Advice on alu vs carbon wheelsets

[RoubaixCube]

Not sure if this is the correct place to post this but i spent part of the night looking at wheelsets after coming across an article on roadcc

I have sort of narrowed down the options to three (or maybe four) different wheelsets if i was to get something but at the same time i am very curious about one of them which i am very unsure about as im not experienced at all with carbon wheels apart from knowing that they come with more expensive bikes and can cost a lot of money....

Wheelsets:

Fulcrum Racing Zero C17

Fulcrum Racing 5 C17

Fulcrum Racing Quattro (older wheelset)

Prime RR-50 V3

---

So my curiosity comes with the RR-50 V3, Its a carbon wheelset and its pretty cheap too as far as carbon wheels go but their weight is around the same as a lot of alu wheels.

My understanding is that good carbon wheels are supposed to be lighter so take less power/energy to get rolling and keep rolling.

But if the carbon wheels are the same weight as the alu wheels then what benefit does the carbon wheels give apart from possibly being more aero/faster in a straight line due to rim profile?


I apologise if this is a silly question but ive never really looked at wheels really indepth.

 

[fossyant]

Basically the aero profile ! Also look at Mavic Cosmics - Merlin have these on for £399.

 

[DCLane]

You've got quite a range there - Fulcrum 5 to Zero is a price jump. Budget carbon wheels are often heavier than their aluminium counterparts. Also, as always, you're paying for a brand.

We've run either Fulcrum 5's or Superstar Components wheels as winter / general use wheels for several years and they're reliable, although my son did use a set of their 30mm Ultra wheels in his national championships once.

The Prime 50's are used by a couple of my son's team-mates and they rate them. He's got a 38mm disc-brake set for his new race bike as a lightweight hilly race set and they look well made, but they're under 1400g.

@fossyant's suggestion of Mavic Cosmics is a good one as they're decent wheels.

Have a look at Superstar Components - https://www.superstarcomponents.com/en/ and they'll be about 1500g. Their retail is high but join their mailing list for significant discounts: I paid £80 for my last pair instead of £300 for a 'marked' set - it had a tiny mark on the rim.

 

[T4tomo]

The primes (wiggle own brand I think) are 50mm deep rims, which are going to be heavier than shallow rims material for material.
Deep rims have better aerodynamics so if your are doing flat TT courses they are good, if you are climbing mountains you want some lighter lower profile rims.

I've been happy with my Fulcrum 5s for general road riding. They are pretty bomb proof and reasonably light for the money - a solid all rounder. I'm clearly a price & performance bracket down from @DCLane , as I run Fulcrum 5s on my best bike and some of Primes £100 jobbies as my on-road wheels for my winter/gravel bike.

You can end up spending a lot of wheels as to get / maintain strength / durability and shed weight gets very expensive after a certain point.

 

[TissoT]

Fulcrums are prone for snapping spokes.

I have had a few pairs of fulcrums R3/Zero

I would be looking for Mavic's as a alternative.

 

[RoubaixCube]

You've got quite a range there - Fulcrum 5 to Zero is a price jump. Budget carbon wheels are often heavier than their aluminium counterparts. Also, as always, you're paying for a brand.

We've run either Fulcrum 5's or Superstar Components wheels as winter / general use wheels for several years and they're reliable, although my son did use a set of their 30mm Ultra wheels in his national championships once.

The Prime 50's are used by a couple of my son's team-mates and they rate them. He's got a 38mm disc-brake set for his new race bike as a lightweight hilly race set and they look well made, but they're under 1400g.

@fossyant's suggestion of Mavic Cosmics is a good one as they're decent wheels.

Have a look at Superstar Components - https://www.superstarcomponents.com/en/ and they'll be about 1500g. Their retail is high but join their mailing list for significant discounts: I paid £80 for my last pair instead of £300 for a 'marked' set - it had a tiny mark on the rim.

