Possibly done to death – Commuter/Winter Bike wheels?

I have had a search, I promise.

Anyway, my wife is looking to replace the wheels on her winter/commuter bike as she’s run her current ones into the ground.

She’s not heavy (sub-60kg, probably sub 55kg) so they don’t need to be tank wheels but she’s after something that will require minimum hassle and have replaceable bits (ie no esoteric spokes, rims etc). Rims should be wide-ish for 25mm tyres and hubs should be cartridge bearing.

Budget is £250-300ish. What kind of thing should we be looking at other than Hope Hoops?

Size in inches or b, c

Handbuilt. Ultegra/105/Tiagra hubs, Sapim spokes and some Open Pro rims. Pick hubs to suit budget. Harry Rowland[/url] builds my wheels and he is excellent. But there are plenty of other good builders around.

What TiRed said. Unless you definitely need wider rims, in which case H + Son Archetypes.

And cartridge bearing hubs – Novatech?

I’d go cartridge bearing myself. Despite what people say I think cup and cone hubs do eventually relent to incessant winter conditions, and then quite quickly suffer irrecoverable damage.

DT350 on Open Pros would get my vote.

Thanks TiRed, but Shimano hubs aren’t on the cards unless they’ve stopped using cup & cone.

No problem. Harry is a big fan of Novatech hubs too. Black hubs, black spokes and black Open Pros would be my choice.