Suggest me some wheels!

[Snoopy]

Want to upgrade my giant scr roadbike, and figured getting rid of the heavyish IOU 333 factory wheels would be the best start.

I'm a hill man riding in the Peaks, so my research tells me aero not so important, lightness is the main factor.

Anyone suggest some reasonable quality light wheels and tyres that would suit?. I've not got loads to spend so ZIP 414's are out!!
I'm thinking 200-400 quid, preferably something on offer!

Thanks

[Palomides]

I am no expert by a long way. I too have a pair of heavy OEM wheels on my road bike, and I'm currently trying to convince myself that the wear indicator is still deep enough to do another summer...

Anyway, from extensive research on forums, the usual suspects are

PlanetX model B - currently £99, loads of people think they're great (but I suspect that most of them are heeeavy bifters without much experience)

Shimano Ultegra 6700 - good offers on these at the moment (chainreaction, merlin cycles and "Absolute Bikes" on ebay), I quite like the look of them as they have a steel freehub body so will take an older 8 or 9 speed cassette no probs, are quite light and I'm tempted to try out Tubeless...

Shimano RS80 - cheaper version of dura-ace 7850 C24s, all-round carbon clinchers, light and some people think they're great (I suspect that these people are a bit more knowledgeable than the MobelB fans)

Fulcrum 5s or 3s - look good, good reputation, noisy freewheel.

Mavic  Ksyriums  - archetypal factory wheels, lots of strong love/hate opinions around.

Other options are handbuilts - this is a whole world I know nothing about, but I've seen good things said about http://www.wheelsmith.co.uk/ and http://www.roadacecomponents.co.uk/.

Oh, and I'm intrigued by the Hed C2 clinchers (Ardennes, Kermesse, etc). They seem a reasonable price for the weight and claim to have a significant aero advantage over narrower rim clinchers.

I wouldn't do too much research on the internet - you can always find someone who's had a bad experience / thinks that a certain product is crap. Oh and apparently all the manufacturers lie about weight.

Just buy something that matches the colour of your bike and you'll be fine.

[Yossarian]

How about Royce hubs with DT RR rims, handbuilt?  You could nearly do that for £400 I think?

[tlr]

Good acvice so far, but if you are Peak based then you should get yourself over to Alex at La Bicicletta in Greystones.

Those Ardennes do sound interesting, I don't quite understand how a wider contact patch gives lower rolling resistance though? Alex did try to explain it, but I'm not very bright.

[soapy]

rider weight?

tubular / tubeless / clincher?

[Snoopy]

I like the shimano's may be able to get them on offer. 400 quid would be an absolute max, so I'd rather not go down the handbuilt route, although I'm sure they would be great.

No offence to the guys at bicletta, but I think I'm priced out there (me being a tightwad and all!), I figured in my price range i'd be better getting some factory wheels on offer via a large mail order job.

Whats the Dillio on carbon wheels, if I shell out I cant run the risk of damaging them, so I guess better to stay with aluminium?

Thanks for all the advice guys.

[mr__j5]

For that price range I'd go for either Fulcrums or look at some of the Easton options, they are very good price for the weight.

I know a few people that have ridden Shimano wheels of this sort of price (Ultegra it might have been) and found them to have not been stiff enough. This is the main problem that you can get with cheap and light.

I'm still amazed at how well my Bontrager Race X Light wheels perform and at £550 I thought that they might be too cheap for thier weight to be stiff enough, but they are actually great.  (or at 75kg I'm light enough for them  )

[tlr]

No offence to the guys at bicletta, but I think I'm priced out there (me being a tightwad and all!), I figured in my price range i'd be better getting some factory wheels on offer via a large mail order job.

Just for the record, Alex has wheels starting at about £100 for a pair, he's not just about £2000 Lews Lightweights. Although there is plenty of bling in there too....

[bigd942]

The last few sets (15+) of wheels I've built have been 36h Ambrosio Zenith and OpenPro rims, Ambrosio Excellence rims also get rave reviews. I can't fault the hubs, they're OEM just branded as Ambrosio and the sealed bearings are easy to get and cheap to replace if ever needed. Building wheels is straight forward and you should give it a go at least once. The Miche hubs are good as well and I reckon £160 would get you rims, spokes and hubs - all good quality and easily replaced if damaged.

[BB]

Campag factory wheels are very good.

[gremlin]

you could buy my Eaton Ascent ll's. Very light, very stiff, with new Ultremo tyres. 

http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,13233.0.html

[chappers]

i had never looked at those hed c2's. ih have some of those in a shot.

(v impressed with my campagnolo zonda - and i have a shimano freehub body for a set if you find a campag pair you want to convert).

[fatkid2000]

No offence to the guys at bicletta, but I think I'm priced out there (me being a tightwad and all!), I figured in my price range i'd be better getting some factory wheels on offer via a large mail order job.

Just for the record, Alex has wheels starting at about £100 for a pair, he's not just about £2000 Lews Lightweights. Although there is plenty of bling in there too....

I recently looked at some wheels at La Biclletta at around £200 for my commuter - I admit the shop is full of amazing bling but if tell Alex what the wheels are going to be used for and your budget he'll come up with something good. Plus his customer service is fantastic.

My commuting wheels need replacement in a few months - and Alex had a good few ideas. Think I may go for some hand built ones when my current rims reach the wear point.

[SteveM]

Just for the record, Alex has wheels starting at about £100 for a pair, he's not just about £2000 Lews Lightweights. Although there is plenty of bling in there too....

Seconded, thirded, etc. Let Alex know what you want and he generally find something appropriate. I've been pleasantly surprised when I've done a web search afterwards, he's competitive on the going rate.