what is a pretty good mid range wheel set for my road bike as an upgrade ?

Kyrsium Elite? Depends on budget, I’m not sure you can do much better than them without going silly.

I have the SL’s. Good wheels.

Sounds good how much ? I was looking to spend a few hundred

I have Ksyrium Equipes and have been very happy with them.What do you have now?

Hand built! Hope hubs, stans rims, light spokes. Just riding along.

Good set of handbuilts – Ambrosio or Shimano hubs (quiet ride), Hope Pro 3 hubs (Noisy ride) on a set of Mavic Open Pro’s
OR
A set of Ksyrium Elites as mentioned above

Above handbuilt options are good or shimano RS80

Ksyrium Elites very good or Easton EA90

SRAM S30 Sprints…. 500 Dry Miles… £250 😉

Hope Pro 3 hubs (Noisy ride)

I have Hope hubs on my mtb and quite like the noise – but it would drive me nuts on road! Didn’t even realise they did road hubs tbh!

Reynolds Solitude. Reasonably light, exceptionally strong, cheaper than Krysium Elites.

Excellent wheels in my experience, although my experience is limited to other bikes with various breeds of Fulcrums.

Ksyrium Equipes have been absolutely bombproof for me. Run them for a few years and as a winter wheel last year with no issues and never had to be true’d.

Summer wheels are now Dura-Ace and Planet-X deep sections and both have had to be true’d but are lighter and roll a bit quicker.

You don’t mention what you’ve currently got but assuming they’re pretty entry level any mentioned above will be a good upgrade.

RS80’s

Hand built! Hope hubs, stans rims, light spokes. Just riding along.

I’ve got that combionation of rim and spoke on novatec hubs.

I cant decide if they’re good or not.

Very light
Flexy (can deform them with my thubs wayy easier than the shimano factory wheels they replaced)

But don’t feel flexy in use (might have to go for a wet ride with harder pads to be able to hear them rubbing though, soft pads and dry rides only so far)
Is it possible they’re too light? The bike feels far less stable.
Couple both the above points to get some scary mid corner moments when either I’m being hit by freak gusts of wind or invisible diesel patches to be sent off line or the front wheel really isn’t going where I point it.

I’d probably go with factory wheels if I was buying again, I’ve not had any problems with them before and at least you can read reviews of the complete wheels built by the same person/robot tot he same spec and find out before you buy what they’ll be like.

On the other hand I’m a fatty, YMMV.

The new Stans rims are heavier and stiffer I’d guess. Still much lighter than a factory set. And when the rims wear out you can replace them. And if a spoke snaps, you can replace it. Etc

Don’t buy upgrades.. ride up grades.

Well I have been asking the same question and I quite fancy the rs80’s.

Planet X Model B. I love mine light, cheap and reliable. I ride on some horrendous road surfaces and they’ve been great (I weigh 69Kg so that may help a bit).

Halo mercurys? I’m on my 3rd pair (spread over 2 bikes).
Been fantastic wheels, light, fast, stiff to ride but feel quite flexy when stood still. With a decent set of high pressure tyres, dare I say they have the same feel as a set of carbons.

Like yourself I wasn’t entirely sure of what to go for in a mid-range road wheelset so I gave this man a call and after a good chat he sorted me out with a beautifully put together Ambrosia based set (they’re so nicely balanced that on the workstand the front wheel always comes to rest with the valve at the bottom, I love watching that with a cuppa in my hand which probably makes me slightly unhinged/sad).
Highly recommended:

http://www.harryrowland.co.uk/

My road bike is rolling on a pair of 32h Mavic Open 4CD rims built on to Ultegra (?) hubs…

These were popular “back in the day”, but no idea how they weigh up compared to current offerings.

The rear has suffered a bit with the current road conditions, and could do with a trip to a decent wheelbuilder for a re-tension / true.

OTH, this thread caught my eye, as a shiny new wheelset might lighten the bike up a bit

Just a thought, but would you hear Hope hubs less on the road? I’m only saying that because on a road bike I find I pedal a lot more and roll less, so the hub’s engaged less.

My conundrum is whether to spend all my dosh on the rear (hope, mavic)
at about £175, upgrade front later. Or order a pair now, campo scirocco for same cost as just the rear.
Help me, for the love of God.

I have some RS30s which I quite like (awesome noise from the aero spokes when you’re whizzing along) and the DTSwiss RR1600’s I have are very good

I have a pair of Shimano Ultegra factory wheels – cant fault them. They can be had for around £250 for the pair…

Those Shimano RS80s look like good wheels for the money…

Anything I should know about them?
Are they too cheap
Prone to pringle?
not light etc???

