looking for new wheels

[davf]

I'm looking for a new set of wheels as I'm off to the US in a couple of weeks to do the RAAM. Quite fancy the Easton EA70 but they seem to suggest you cant use individual sprockets on the freehub. I just have a standard shimano 12/25. Anyone had any issues?

Failing that anyone got any suggestions for wheels? Willing to go to £350 max, at the minute plan B is a set of Mavic Cosmic Elite.

cheers
Dave

 

[yello]

Can't help with the wheels but.... RAAM!!? You're freakin' mad!

I'm maybe a tad surprised you're asking the question since RAAM takes, I would have thought, some preparation and planning BUT, that aside, I would think you're after something pretty robust rather than light and fancy. What you say about the freehub surprises me too but there you go.

 

[davf]

Lifted straight from the Easton website, if the wheel has an alloy freehub body then they say you should use an alloy carrier to retain the cogs. Dont see anything like this on other manufacturer websites though.

RAAM entry has been almost a year in the planning/training. Wheels have been bugging me for a while, just been putting off dropping the cash.

www.caledonianchaingang.com

 

[fossyant]

Go get some handbuilts then - reliable !

 

[Will1985]

There are lots of alloy freehubs around. The reason is that steel cassettes will dig into the softer freehub metal, creating grooves and cause individual sprockets to slip out of the correct ramping position.
All it means is that at some point you have to change the freehub once it's knackered. That would almost certainly be after your 4000 miles or whatever it is. The effect is exacerbated with Shimano because the splines are lower compared to Campag.

 

[davf]

many thanks for the advice, think i'll err on the side of caution and avoid the Eastons!

 

[Cranks]

Go hand built, you have a healthy budget.

Many good wheel builders around, I use RoadAce for mine.

Good luck with RAAM!