So I’ve got about a grand to splash on some new road wheels, what are the collectives thoughts on Hope Pro 3 carbon?

Is that freewheel too loud for the group ride, and just how bad are carbon rims in the wet really?

these look great….

My thoughts are don’t spend a grand on wheels

A friend of mine has Mavic Cosmic Carbone SLR front and rear on his Scott Foil 20 and they stop alarmingly well, even in wet conditions. They sound awesome too. A bit out of budget (can be had for £1400) but they are pretty light.

My first thought was, “you could buy a bike for that”. Then I thought “not really, not when you are a Bike Tart”.

I have no further helpfulness to add.

spend more, get Enve on 240s

Have a chat with these people ( their wheelbuider is brill) strada wheels

I’m really pleased with my new Fulcrum Racing Zeros, £925 retail but I paid £700ish. Noticeably stiffer than Ksyrium Elites and climb better with two crossed spokes on the drive side rather than daft Mavic radial drive side lacing. Alloy clinchers so no braking problems, running 25C Conti GP4000s so not harsh.

Depends on on the intended use really, are you climbing hills in the Alps, racing, time trialling etc.

If its mostly/solely UK club rides/sportives, little or no racing, I’d go for Campag Neutron Ultras and save £500.

If you really want deep rims, the Fulcrum Red Wind 50mm clinchers are around £800.

I dont think £1000 is a good price point for wheels personally, its not quite enough for something like Zipp 404s and you only need to pay half that for some fantastic low profile alu clinchers.

I’ve been using a set of the Hope wheels you’ve highlighted since prototype stage, they’re light, have good tyre profile and are nice and stiff. They stop well in the wet and don’t squeal in the dry, they come with inserts for the brakes too.

I’m 85kg and ride hard with a fair bit of power output. they’ve remained tight and true and still spin like the day they were built (actually a bit better now) The road hubs have lighter pawl springs so are more quite than the mtb variants.

I REALLY like mine, they were gonna be my best summer wheels but I don’t want to put the open pro’s back on! The 30mm section is ideal IMO, I’m not that fussed for deep wheels, they look good but can be a handful for every day riding and clinchers add the weight, the 30’s look good but can still run std inner tubes, nice and stiff but not harsh and nice and light.

I think for the price, they can’t be bettered, although I do have a bias, so take that as you will. Zipps and Enve cost a lot more, for no benefit in my eyes, the hubs are servicable from the UK, the rim is very high quality, the spokes and nipples are top quality Sapim CX-Ray and they are built by hand, by a proper picky wheel builder in house.

What level do you compete at?

What BristolPablo said is spot on.

What’s the intended use?

A grand is too much for club run wheels, and not enough for Zip/Enve race wheels.

Having had a set built by them I can recommend Strada, else HED Ardennes would be worth a look at.

A friend of mine has Mavic Cosmic Carbone SLR front and rear on his Scott Foil 20 and they stop alarmingly well, even in wet conditions. They sound awesome too. A bit out of budget (can be had for £1400) but they are pretty light.

They’re Exalith braking surface, not carbon though. Generally squeal like mad too, so your friend’s lucky!

The Hopes are lighter too, although they are only 30mm.

I’d be tempted by some Light Bicycle clincher rims at a depth of your choice, on DT240s with CX-Rays or Revs.

You asking me Rob? If so, Elite MTB, 1st Road. Been doing Prem Calendars, Tour Series and Nat Crits start soon.

I have also used the Tub variant of this rim on 24h for Cross all last season with Zero failure rate over 6 sets so it’s plenty strong.

the op

Oh, ok. does it really matter?

i just wondered – crime?

Not at all. don’t take offence. was just wondering why it mattered.

As i have not got a clue about road wheels and how they stack up in comparison to mtb i was trying to place £1k wheels against mtb wheels. And also why they are sooo expensive

I guess that they don’t really equate to mtb wheels other than some of the top of the line wheels from Easton and Specialized etc. that are well over £1k with carbon rims.

