I’ve been thinking if buying a nice set of road bike wheels for summer & dry weather use. Initially I’d set a limit if around £500 & narrowed it down to Fulcrum Racing Zeros or Dura Ace c24. However, one thing I’d failed to consider is the long term issues such as replacing the rims when they wear, replacing spokes etc etc. Having looked at the costs involved it almost seems that factory wheels in this bracket are “disposable”. This goes completely against my plan of buying a nice set & running them for years. Am I completely over thinking the rim wear issue here? Be interested to know how long people expect a set to last? I appreciate it it will vary hugely but a ball park figure would be interesting.

For reasons of repairability, I always go handbuilt and j-bend spokes.

@dalesjoe

if you are looking at C24 then check out the ‘ultegra’ level RS81 C24 wheelset.

slight weight penalty over dura ace but thicker wall rims = more durability, and substantially cheaper got my pair for £320 from wiggle a few months ago.

to increase life span, switch to wet weather blocks like Swiss stop blue during the wet winter months, they don’t cause the same abrasion and wear that Shimano blocks can cause.

I put the Shimano R55C3/4 blocks back on in late Spring through to Autumn for better braking performance when I am going quicker on drier roads

to increase life span, switch to wet weather blocks like Swiss stop blue during the wet winter months, they don’t cause the same abrasion and wear that Shimano blocks can cause.

He’s asking about wheels for summer & dry weather use

I’m more than happy using factory wheels for the above use. You generally get a lighter, stiffer wheel at a given price point. Rim wear for me is negligible in the dry.
On my bikes that get used in the wet / winter then I use handbuilt wheels.

I’ve got 38mm Carbon Chinese clinchers on Tune hubs with CX-Rays, 1320g and about £700 or so. Realise that’s over budget, but you could do DT350s or sommat.

Or check out Zuus, who are importing Chinese wheels and flogging from the UK, but without the usual £1000 mark up.

I’m quite happy to only use these wheels in the dry/summer. The RS81’s look interesting. I wouldnt mind having to replace the whole wheelset due to wear after a few years at that price. Just the thought of £500 odd is a different matter.

How do the hand built wheels compare in general? I like the idea of being able to easily replace bits as and when needed. They certainly don’t look as fancy though!

Decided to go for some hand built Pancetia SL23’s on Dura Ace hubs…hopefully be a nice upgrade from the Mavic Aksium Ones!

Decided to go for some hand built Pancetia SL23’s on Dura Ace hubs…

Precisely what I have and I ruddy well love them, I am sure you will too. There has been some concerns about the SL23 rims cracking but there’s info about that on that there internet if it bothers you… Mine have been fine for 1000+ miles or so so far.

I went the hand built route for summer and winter use largely so that I could spec what I wanted – appropriate number of spokes for my weight. Also got some nice parts at a discount and found a good builder. Using DT 240 on DT RR440 rims and Sapim race spokes – like them a lot. Had used Bonty xxx lites and Fulcrum 5s before. These are nicer/better for me. Worked out at just over £300 a set which I thought was very good value.

Nice wheels. STW approves 🙂

Building them yourself?

No chance of a self build…well beyond my skill set!

There are lighter wheels out there eg DCR but thought I’d better play it safe with shimano.

No chance of a self build…well beyond my skill set!

Well, if *I* can do it… Although the cost of amassing the kit to do so (“properly”) may be prohibitive.

For ref mine are 1500g (give or take) with 24/28 spokes, Lasers all round but D-Lites on the DS rear. Alu nips. Far from playing it safe with the DA hubs, if you ask me, they’re very nice!

Worth doing. Not that hard and a good skill to gain.

High end Shimano road hubs always a good choice, not the lightest but they roll superbly.

Don’t want to ruin a nice pair of wheels trying it myself! Really looking forward to trying them out. Be interesting to see how different they feel compared to the aksiums. First time I’ve treated myself to some nice wheels.

I run dura ace hubs, j-bend Sapim race spokes and mavic cxp33’s. All black with Vittoria Open Paves and latex tubes. A nicer wheelset you will struggle to find. Hubs are fantastically smooth, rims are stiff and the tyres are supple. Lighter wheels are available, but when you are riding the Dartmoor chip and seal pave, you want reliable.

I’ve raced them too.

If I really wanted light summer wheels, i’d look at cheaper hubs and Ryde rims. But the bike is already only 7.2 kilos.

Dura Ace hubs are a good shout. I run them on my winter bike 🙂

for summer/dry weather use wheels last years (at least in terms of rim wear and bearings). If I took some alcohol to the sidewalls of my 3yr old Ultegras to clean the brake pad residue the whole wheels could probably pass as new.

Which is why for summer use I’ve happily gone carbon. A pair of the Light Bicycle lightweights (sub 1300g) for ~£400 (Novatec hubs not Njee’s fancy Tunes). Oh, AND some USE 4.5 aero carbons which Rutland were doing for about £550 8)

Zuus and Wiggle’s own brand Cosine both UK suppliers of nice carbon wheels in your price range.

I’ve got summer/nice day wheels over 15 years old. As long as you don’t have any mishaps, they *should* last for ages.

Once you start either racing or commuting the lifespan drops off, significantly.

Might only get 3 years out of a summer commuting wheel (all that stopping and traffic dodging and potholes)

A race wheel, depending on what racing you do, might be anything from <6 months to 5+ years.

Since i’ve had to pay for my own, almost all my wheels use conventional spokes (j- bend or straight pull) and come in spoke counts that allow me to replace rims. So some are factory, mostly handbuilts.

Only wheels with daft spokes are those i’ve got left over from sponsors kit. So they’ve probably been out of production for over 15 years.

Nice choice, can’t really go wrong with shimano hubs as long as you’re not a shaved chimp when it comes to maintenance (and even then, I’m not convinced they’re any more work than cartridge bearings).

Just ridden into work on my tourer with new handbuilts 105hubs in Mavic Open Sport.

Like most things wheel building looks complicated but it’s really just a series of simple steps, first wheel takes an evening after work, second takes an evening after dinner, and after that you can do them in an hour whilst watching TV.

The downside is you end up thinking “I could do with a pair of wheels for this or that niche, and as parts are cheaper than factory you build them, and another pair, and another. I’ve a shed full of wheels!

Hello all

if anybody is interested I can post a link to a free App that I wrote. It’a about modelling and visualizing wheel lacing patterns in 3D. I wrote the app out of need of visualizing the patterns before starting building a wheel, as I think watching videos is only of limited use.

I don’t want to look as if I am spamming, so please answer to this post if you are interested, and I can give you the needed information either in a post or privately.