Pro-Lite Braccianos are great value at £300 for a 1500g wheelset, had a set for a couple of years and they’ve stayed true

rkk01 – Member
Those Shimano RS80s look like good wheels for the money…

Anything I should know about them?
Are they too cheap
Prone to pringle?
not light etc???

I’ve had mine for a year, I ride on Cheshire lanes mainly with trips to Wales and as you can imagine the roads are rubbish.

Great wheels, pretty light, very stif & comfortable, not even slightly out of true after a years worth of riding. I’m 80kg BTW

awesome noise from the aero spokes when you’re whizzing along

shouldn’t they be quieter – as they are aero and disturbing less air?

I have Open Pro CDs with DT rev spokes, alu nipples and ambrosio hubs. Light (1600g), strong, easily repairable. Cost me about £250 including the build.

steve_b77 – Thanks, useful to know. Looks like the work out just over 1500g for the wheelset.

Price vs weight look similar to the Fulcrum Racing 3 wheelset

Anyone using the Fulcrums?
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Need to weight the O4CDs – see what they measure up like. They were light in their day, but the ceramic braking surface has largely worn away.
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ETA – can’t believe that these road wheelsets aren’t much different in weight to a good set of cx wheels 😯

shouldn’t they be quieter – as they are aero and disturbing less air?

Dunno, deep section wheels make a massive racket.

might try some shimanos ?

shouldn’t they be quieter – as they are aero and disturbing less air?

It’s like a big hollow ‘box’ (albeit circular in shape) that amplifies the sound – like Orange swingarms!

Recommended web shop, when you decide – http://www.mcconveycycles.com/store/category/1/27/WHEELS-ROAD/
I got a replacement Ksyrium Elite from them, £20 cheaper than CRC. Very quick delivery too.
Do Shimano road wheels have sealed bearings?

Just dropped the oldie Mavic Open 4CDs into the LBS for a nipple tweak and true…

… but still considering getting a pair of shimano RS80s – price / performance / weight seem a good mix for what I want
(despite the Mavics being good for their day, they’re about 400g heavier than the Shimanos 😯 )

ANY-HOW… Question is

Will the freehub bodies be the same width. The hub on the Mavics is for an 8sp cassette.

Presumably the RS80s will do 9/10sp – will they work with an 8sp set-up?

Will the dropout spacings / hub widths etc still be the same…?

I’ve got Bontrager Race X lite

They are absolutley superb wheels. They have a DTSwiss freewheel on I think but have taken some right abuse on crap roads and are still perfect. Not sure on weights, but they are really light and about 600 quid new. Highly recommended from me.

Define “midrange”?

Ksyrium Elites very good or Easton EA90

Wouldnt touch Easton wheels with somebody elses barge pole. Search here for “haven” (not the wider internet unless you have safe search on 😉 ) to see how many bearing problems they have. We have 2 mates with EA90 wheels, he is constantly having to retighten the rear preload collar (can’t figure out why cartridge bearings need preload) and she has had the bearings in her front hub fail twice. These are on their sunny sunday bestest bikes and she is physically and figuratively light on kit.

I recently got some Shimano 6700 Ultegra wheels on a bit of an upgrade whim. Typically going for ~£220-240 at On One, Ribble etc but I got mine with a 10% voucher so IIRC cost me £204 from Ribble. The same week a pair of used went on ebay for £190+15 postage, so seemed like a no brainer.

Similar weight to EA90 (1650ish grm), substantially cheaper and more reliable. Possibly too cheap/low range to fit your definition but compared to EA90s seems to be win win.

I’ve had Ksyrium Elites and Dura Ace 7850 sl’s and both have been faultless. Never had to touch the bearings, re-true either of them.

Shimano’s were quieter and I think they climbed better but would happily have either again.

Wouldnt touch Easton wheels with somebody elses barge pole.

Really? My EA50SLs were great wheels, never needed truing, not a bad weight for the price and Easton even replaced the rims when I discovered they were from a slightly oversized batch, no questions asked. Only reason I replaced them was I wanted to go tubeless.

yes really. Dont know about the EA50s but the higher end road wheels and the MTB wheels have hubs that have been plagued with problems.

CRC and Merlin have had em half price at varying times, and I’ve been offered mates rates from the importer, and I still wouldnt given em garage space.