Wheel Upgrade

[Peter10]

Hi all,

I have just got my bike (Bianchi Nirone 2010), but being the sort of person I am, I will want to start upgrading and getting new things for it soon. The first thing to be changed will probably be the wheels.

As my technical knowledge of road bikes is below 0, I want to ask... what am I looking for.

I have had a look at a few websites and they states when ordering you need to tell them if you want Shimano 8,9 or 10 speed compatibility. My current wheels/tyres are 700x23c and want to stick with that, again I don't know if wheels come as a standard size or specific for a tyre size.

Any advice & possible ideas of what to shoot for would be of great help.

 

[Genman]

Hi all,

I have just got my bike (Bianchi Nirone 2010), but being the sort of person I am, I will want to start upgrading and getting new things for it soon. The first thing to be changed will probably be the wheels.

As my technical knowledge of road bikes is below 0, I want to ask... what am I looking for.

I have had a look at a few websites and they states when ordering you need to tell them if you want Shimano 8,9 or 10 speed compatibility. My current wheels/tyres are 700x23c and want to stick with that, again I don't know if wheels come as a standard size or specific for a tyre size.

Any advice & possible ideas of what to shoot for would be of great help.

700c is pretty much the norm for road bike wheels so you will need to stay with these. The tyres could be 23, 25,or even 28 depending on use and fork/frame clearance.
The existing cassette (cogs on the hub) determines which wheel you should buy. If you have a Shimano gears/ drive train then stick with Shimano, if the gears are Campagnolo you will need Campag compatible wheels.
Your budget is the determining factor when it comes to actual choice so scan the websites of various distributors, Ribble cycles is a good site,read the reviews and establish if the wheel meets your personal requirements e.g. touring, commuting, racing time trialing.
Hope this helps.

 

[accountantpete]

Depends on what sort of riding you do.
Wheels come in two basic forms - factory wheels or handbuilts. IMHO factory wheels are faster and handbuilts more comfy but this is a bit of a generalisation.

There is then a sub-division of aerodynamic rimmed wheels or lightweight rimmed wheels or something between the two (rim depth 30mm). Basically the aero wheels are better if you live in a flat area and are going 20mph + whereas the lightweight wheels will get you up hills a bit easier.

It's a big subject - ideally you should be doing a bit of research.

The best bet is to start with googling Mavic or Fulcrum wheels and take it from there.

 

[Peter10]

Thanks for the replies guys. I have been looking around a fair bit. I'll start reading some reviews from various websites and see what I get to. It will be a while until I upgrade, but I just wanted to know what I was aiming for.