After a cheap set of wheels and had originally looked at Fulcrum 5 or Aksiums but was put off by the bladed spokes. Im fairly fit and have done 2500 miles in 9 months on the stock Giant Defy 2 wheels which aren’t light.
Just found merlin doing a stupid cheap price on Shimano r501’s for £77 , Anyone got them ? I know they are cheap but are they that much different to a dearer set of shimano’s.

Your thoughts please.

They are heavy, slow and reliable. Perfect training or commuting wheels. I have them on my giant Defy.

I have the r501s on my commuter, and the aksiums on my road bike. The mavics are much better and I’ve never had a problem with them. I don’t really like the r501s.

I had R-550’s for years, they’re pretty reliable. Eventualy snapped a spoke and CBA fixing it as the nipples are in the hub on the 550’s and I CBA getting yet another spoke key to do it. R-500 avoids that problem by using normal hubs and rims so they’d be even better.

Perfectly fine and great value for the money

66 @ ribble am ordering a pair myself

Two winters on my R500’s without issue and they will be going out for a third. Cheap and perfectly serviceable.