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I have just read the recent post regarding this but it seemed to cover disc brake options. I am looking at rim brake options. I have a pretty harsh riding carbon frame which has been recently built and am looking for some decent mid range wheelset offerings? I have done the usual online retailer rounds and from that the Shimano range (The Ultegra RS500) looked a good option at £200. Has anyone experience with these and are they much of an uograde from the RS11?
I am not fussed about rim depth as I know a lot of the nicer wheels are deeper and carbon. I just want a quality pair that offer a decent ride.
Set of handmades with something like a novatec hub and stands alpha 400 rims? Or H Plus Son Archetype rims?
Hunt do some rim brake wheels. That's where I'd be looking.
I've two sets of their gravel wheels, build quality seems good, they give a nice sprightly ride, customer service is excellent.
I had a set of the Shimano wheels, am a big fan.
The hubs have (I believe) the best shape for building stiff (side to side) wheels, as the flanges are spaced wider than any other hub design. This helps prevent brake rub under sprinting which I had an issue with on my frame.
Also, if you are fiddler, the cup and cone bearings on the new Ultegra hubs are super easy to adjust, you just undo the end caps with a 5mm allen key, adjust the little notched adjustment cap with your fingers, tighten allen keys, and away you go. This makes it easy to service and adjust the bearings and keep the hubs running as smooth as possible. It might be a bit 'marginal gains' but since a hub has pretty much only one job to do (er... spin smoothly) you might as well get the best system you can.
You'll not get better for £200 if it is in fact the Ultegra wheels, am almost tempted myself just for spares!
Thanks for the suggestions, very interesting on the handmade, I have some old style mavic sup rims on Shimano 105 hubs that just ride so well for some reason and feel special compared to my vision t30/shimano rs11? The Hunt wheels look really good but the deal on the Ultegra has swayed me that way I think. They look decent for the price, I was tempted on the carbons when I saw some in a shop (rs700) but they are still a similar profile with them being 24/30 instead of 24/24.
Campagnolo?
Zonda C17s seem to be in the £2-300 range and are generally regarded as good wheels, and very good for the price.
If you can find some nice used Rs81s, they have a very smooth ride and are nice and light.
The c24 version I mean.
I hate shimano hubs which is a shame because the RS81s were nice wheels if you can find some NOS.
My current wheels are these
https://www.wiggle.co.uk/prime-baroudeur-road-wheelset/
been good for racing and general riding. Nice and light and been sturdy.
As above I had a set of campag wheels that never needed touching in many thousands of km, some fulcrum racing 7s (made by campag?) that are going similarly strong. I’m not sure these wheels ride significantly differently. Campag/fulcrum seems generally well regarded as compromise of durability, price and sensible weight.
Where did you see the wheelset for £200? Looking a new wheelset too, might go self build on some Novatec hubs/DT rims.
superstar always worth checking.
Novatec from aliexpress build on halo aerorage
Put skf bearings in when they need them.
I'd really like a set of full carbon clinchers.
I'm not in the market for £1000 wheels, more like half that or less.
Do you think AliExpress is the way to go?
I've had/got carbon rims from FarSports (rim brake) and Light Bicycle (disc) and they've been absolutely fine. The rim brake ones were replaced by some Reynolds ones just because and for no good reason and I can honestly say the Reynolds ones were not significantly better.
Those aero options sound very interesting on aliexpress? I know for a long time that there was a concern over carbon components, as I recall seatposts stems etc and not to be purchased if counterfeit of course for safety reasons but these offerings sound good if with the original rims and decent quality hubs. The £200 price for the ultegra was at fawkes cycles. I agree £1000 sounds a serious outlay for some wheels to me, I had some that were £650 (vision T42) but they had a flimsy build to me and whilst they had an aero advantage they were only a best occasion wheelset.
Fulcrum at whatever price point. Top tip is to look out for the 'CX' models, which are identical but have double shielded bearings rather than single sided. And then just swap them for a set of SKF ones when replacement needed.
Or if you want to go a touch more upmarket, I'd thoroughly recommend some Miche/Kinlins from Cycle Clinic - https://thecycleclinic.co.uk/collections/road-rim-brake-wheelsets/products/handbuilt-borg22-tubeless-compatible-clincher-wheelset
Are you allowed to buy via AliExpress at the moment? My order wouldn't allow shipping to the UK. Not sure if it's Corona related
2 pairs of carbon clinchers from CSC on eBay. I was sceptical about the first pair, but with no problems decided to get a deeper set as well. No problems after a couple of seasons use.