered, that was 5 years ago.
No drilled holes so no faffing with rim tape, although it made it a little more frustrating when I needed to swap a rim over after clouting it off a curb.
These keep popping up on my social media feed and id be tempted if I needed a set
Anyone local to you? I recently had an excellent rear wheel built up by Spokesman Wheels who are down in Devon. They have an ebay shop to show the type of thing they do but if you contact them direct you'll get a better price and personalised advice.
Spokesman Wheels | eBay UK Stores
These are good wheels at full price, and a total bargain here https://www.balfesbikes.co.uk/components/wheels/giant-slr-1-50-disc-brake-700c-shimano-shimano-hg-wheelset__80549
If 50 is too deep there are quite a few other SLR1 bargains about.
Should be able to get a half decent set of Bontragers from Trek at £1k
I bought light bicycle airia 45s with DT350 hubs, 60mm valves and sapim cx ray in the summer. 1324g with tape but not valves, also came with good wheel bags and arrived in 2 weeks from ordering. Felt like I was riding everywhere 1 gear faster, great wheels! Cost £1067. I was tempted by the SLR1s but the free hub is quite loud. So many Western brands have their wheels built in China and then add their mark up so why not just go direct
I've got a pair of Fulcrum wind 40s. A bit of a hybrid (not too aero, not too heavy) and they are lovely. Had them for 3 years and they are still true. Ride really well, and easy to run tubeless.
not sure they still make that exact model, but Merlin seem to have a pretty good selection of Fulcrum wheels.
I would avoid hookless (I think giant generally are) to avoid having to worry about compatibility or pumping them up too hard.
Those reserve look nice. I went with some hunts which have been great. I would avoid unknown brands as some shapes can be really "grabby" in sidewinds. Changing to hunts from alexrims that came on a boardman was a revelation in any kind of wind.
Finally, they won't help you hang onto a bunch; even at high speed the effective windspeed at wheel level at the back of a bunch is very low so the aerodynamic benefit is negligible. even at 35 kph bikeradar have going from aluminium rims to 55mm rims as saving 10 watts. Worth having but not game changing!
Since the DT patent for ratchet freehubs expired, we've seen a lot more cheaper OEM hub brand take up the technology thankfully, and quality and reliability of these products does seem to have improved somewhat...
For £1k budget, I'd still be inclined to seek out something with DT rear hub internals anyway, as they are a known quantity and spares are readily available. 40mm is about the sweet spot for rim depth that is fine for climbing but still gives a decent aero boost on the flats, start to go past 50mm and you'll notice the weight creep up and they will feel duller on the climbs, although obviously they will hold their speed better on the flat.
With so many decent branded high performance wheelsets available now coming in under £1k for something that ticks all the boxes and you will get a warranty and backup, I'd steer clear of buying direct from China myself...
Any good options out there for a mid depth all-round rim, disk, but still running qr? I'd want to be able to upgrade to modern 12mm thru axle in the future, mind you
Anything with a DT hub would meet that requirement. It just an end cap change.
Any good options out there for a mid depth all-round rim, disk, but still running qr? I'd want to be able to upgrade to modern 12mm thru axle in the future, mind you
When I was looking (admittedly a while ago) all the DT Swiss hubs were capable of running different end caps to support QR and 12mm TA (assuming the QR is the wider hub spacing).
I would probably buy these:
https://www.merlincycles.com/reserve-5263-aero-350-carbon-road-wheelset-700c-334827.html
Little bit heavier than target weight (around 1600g IIRC), but you wont find a more aero wheelset. Plus nice wide rims and rock solid hubs.
Some good ideas thanks, those Merlin wheels look decent.
Anyone used ICAN, they have dt hub option
For that price I would buy from your local bike shop. Go to one with a good wheelbuilding reputation, such as Stanley Fearns in Matlock, give them your requirements and you will have a custom built wheelset. This will pay dividends in the future with spares back up, intermediate truing and generally fill you with a warm glow!
DT Swiss AR and GR (if gravel) look a good mid range alloy wheelset
I have a set of Zipp 303S on my 'fast' bike and a pair of these Hunt 34 Aero Wide SL on my steel cruisey road bike and have been super impressed with them, and they're half your budget (and 1565gr) - They're an aluminium aero-ish light-ist wheelset which ticked the boxes for me, I'm happy with mine purchased at ~30% discount and they're 20% off currently. You can also group them with discounted tyres and sealant etc. if you need.
There are some murmurings about the hubs not being super long-lasting but mine have had a decent innings on a winter road bike and I would happily swap them onto some DT Swiss Hubs at some point if they do give up.