Road wheels seem expensive but high end kit is usually very expensive. look at high end offerings from Shimano, Enve, Zipp, Reynolds etc and you can quickly see that £1k is actually quite reasonable for carbon clincher road wheels, as some have said on this thread already, they think the Hopes are TOO cheap! Enve Carbon rims are £700+ each Rim only for e.g..

Hope have the advantage of suppling their own hubs cheap to the deal, to make them good value, just look at the Hoops MTB wheels, full wheels actually cheaper than the sum of their parts at retail. If you break down the road wheel prices, £300 for hubs, £180 spokes, £450 rims, building, packaging, distribution etc. etc.

I’ve nothing very useful to add other than I have some now 5 year old Fulcrum Racing 1’s on my road bike and they’re excellent. No problems with 1000s of miles on the clock.

£700 each 😯

I have Giant P-SLR aeros. Cycling Weekly rated them as the best aero wheel at your price point. Not heavy (1500g), tubeless ready. Alloy braking surface (that mattered to me), with a carbon fairing. They are DT hubs and are the noisiest ratchets I’ve ever heard. So keep pedaling! 😳 The skewers are great on the front but chipped my new frame at the rear.

I recently replaced my cosmic carbones for 300 quid chinese full carbon clinchers with Novotec hubs. Personally, if I had a grand, I’d do that, and spend 700 quid on, well,anything else you need / want.

Exactly!

I’ve been using mavic kyserium sl premiums for the last few years and they’ve been faultless. Light, stiff, reliable and under your budget.

rob-jackson for someone who knows nothing about road wheels you’ve posted quite a few times on this thread.

Anyone experience of these? Seem nice in 38 or 50mm
http://www.spincycleworks.com/servlet/the-WHEELS-cln-K2-CARBONE/Categories

Have a look at Rolf prima. They make some real nice wheels at loads of price points.

Something carbon from planet X. You could probably get some 50mm and 80/100mm for that to suit racing and TT.

Well, having ridden the Dragon Ride yesterday, people riding carbon rims means that you have 200 or 300 m of notice of something interesting on the road ahead, mostly involving ambulances or helecopters. Oh, and the appalling standard of riding as well.
I use Camapg Shamal Ultra and if they’re as good as the Eurus I bought in 2006 and have now moved over to the cross bike, they’re more wheels than most people need.

I recently replaced my cosmic carbones for 300 quid chinese full carbon clinchers with Novotec hubs. Personally, if I had a grand, I’d do that, and spend 700 quid on, well,anything else you need / want.

you get nice stickers with the Enve ones though

A grand is too much for club run wheels, and not enough for Zip/Enve race wheels.

club wheels? race wheels? i got Enve and i just do a bit of pootling around, sometimes its good to indulge, if he wants to spend £1k let him, dont tell him he would be better off spending 300 quid plus 700 quid on something else, how do you know he’s not got £1m in the bank?

pebblebeach – so what? anything wrong?

Ive never noticed my mates exalith surface squealing…perhaps he is lucky. He mentioned some cheap Chinese imports the other day, considered selling the cosmics too lol.

Love that cannondale dirty rider, ive got a six with the same color scheme that i would love to kit out like that.

i bought some nice alu clinchers from strada wheels for about 600 and 1400g
now i would either get kysiriums/fulcrums or Chinese import carbon. Maybe soul wheels?

club wheels? race wheels? i got Enve and i just do a bit of pootling around, sometimes its good to indulge, if he wants to spend £1k let him, dont tell him he would be better off spending 300 quid plus 700 quid on something else, how do you know he’s not got £1m in the bank?

+1

Spend as much money as you can get away with on wheels. On everything!

Any thoughts on chris king road hubs with some ksyrium sl rims? Currently contemplating new road wheels myself and quite fancy these

Unless someone knows different you can’t lace Ksyrium rims to std hubs, they need special spokes, not sure why you’d want to either for that matter, better rims available.

Any thoughts on chris king road hubs with some ksyrium sl rims?

Sounds like a mad idea

Earl if i was building i would look at some of the wider rims such as the a23

Ah good point re spokes. Doh! Its late…….