I’ve got myself a new road bike. It came with a Mavic Aksium wheelset, which is fine but a bit below the rest of the spec on the bike. So what wheels for Sunday best? And how much would I need to pay to get a noticeable advantage?

This is purely for aesthetics/posing as I have no pretense to being a proper racer these days 😀

Budget? What sort of riding? Climbing steep stuff or going fast on the flat a priority? A fancy label important to your posing?

Budget – well that what I’m asking really, how much do I need to spend to make a difference
Riding – everything from short blasts (min 1.5hrs / 30 miles) to 100+ miles. South coast based so only Isle of Wight / South Downs hills.
I like going up hills.
Labels not so important.

Some ideas and thoughts here

http://dcrwheels.co.uk/custom-wheelsets/wheelset-suggestions/

Dave did me some Tune / Pacenti wheels for my main road bike and they’ve been lovely (I already have Easton, Xentis and Corima CF wheels for the max bling/TT efforts).

Have a look at Wheelsmith and see if any of his carbon wheelsets take your fancy. I quite like the look of the dimpled ones.

Otherwise, budget permitting, some Zipp 303 or 404.

Good quality tyres. don’t underestimate how much difference something like a Vittoria Open Corsa, or similar like make to ride quality compared to standard rubber

What Chef said, and latex tubes too if using clinchers.

Erm… if he’s in the South Downs lanes like me latex tubes is a crazy idea. Normal tubes and a puncture repair kit with lots of patches sonny Jim.

Get some Clement Strada LGG 25’s (tan walled for sure) Open Clinchers and some MavM40C’s or if budgets a bit tight the Wheelsmith options are really good or some cheapy Chinese rims and novatech’s (take the stickers off)

Don’t need climbing wheels for the Sth Downs. 😉

I’ve had no issues at all (with the p word) since changing to latex tubes. Actually think they are somehow more compliant and hence less likely to you know what.

PUNCTURES!!!

There I said it for you 😆

Arrggghhhh!!!!

Get some cheap chinese carbon 38mm clinchers,(light bicycle for example) latex tubes (unless you descend big mountains) and decent tyres. I usually use vittoria open corsa cx on my ‘best’ bike but have recently switced to Schalbe One for a change – they’re very good.

It’s OK, he said it, it’ll be him that incurs the wrath of the pointy thing fairy not you.

I have bought a couple of wheel sets recently and have given them a good test.

Firstly on a medium budget are the Swiss-side Hadron 625s. These are about £800 for the pair. They are fast, no doubt about it. I use GP4000s with latex tubes. They are very very good in the wind too. They are loud, like proper mental loud. I love this, but some hate it. They have stayed true and I am really happy with them. They look a bit cheap though, but it is no bid deal to me. Metal braking surface is good for when it gets a bit wet.

Then I bought a pair of Knight composites 95mm wheels. They are bloody lovely, and appear bomb proof and have DT240 hubs which I like. They are also backed up with a 5 year warranty. I rode the front (with a disc) in pretty windy conditions and they were awesome- I did a huge PB too 🙂 My Zipp 808 is on the ‘second’ bike now.
These are not cheap, but neither are they anywhere near as much as ENVE which I think you could compare them to.

I imagine the slightly shallower Knights would be better for general riding I think they are about £1600. 73degreesbicycles in Bath has a demo set if you live close by?

What bike did you buy?

Superstar carbon clinchers and a pair of Veloflex Masters in 25mm will do a right job, they’ll look good and be a good bit lighter too. Should come in under £500.

This is what I would buy if I was allowed

Dura Ace 9000 Hubs on Pacenti SL23 rims. Handbuilt and Tubeless. £603

Have a look here.

I’ve got some h-plus son hard grey archetypes on Royce Venus ti hubs that I could be persuaded to sell.
Sub 85kg rider limit.

PPPppppppp,,,

Unctures!!!!

😆

Sorry for the slight hijack

My friend is selling his px carbon wheels. Less than 200 dry miles. I sold an exact same pair last month for £250.

Similar to these. http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/WPPX52CCL/planet-x-52mm-carbon-clincher-wheelset

Get in touch if you are interested.

Cheers

Hmm you can now get Cosmic Carbone 40c (the M40’s to which bikebouy refers) for just over a grand from the Germans. That would be quite a tempting offer if I were after such a wheelset. I’d probably still save a few more pennies and get the Zipps though.

If you like Mavic I’ve got some Ksyrium SLR Exalith’s here I’m selling, very good nick.

E-mail in profile if you’re interested.

Clincher this, latex that. Ppffft.

What you need is a set of these bad boys – £6.99 from the BP garage when you but a tank of fuel. Awesome.

On a serious note and without wanting to hijack the thread, I have a £1k road bike (Cannondale Synapse Disk 105) so it wont have great spec wheels / tyres.

I cant see me wanting to spend £500+ on a new wheelset, as nice an idea as it sounds. But if i was to go out and replace the tyres with say the Vittoria Open Corsa (as mentioned above) would i notice a difference? Lots of rolling hills around here (Lancashire).

The best carbon road wheels around at the moment are Bontrager and Reynolds I reckon. We get a lot of Mavic and Zipp come through the shop and I haven’t been particularly impressed with either (Mavic: heavy; old fashioned V aero rim profile; aluminium core to the carbon rims; narrow), (Zipp: flexy; overpriced; inconsistent finish; stickers go green in the sun).