I have the Reserve 40/44 on DT 350s with upgraded 54T freehub and love them. Would have been very tempted by the 52/63 TAs if they had been around at the time, mainly for looks, but suspect what I have are better all-rounders. Latest gen Reserves are about as wide as they come, GP5000 32mm inflate to about 35mm and ride amazingly well
Ref the Giant SLR1, My bike came with a set. They are the older version 42mm with a narrower rim. I was originally worried about tyre compatibility with hookless but there's a list on the Giant site which includes most popular tyres anyway and I never had a problem.
The only problem is the freehub. It is so obnoxiously loud that you need hearing protection. They are absolutely antisocial and I wouldn't dare to work on the bike at night. All the Hope hubs that I have are silent in comparison, I have never heard a freehub that loud before. If that's your thing, they are ideal. I can just about live with mine.
Be worth having a chat with Jon at JRA - they just built a set of wheels up for me and they’re great
Since the DT patent for ratchet freehubs expired, we've seen a lot more cheaper OEM hub brand take up the technology thankfully, and quality and reliability of these products does seem to have improved somewhat...
For £1k budget, I'd still be inclined to seek out something with DT rear hub internals anyway, as they are a known quantity and spares are readily available. 40mm is about the sweet spot for rim depth that is fine for climbing but still gives a decent aero boost on the flats, start to go past 50mm and you'll notice the weight creep up and they will feel duller on the climbs, although obviously they will hold their speed better on the flat.
With so many decent branded high performance wheelsets available now coming in under £1k for something that ticks all the boxes and you will get a warranty and backup, I'd steer clear of buying direct from China myself...
The Chinese DT Swiss copies appear to be largely compatible with actual DT Swiss freehub bodies and use commonly sized bearings so if they don't last well it's easy enough to swap to good bearings. The Chinese OEM's will happily build with genuine DT Swiss if you ask though. I personally think sticking to steel spokes and brass nipples is a better option than saving weight with aluminium nipples on a wheelset you want to last.
Buying direct can get you modern rim specifications for a third of the price, rather than being limited to old narrow rims on the discounted stuff. 32mm tyres on 25mm inner width rims are just nicer to ride than on narrow rims. The Reserve 40/44 mentioned above look in isolation like a sensible choice and far better than any of the other western brand stuff mentioned, but my Zen Carbon wheels cost £450 compared to them at £1500, weight the same and have the same internal width and very similar exterior profile. Is quicker delivery and a warranty you're unlikely to need to use for road wheels worth the extra?
I'm going to recommend what I have. Really good wheels and they have a good discount on now and they are local too.
I bought a pair of VEL 50 RL carbon 50mm wheels from Sigma around Nov '22, ironically at the end of a year when I would have benefitted most from a first set of semi-aero rims and since then my health fell off a cliff through long covid.
Only VEL wheel related stuff on site now are axle adapters (I must get a pair of q/r) and spare freehubs .
If I was about to buy wheels I'd look at the usual places
Hunt
Just riding along
Fitwheels.eu
I have a friend who builds wheels. He buys rims from Taiwan (I think). Been doing it a while, has some pro riders using them as well as some bigger lads. They hold up well enough that they would be my gravel/road wheels of choice.
This is the company that manufacturers https://www.fastopbike.com/gallery.html The website is old but their Facebook is more up to date. You can message the owner, Tony, through it. My friend who builds them now has a website https://www.davofastop.com/.
They seem good, half the NE seems to won a pair if you t urn up to a CX race. John helps run the league and uses every opportunity to push his wheels 😉
Only VEL wheel related stuff on site now are axle adapters (I must get a pair of q/r) and spare freehubs
I remember Sigma really pushing that VEL brand, I guess much like CRC used to do with Prime Wheels.
With a lot of those discount mail order brands though, there are always thoughts about how long they'll be around for and therefore how long you're likely to have warranty, access to spares etc.
I went for some Hunt Aerodynamicist or something. They were broadly similar to the Prime wheels I had in there so wasn’t sure it would make a difference. I think I paid £800 or something and they weigh about 1400g are wide and seem very very quick. This could be completely in my head but I thought I felt the difference. Also changed to 30mm GPS 5000 and went tubeless running 70psi (I’m 95kg).
Tubeless went up first time with a normal track pump.
I would highly recommend this combo, super comfy and fast.
Rim brake or disc? Pacenti do some nice wheels with standard hubs. If you send in your old hubs, they’ll make up the wheels and deduct £100. About to get my DA9000 built up with wider carbon 38 mm rims. Giant wheels are excellent. Good solid design with DT hubs. I still ride my SLR0s that are 10 years old and 55mm. All rim brake.