A wheelie good idea

[Hornet]

Hi

Still running my Shimano R500 wheels - the back one looked distincly buckled when i had it on the stand! Time to invest but i have NO idea what to get. Budget - thinking £200 but might get a wife reciept and go to £400 as i quite like the look of the DT Swiss R 1900 Wheels - but i'll totally admit that i'm only looking at the name.

Anyone got any advice on wheels they've brought and liked or just general advice on what to look for when getting wheels for a road bike?

Thankee all.

 

[Herzog]

Shimano RS80s are great, light wheels (~1550g). Had mine for 2000+km and they are still nice and true.

 

[Hornet]

Cheers Herzoq, they look nice, and ~300g lighter than the DT Swiss too boot. V tempting indeed.

 

[Herzog]

Lat time I looked, Merlin cycles had the best price.

 

[brockers]

Get a wheelbuilder to knock you up some DT Swiss, Ambrosio Excellight or Open Pro rims on Dura Ace/Record/Hope hubs. 1650 grams and £400ish. Comfortable, bombproof, easily fixable and people still race on them over rough terrain. Unfortunately, like most components, they won't gain value after you've bought them , your average Cervelo City-boy rider will sneer at them (well, the ones I've met would) but you'll probably want to hang on to them as your all-purpose wheels. If you look at what a lot of pro roadies use to train with, when they're cranking out the miles for six hours a day and when the sponsors aren't looking, you might be surprised to find many of them still using non-trendy and humble regular 32 spoked rims built 3 cross with J-bend spokes to flanged hubs. For a reason.

 

[Hornet]

Hadn't thought of getting some made - any advice on a good wheelbuilder?

 

[brockers]

The usual three are -

http://www.harryrowl...co.uk/7301.html

http://www.hewittbik...php?page=wheels

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

Or ask in your nearest quality bike shop. Any mechanic should be able to build a half reasonable set, or if he'd rather not, should at least be able to point you in the right direction.

 

[Hornet]

thanks Brockers - i'll give them a call!

 

[PpPete]

I was going to build some for MacB but found that Wheelsmith could build up a pair cheaper than either he or I could source the components.
Quite happy to build for you though if you want someone local, or if you already have components. Not less than 28 spokes though.

 

[brockers]

You could also have a look at what the big boys like Parkers are offering, and see how their prices compare. Ribble, ChainReaction, etc. I'm sure their builds are good enough and are probably cheaper than Harry Rowland (who is more or less seen as the number one UK wheelbuilder). Derek (Mr Wheelsmith) used to be phenomenally cheap, but has probably got wise to that so has upped his prices!

I'm not anti 'factory' wheels at all, it's just that I think that handbuilts can be better value at the sub £400 level. You also get to learn about the characteristics of the different components when you're deciding what you want, and sometimes it's nice to have something a bit more individual too, no?!

Edit: Yes. Derek's wheels used to be cheaper than getting hold of the individual bits and cobbling them together yourself, but not sure if that's still the case!

 

[Hornet]

Boy is this confusing - though not as bad as deciding what sized cassette to get.

Liking the thought of getting my own wheels made - i'll get a few quotes and see how they compare to the RS80's Herzog recomended - a job for tomorrow if no one asks me to do any work at the office


Thanks for the offer PpPete - will bear it in mind

 

[PpPete]

I'm not anti 'factory' wheels at all, it's just that I think that handbuilts can be better value at the sub £400 level.

Agree with that!
Another advantage (for me anyway ) is that you can buy hubs one month, rims another, and then get spokes and build in a third month. Easier to "hide" away expenditure at that level.

I've noticed Parkers are pretty good value on Open Pros and the like...certainly as cheap as I can source the bits. I'd be very interested to see what their quality is like compared with mine, but then I dont suppose they spend 3 or 4 hours per wheel like I do

 

[Hornet]

Hi

have asked wheelsmith for a quote based on the Ambrosio/DT swiss set up suggested by Brockers - will let you know what they come back with. But another thought ocured to me (another thread?) - is there any advantage of getting tubular tyres over clinchers?

 

[Herzog]

Stolen from Sheldon Brown

Tubular Pros:

• Tubulars are a bit lighter than comparable clinchers, due to the absence of the beads. The development of Kevlar® beads has considerably reduced this advantage.
• Tubular rims are lighter than clincher rims, since they don't need the flanges that hold the bead of the tire in place
• Tubulars are less prone to pinch flats than clinchers, since the rims don't present the sharp edges of the clincher flanges.
• Many riders believe that tubulars provide a more comfortable ride and better traction than clinchers
• If you get a flat on a tubular, you can install a spare tubular faster than you can change an inner tube in a clincher.

Tubular Cons

• Tubulars are considerably more expensive than clinchers of comparable performance.
• Tubulars are very much harder to repair once punctured. Most people just throw them away.
• You need to carry a complete spare tubular in case you get a flat. This negates the weight advantage over clinchers, unless you have a team car following you with spare wheels.
• Improperly glued tubulars can roll off the rim. This almost always causes a serious crash.If you replace a tubular on the road, you cannot corner safely at high speeds until you go home and re-glue the tire. For safe high-speed cornering, the glue needs to dry for at least several hours.
• Tubulars have higher rolling resistance than the best clinchers.
• Tubulars are rarely as true and round as clinchers.

 

[brockers]

Don't get tubulars (and 'sprint' rims) unless you are racing seriously and are pretty fast anyway, extremely vain, or have a lot of money to burn.