£1000 to spend on wheels

[JNR]

If you had £1000 to spend on wheels, what would you buy? I am after some new wheels and I'm agonising on the decision. Light clinchers? 50mm carbon rims? I'm not adverse to tubulars either so what are your thoughts? These will be my only big spend on wheels for the foreseeable future and I'm not interested in time trailing but am interested in possible racing in 2013 season.

 

[zexel]

Have you done any racing before?

Are you prepared (mentally and financially) to replace those £1,000 wheels when you trash them (through no fault of your own necessarily) racing.

What are you looking for in wheels? Weight/Durability/Aero? All of the above? How much do you weigh? etc, etc.

 

[Blue]

Zexel poses some excellent questions, which shouldn't be ignored. £1,000 is a lot of cash and you want to be sure you get a wheel that is exactly matched to you and your specific needs. If you haven't raced before I would suggest trying with modest/existing equipment to see what exactly you like doing. For example, I tried road racing, circuit racing and TT's. I found that I only liked TT's and so put all my hard earned into TT specific gear.

The Bike Radar site has a 'Bikes & Gear' section with a 'Wheel Sets' sub section that contains a vast number of reviews - well worth a look.

 

[Arsen Gere]

If you are just starting road racing you are likely to be in the later half of the race. At the back you are going to be with a lot of of other people who are less experienced and they often touch wheels, hit your wheel with a pedal and find all kinds of ways of brining each other off.
I crashed once going up hill when the numpty in front of me lifted his front wheel off the ground and fell on his face. I rolled over him and I have a pedal mark scar on my back. So you get brought off by others in very unexpected situations.

I would start on something which is shallow section like 30mm or less until you get hang of keeping out of trouble and fit enough to get the odd break. If you have the option of having a car following you , get two sets of cheaper wheels and don't carry any spares.

Like Blue says, start off cheap and like Zexel says be prepared for the expense of replacing them.
But don't get disheartend its like any other sport, it has some expense associated with it, just enjoy it.

 

[VamP]

As others have said, if you are not racing yet, then get something robust that will handle training as well as racing application. I would look at getting something handbuilt to your specific requirements. You will not really know what those are until you have been racing for a while, so why don't you get a set of Fulcrum 5's to begin with, and start racing on those.

For sure the wheels will not be the thing that helps/prevents you from doing well in Cat 4 races. Spending a £1000 on bling to reward yourself for a good result once you have achieved it, is a lot nicer than spending the same and then discovering that you are not competitive and racing isn't really your thing.

Having said that, if you are determined to spend now, hell it's your own cash, take a look at these guys options:

http://www.stradawheels.co.uk/shop/

http://www.wheelsmith.co.uk/wheelprices.htm

Personally, I got a bit of a thing going for those Ambrosio tubs on Chris King hubs, but you really have to choose something that will appeal to YOU on a style level, because you will struggle to see the performance improvement of £1000 wheelset over a £300 one until you get further up the racing foodchain.

 

[fossyant]

The OP may just want some flash wheels - I'd echo the point about racing with very expensive wheels though.

Flash wheels - if a Shimano bike, then Dura Ace C24 or C35 or even C50's

Campag bike, then Fulcrum Zero, Campag Shamal Ultra or Bullet Ultra (deep section clincher)

How's that for a starter.

 

[PaulSecteur]

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/Bike+...+7900+C35+Wheelset+-+Clincher_WH7900C35CL.htm

 

[amaferanga]

With a grand to spare my advice would be to buy a PowerTap hub and some carbon clinchers from China (you can train and race on them through the summer) or a Power2max crankset and some Mavic Cosmic Carbones.

A training aid like a power meter if used intelligently will make much, much, much more difference to your race performance than a set of £1000 wheels. Nowt sadder than a guy on a £6000 Pinarello (or whatever) getting dropped after 5 miles of a 3rd/4th Cat race.

 

[JNR]

Excellent advice from everyone here, thank you very much. The question NOW is, what wheel set would you buy with less than £300? I'll keep the rest for later! I should add I've got a shimano set up at the moment and am 65 kg.

 

[Thomk]

simano set up?????

 

[DCLane]

Do what I've done (although it was from here) and as per the advice above - Fulcrum 5.

 

[StuAff]

The OP may just want some flash wheels - I'd echo the point about racing with very expensive wheels though.

Flash wheels - if a Shimano bike, then Dura Ace C24 or C35 or even C50's

Campag bike, then Fulcrum Zero, Campag Shamal Ultra or Bullet Ultra (deep section clincher)

How's that for a starter.

+1.

 

[Monsieur Remings]

With a grand to spare my advice would be to buy a PowerTap hub and some carbon clinchers from China (you can train and race on them through the summer) or a Power2max crankset and some Mavic Cosmic Carbones.

A training aid like a power meter if used intelligently will make much, much, much more difference to your race performance than a set of £1000 wheels. Nowt sadder than a guy on a £6000 Pinarello (or whatever) getting dropped after 5 miles of a 3rd/4th Cat race.

Hey fella, started a thread on here about some Chinese carbon clinchers a few weeks ago and got no reply.

Could you recommend a seller, I know of a few, who offer the Powertap hub that side or would you buy the wheel separately from China and get the Powertap this end?

 

[amaferanga]

Hey fella, started a thread on here about some Chinese carbon clinchers a few weeks ago and got no reply.

Could you recommend a seller, I know of a few, who offer the Powertap hub that side or would you buy the wheel separately from China and get the Powertap this end?

I bought my rims form Xiamen Farsport. I'd certainly recommend them - good price, good communication (from Mae), reasonably quick delivery time given that my rims were a special order for 24/28h drilling and I'm very happy with them. Not heard of any Chinese carbon rim sellers offering PowerTap builds, but I guess if the price is good then why not?

 

[amaferanga]

Hey fella, started a thread on here about some Chinese carbon clinchers a few weeks ago and got no reply.

Could you recommend a seller, I know of a few, who offer the Powertap hub that side or would you buy the wheel separately from China and get the Powertap this end?

I bought my rims form Xiamen Farsport. I'd certainly recommend them - good price, good communication (from Mae), reasonably quick delivery time given that my rims were a special order for 24/28h drilling and I'm very happy with them. Not heard of any Chinese carbon rim sellers offering PowerTap builds, but I guess if the price is good then why not?