Vittoria are not the quickest IMO, but with latex tubes they are some of the nicest feeling tyres you can ride which counts for a lot. Veloflex masters are even nicer, but a bit fragile. I am not sensitive to these sort of things but it felt like someone had coated my wheels in treacle when I put winter tyres/tubes on (pro 4 endurance )

A very boring recommendation for tyres is conti 4000s. They are fast and they are puncture proof. They just do not feel as nice.

The best carbon road wheels around at the moment are Bontrager and Reynolds I reckon

I know some pretty savvy testers that rate the Reynolds Aero clinchers right up there. Pretty fast apparently.

Roval ones seem quite well regarded too.

FWIW if they were to be my day to day wheels and I wasn’t looking for guaranteed top notch aero performance, I’d probably go for those Wheelsmith ones on DT240 hubs. Mostly because I know how to service the hubs myself and spares are easy to get. And spare spokes and nipples are easily available too and anyone can rebuild them (including me!) Quite a lot of cash though given the lack of fancy logos.

Though you did say pimp and Sunday best so maybe the above doesn’t apply 🙂

What feels good to ride – good tyres, esp tubs and tubeless. Light rims.

What’s fast – aero.

Plenty of other shit around to buy which looks cool, rolls well, “is fast, no doubt about it” (Jesus wept) etc, see above.

What’s fast – aero.
Plenty of other shit around to buy which looks cool, rolls well, “is fast, no doubt about it” (Jesus wept) etc, see above.

This is why when it’s a proper race wheel I’ll spend the cash and get something that’s had a lot of credible testing done on it. Not just something that someone reckons looks a bit like a 404 etc so is probably quick. And certainly not on the recommendation of someone on a forum who claims it must be quick because they’ve been getting loads of Strava KOMs on them!

TBH I’m not entirely sure what the OP is after. He wants “an advantage” but doesn’t expand on that. Then says it’s purely for aesthetics/pimp. In which case just get something you like the look of that suits your bike 🙂

I love my Dura ace 9000 hubs and Mavic CXP33 rims. There are plenty of other rims available, but these hubs are so nice. Carbon rims can be nice, but if you swap wheels, do you want to swap brake blocks?

Do you want stupid light (tubulars), light (carbon rims) or quality but not so light? If you don’t want/need aero, there are some great wheel builds at the £5-600 mark and about 1600 g. I would definitely go for handbuilt rather than factory wheels, because you will eventually want to replace a spoke or a rim.

Plenty of other shit around to buy which looks cool, rolls well, “is fast, no doubt about it” (Jesus wept) etc, see above.

Ha so cynic-al 🙂 Funnily enough there is quite a bit of data on these wheels. At least two german mags have taken them to the tunnel. In one case testing in loads of different bikes.

http://www.tour-magazin.de/technik/test_center/raeder/rennraeder/test-aero-rennraeder-2015-speed-contest-im-windkanal/a34659.html

Most wheels of this depth are quick tbh. However most old style are not a lot of fun in the wind.

What MrBlobby said, if you just say something is fast or nice, it is a meaningless opinion.

If you have sources, show them.

I think we’ve gone off on a bling tangent here. Aksium’s are pretty cheap and cheerful in the scheme of things so £500ish wheels will be a noticeable step up.

Which brings me back to getting some nice handbuilt jobs.

Campagnolo Zonda wheels are a good upgrade over standard issues ones and can be had on offer at sensible prices if you don’t fancy going the hand built route.

However I’d say you need to decide what you want to improve and go speak to a good builder like Strada, as they’ll be able to help you out.

So summary. Aksium, cheap, heavy (>1800g) and not aero.

You could get a better feel from them by just sticking a decent pair of supple tyres and maybe some latex tubes on there (probably best take bikebouy’s advice as he’s from your neck of the woods.) So under 100 quid for tyres and tubes.

You could get some better all rounder style wheels, you’re probably looking at around the 600 quid mark, that’d drop a fair bit of weight (at least sub 1500g) and would feel a lot more sprightly (you would notice quite difference.) Example being that Panceti build mentioned above. Or you could go higher end Ksyrium for example if after a factory build. You could go cheaper but if looking for a significant improvement I’d be looking at this sort of budget.

Then around the 1000 quid point you start getting into the lower end of the aero wheelsets, but also some nice all rounder factory wheelsets like the Ksyrium SLR. You could get some very nice handbuilts for this budget too (see Strada or JRA.)

At around 1500 quid and upwards you start getting into the real performance carbon aero wheelsets, Zipp, Reynolds, Bonty, etc. Or the seriously light climbing wheels.

So need to decide what your performance priorities are and how much you want to spend. Also what you’re going to use them for (all day, every day, would need to consider maintenance.) And if pimp/aesthetics are important, then what looks right on your bike. So, OP, what’s it to be? 🙂

I have an extreme fondness for Campag, but from what you describe Boras running tubless fits the bill. They look great, they perform well, and they are extremely puncture resistant.

Bora’s are stunning wheels, but very expensive. I’d really a like a new pair of the clincher version just released, but I can’t justify the cost.

Note that the new 2016 wheels are wider so there are some bargains to be had on the older tub version.

Just riding along’s on wheels. The lifes are pacenti sl23 and £380 and c1400g. Don’t know how good the hubs are though

I’ve been having the wheel dilemma for some time. I have chosen to (I’ve almost almost made my mind up…)

Buy some duraace c24’s for hilly / alp type rides – alloy, light and not silly money.

Save up a buy some zipp 404’s for blasting about home, flat sportives and the like

Keep my rs21s for winter and horrible weather duties

Save up and buy an 808 and disk for TT

Thats my disposable income sorted for the next decade.