[Snoops]

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?

[Snoops]

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.

[metal arms]

Instead of starting a new thread I thought I'd see if I could ressurect this one.

I'm about to start building up this bad boy


It's getting Ultegra groupset, probably going to have Shimano Pro Handlebars & Stem and a Fizik saddle.

Can't decide on wheels for the build.  I've got a bit of cash for them but only want to spend what's necessary!  Had a look at Wheelsmith for non-factory built but that's just asked more questions than it's answered...
Quite liked the look of the race 30

Would it be worth shelling out extra for the Hope Hubs?  Or even going wild and getting the Chris King build...
I had originally thought about going a bit deeper section but not sure whether that would look as classy (and looks are important for this one). Thoughts?

Been looking at FFWD as well and seen last years F4R for £650ish online.
Campagnolo Shamal Ultra or Mille look good as well at a similar price point.
Rolf Prima Vigor looked good if a bit bat-shit crazy
I've also just been pointed towards American Classic for light and well made...

So guys, any thoughts/advice?  The look of it is important and I don't mind shelling out extra on quality.  It's going to be the #1 bike so the wheels aren't going to be hammered in all weather all year.
Cheers

<Edit - Added Rolf & AC to list of potentials>

[steveri]

Oh, nice looking frame. There's a guy that does the 3 Peaks that's doctored his decals to Riley, wish I'd got there first.

Only one bit of wisdom I wish I'd followed - make sure whatever you get is serviceable by normal humans in normal bike shops. I got a second hand pair of DT Tricons which are lovely and light and good looking ...and nobody can repair them. First time I pinged a single spoke it cost me 50 quid. The front wheel's been sat in my office for months to send back to Pace for another seemingly trivial repair.

[webbo]

I would recommend kysruims. I've got a pair I retired to the turbo a couple of years ago, I think they are about 18 years old. I got the bearings replaced about 10 years ago but I never needed to get trued or have broken a spoke. My current pair are about 3 years old and I haven't needed to do anything to them.
I have a pair of Fulcrum 3s which are ok but I've bust a spoke a couple of times and when they go, it's a case of ringing for a rescue.

[Schnell]

Plus one for krysiums, having worked in bike shops for the last five years in my experience they are good value, hard wearing and serviceable. The only set it remember completely abandoning were cos the guy had let the qr skewer seize inside the axle

[El Mocho]

I've got krysiums, I know fuck all about bikes (bike is prob 3rd hand and wheels about 4th hand - think they may have been tlr's at some point) although I have not done 1000s of miles I keep abusing them by 'accidentally' ending up on bridleways... they still seem to go round and round although slowly up hills. They look nice which helps as when I am suffering most on said slow up hills I am often staring at them. Sure that has been no help.

[north_country_boy]

Another +1 for Krysiums. I have been running Mavic Ksyrium SLR Exalith's for about 18 months and they have been faultless for over 9000km in that time. The Exailth braking surface takes some getting used to but is great in the wet. Great stiff and light wheels, the perfect wheel if you want something for climbing.

[RobinB]

I've got some Stans 340 rims on some light American classics hubs. They're very light (for aluminium clinchers anyway) and reasonably stiff, so make good hill climbing wheels. However the braking track isn't brilliant and they only really work if you run them tubeless

Pretty good service from justridingalong.com though, who do a variety of custom wheel builds

[metal arms]

Cheers All,

We were getting dangerously close to consensus there!  Had a gander on justridingalong and they've got some nice stuff to consider...

@RobinB - Did you go American Classic for the Hub just for the weight?  I'm thinking about maybe getting JRA to build up the HED Belgium+ rims but I'm no hub expert.

@north_country_boy - Does the Exalith brake track stay black?  Is that going to be the same kind of thing campagnolo have done on the Shamal Mille

Those top bollocks ksyriums do look really nice though but I'd probably save £200ish and go for the SLE option...

Anyone had any experience of Campag wheels? - Mainly asking because of the look of them!

[webbo]

The fulcrums I mention above are made by Campag. 

[RobinB]

Did you go American Classic for the Hub just for the weight

Pretty much - they're light and roll pretty well. However I don't think the seals are brilliant so wouldn't want to run them over winter

@Metal arms - like the Ridley Helium SL frame - this would probably be my 'won the lottery, money no object' option for a lightweight hill climbing bike. Which retailer did you get it from?

[RobinB]

Which retailer did you get it from

Doh - ignore - just looked at the piccie again

[metal arms]

I would have bought the SL if I was a lottery winner.  Saved a grand at the cost of about 100gms by just getting the normal helium with a nice colour scheme! 

Cheers all for wheel thoughts

[north_country_boy]

@north_country_boy - Does the Exalith brake track stay black?  Is that going to be the same kind of thing campagnolo have done on the Shamal Mille

Mine have started to discolour a little, however they look worse before a good clean as the grooves tend to pick up a bit of dust, especially in dry/dusty conditions.