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For racing only, maybe the odd training ride.
Money so far is on Wheelsmith 50mm tubs on King hubs, anything else around I might have missed?
£1200 budget (ish)
Reynolds Assaults
Tubs if you will but the (tubeless compatible) clinchers are excellent too.
there was a recent article on [cough] [url= http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/best-road-wheels-34661/ ]bikeradar[/url] [/cough] though I thought one glaring omissions was any of the dura-ace offerings from shimano.
Crikey. £1200 is high for racing. Racing breaks stuff you know. Novatec/campag/shimano sapim and a generic carbon tub rim would do the same job for less. However if it's an excuse to get nice wheels go for it you'll not get nicer.
A lot of the price I have in mind is for the CK hubs, figured hand built would be easier to get fixed after a crash and the hubs could have some life way after I've hung my wheels up.
What sort of racing? Crits, road races, hilly, flat?
Road & crits, flat mostly but some 'rolling'. The odd bank to get up but nothing I'd say was hilly throughout...
Wheelsmith does seem a pretty good option. Personally I'd go for the 45mm dimpled clinchers and probably DA hubs.
I've got some Zipp 404's which are super quick, i use the front on the TT bike too so wanted proven good aero performance. Though must admit I swap them out for some cheap Planet X carbon tubs when I've raced crits.
I like my wheelsmiths. When I had to get one fixed the mechanic noted how nice they are to work on, being so well built in the first place.
Agree with your notion that you're unlikely to break the hubs in a race so you might as well invest.
I wouldnt bother with the Kings to be honest - lovely hubs but if they are race wheels the attractions of servicability isnt as much of an issue as they wont get loads of use! I'd be tempted to look at something like the Mavic Cosmic 40's not the lightest wheels but bombproof and hold their value well compared to other non brand wheelsets
MrB, any reason you'd pick the dimpled over the aero...just the 100g saving?
King hubs are a waste of time. Infact most fancy, over engineered hubs are. Last set of carbon wheels I had had Royce hubs; they look great but offer no performance advantage.
Boras or get DCR wheels to build you some up on his (bitex) hubs. Will be half your budget.
MrB, any reason you'd pick the dimpled over the aero...just the 100g saving?
150g saving on the clinchers. Also maybe perceived aero benefit of the dimpled wheel. I quite like the look of them too 🙂
I'd still go DA hub if I had a choice. I really like the way they roll.
I'd go clincher too. Mostly so I can also use them for training if I fancy it (and nice race wheels are a joy to ride 🙂 ). Specialized Turbo Cotton with latex tubes every bit as good as quality tubs too. Only benefit of tubs IMO is a slight weight saving.
If someone could just provide a nice spreadsheet showing wheels, costs, weight and aeroz that'd be great. Thanks in advance 🙂
Ha, I'm not convinced on the dimpled benefit.
100g saving is nice against the 50mm aero (for tubs)...hmm, extra £100
eddie11 - Member
Crikey. £1200 is high for racing. Racing breaks stuff you know. Novatec/campag/shimano sapim and a generic carbon tub rim would do the same job for less. However if it's an excuse to get nice wheels go for it you'll not get nicer.
This - whatever you get make sure you are prepared to race on it and potentially break it when the guys in front don't signal the hole and you hit it at 30+ mph. Or someone rides over it in a crash. Seen two sets of zipps go like that this year. Any other wheel would have broken as well but at least it would be cheaper to replace.
I'm thinking of a nice bike for training and a £1000 C2W bike for racing!
Thanks Jonba, most of the value is in the hubs...benefit of hand built is they'll be easier to repair or replace a rim, hubs will hopefully keep going over several builds.
I broke 2x carbon rims in 2 successive road races due to potholes - tubular rims and I only weigh 60kg but still cracked them due to hitting potholes at 30mph. I'd certainly consider carbon rims to be consumables.
If you want a racing wheelset I have a set for sale, LB 35mm rims, Extralite Hubs - 1250 grams .... Less than half your budget
For what its worth no way would I pay that for a wheelset - get something used for half the money. Ive raced most weekends for the past 10 seasons on carbon wheels and have broken one pair of Reynolds when i hit a freak hole (touch wood this remains the same after posting this!)Hoop 46's look to be really good
I'd still go DA hub if I had a choice. I really like the way they roll.
Please, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I had you in mind when I wrote that Al 🙂
If I stay hand built I'll stick with King hubs to be honest, always fancied trying them out. And they come in nice colours.
What are the chances of rebuilding from hubs off a factory set if I trashed a rim...appreciate it depends on the specific hub but is it generally okay or a pita?
For racing i'd go with something you van have repaired easily. I see so many broken spokes, derailleur in the wheel, etc...
I love my dura ace hubs and cxp33 rims. But those are my general riding wheels. For a single race set, i'd go with something a little deeper like 35 or even 45 mm.
That said I mainly race on Giant pslr-aeros because they came with my propel! They've been crashed twice and retrued. I've also raced ksyriums, but getting these fixed was more of a pain.
Everyone likes Zipps, but the sound of an expensive smash is never one to get used to.
As for weight. Most races are fairly flat, so less of a problem than aero. Anything about 1500g is competitive. And plenty of people are racing non-aero conventional wheels. And finishing in front of me!