Thank you for your input and feedback. I probably lean more into the price|performance/bang-for-buck segment as im simply just an average joe that likes to cycle. but the upper price range was there just out of curiosity and something to compare the RR-50's to. How can you say... I was toying with the idea of having more expensive wheels but not really understanding the characteristics? 🤔🤔 (probably not in my case - Fulcrum 5's seem the most suitable for me)

The primes (wiggle own brand I think) are 50mm deep rims, which are going to be heavier than shallow rims material for material.
Deep rims have better aerodynamics so if your are doing flat TT courses they are good, if you are climbing mountains you want some lighter lower profile rims.

I've been happy with my Fulcrum 5s for general road riding. They are pretty bomb proof and reasonably light for the money - a solid all rounder. I'm clearly a price & performance bracket down from @DCLane , as I run Fulcrum 5s on my best bike and some of Primes £100 jobbies as my on-road wheels for my winter/gravel bike.

You can end up spending a lot of wheels as to get / maintain strength / durability and shed weight gets very expensive after a certain point.

Thank you! very informative, exactly the sort of information i was looking for.

 

[DCLane]

I've been happy with my Fulcrum 5s for general road riding. They are pretty bomb proof and reasonably light for the money - a solid all rounder. I'm clearly a price & performance bracket down from @DCLane , as I run Fulcrum 5s on my best bike and some of Primes £100 jobbies as my on-road wheels for my winter/gravel bike.

You can end up spending a lot of wheels as to get / maintain strength / durability and shed weight gets very expensive after a certain point.

You really don't want to buy a set of my son's current race wheels then; he's using a set of 60mm 3T Mercurio LTD's which were £1900 new (we bought them as ex-display for something much, much more reasonable).

For his new disc-brake race bike he's not using the bike sponsor supplied ones nor their wheel sponsors' but has had a set of 50mm Zed Wheel's Ultra Disc built for him. Technical reasons to do with him being a 53kg twig or something like that Zed makes the lightest wheelset in the world at 690g with string spokes but they're over £3k.

The price points jump from £200-300 through to £500 and then £1000+ very easily.

However, I've tried his 3T Mercurio's and, whilst they're lovely to ride on and fast, the price differential between my set of Superstar Components' wheels and his 3T's makes little real-world difference to someone like me who's not road racing.

 

[Sharky]

Slightly OT, but I bought myself a nice carbon trispoke front wheel for my TT bike. It goes well, but in the slightest cross wind, it's a pig to control

 

[DCLane]

Slightly OT, but I bought myself a nice carbon trispoke front wheel for my TT bike. It goes well, but in the slightest cross wind, it's a pig to control

I've put on eBay a tri-spoke 10 speed on the rear if you want a matching pair: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HED-tri-...ith-700c-tubular-tyre-and-skewer/164746392529

 

[T4tomo]

The price points jump from £200-300 through to £500 and then £1000+ very easily.

it does indeed.
my somewhat layman's view is that you get
basic manufacturers stock wheels supplied with entry level bikes which weigh 2kg a pair plus and have bearings made of cheese, but allow them to supply to a price point with a reasonable group set.
Something like Shimano RS100s - basic cheap "training" wheels around the £100-120 (I bought a set for £60 on sale once - didn't need them at he time but knew they would come in useful - my GF nicked them!) just under the 2kg mark but bomb proof and durable.
£200-300 decent branded wheels like Fulcrum5's or nice handbuilts, 1550-1750g for normal clinchers depending on spec rim depth etc
going up from there shave a few grams as you increase the £££s you jump to carbon rims , fancy deep profile stuff then you get to
£1000+ where its either super lightweight, vanity money or plain bling or combinations of those. It doesn't buy you more strength or durability. it might buy you some very fancy low friction hubs.
If you're racing then every few grams count if you have the £s. if you're an average Joe and not at racing snake weight, then actually some of these lightweight wheels probably aren't compatible with your gravitational pull.

 

[Sharky]

I've put on eBay a tri-spoke 10 speed on the rear if you want a matching pair: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HED-tri-...ith-700c-tubular-tyre-and-skewer/164746392529

Tempting, but my TT bike is fixed!
I've got a deep section track wheel on the back and I'm thinking of retiring the front trispoke due to difficulties with cross winds and going back to my mavic elite. These are all clincher. Haven't used tubs now for a few years.