Which Wheelset

[Tetedelacourse]

Can't justify spending more than around £150. Am looking at:

Fulcrum 5
Mavic Ksyrium / Aksium depending on where I can find them
Shimano, eh 105?


I have Alexrims at the mo, DA16s and they've done me perfectly but can't seem to find a price for them anywhere even for comparison's sake.

Any recommendations?

 

[gkerr4]

I have the Shimano R561 '105's (there are about a million shimano wheelsets all claiming to be '105') and I like them.

I bought them in March for about £130, retail was meant to be £150 - you can now get them for about £112 from wiggle.

I don't weigh a lot, about 11st, but they do get subjected to the helish roads that make up blackpool and are still as true as the day i unpacked them (which was very true indeed). The replaced a set of bontrager select aeros and are much lighter than the bontys. I think they are very good value for money, for me at the time it was either them or aksiums.

As far as the shimano line-up goes, there are the 500's which are really cheap, the 550's, then 560's then the 561's are the 07 models of 560's (I think) then there is the 5600's which are the latest, but are 10-speed only..

 

[Peyote]

Been very happy with my Mavic Aksiums nice a stiff and not too heavy, would recommend them to anyone. If you shop around on t'Interweb you may be able to get a pair for under £100 (Wiggle, CRC et al).

heard good things about the Fulcrums too, but never tried them myself.

 

[oxbob]

Ribble have the aksium's in black for£99.99, or silver for £120.00

 

[starseven]

Not suprisingly its Aksiums for me, OK so far they feel strong and roll nice.


The Mavics are an improvement on Spech OE also a bike I test tried had very flexy Shimano wheels fitted which were no good for a fat boy like me, so that made all Shimano wheels bad In my mind. Im sure they're not though.

There are usually lots of recomendations for Fulcrums but the noisy freewheel would bug me.

The good news is most will be better than OE, Im beginning to think I should have gone to the next level up though, as im now convinced that good wheels make a real difference.

 

[Mortiroloboy]

Not suprisingly its Aksiums for me, OK so far they feel strong and roll nice.


The Mavics are an improvement on Spech OE also a bike I test tried had very flexy Shimano wheels fitted which were no good for a fat boy like me, so that made all Shimano wheels bad In my mind. Im sure they're not though.

There are usually lots of recomendations for Fulcrums but the noisy freewheel would bug me.

The good news is most will be better than OE, Im beginning to think I should have gone to the next level up though, as im now convinced that good wheels make a real difference.

Good Wheels make all the difference, I had the alexDA16's on my spesh, which I changed for Shimano WH R550's (105's) vast improvement over the Alex Rims, but, very flexy, I weigh 75Kg, when out of the saddle the rear wheel would touch the blocks as it flexed, that said they never went out of true.

I changed them for Aksiums, they did not flex, but the rear wheel went out of true very quickly, which was sorted FOC by LBS.

My new bike has the Fulcrum R7's, which are made by Campag, rear wheel also went out of true, but was sorted, IMO they are comparable with the Aksiums, but they do have that rather loud freewheel, which initially I disliked, but have grown to love!

 

[Lucky Luke]

If you want another pair of Alex DA16s , I have a pair from the wife's Specialized Dolce to sell . PM me if you're intertested .

 

[alecstilleyedye]

i got these and found them better than the alexrims. and a steal at the price!

 

[Tetedelacourse]

Do you know if they are available as 23s? Those ones are 30s I think.

Luke, cheers for the offer. I reckon I'd like to try something different though this time round.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

in stock here

if you mean do they take a 700 x 23 tyre then the answer is yes. not sure that the 30mm does not refer to the depth of the rim, rather than the cross-sectional width ie making them 700 x 30. they certainly don't look any thicker than anyone elses wheels.

 

[llllllll]

Another vote for the Vueltas. I had a set on my commuter for ages, they were only replaced when the braking surface wore down. They performed flawlessly in all weathers, with very little truing/maintenance. The only slight reservation I have is they seem quite tight when fitting tyres (depending on tyre model).
I've replaced them with another set of Vueltas, these:http://www.parker-international.co....yID/64/v/6bc01fc6-5bd8-4b83-b5d3-9394506fa8de
Which come in just under your budget. Again highly recommmened they have nicer hubs with sealed bearings, which should mean no more packing the hub with grease, though both sets are very easy to strip and service. The Chromelights come with a handful of spare spokes, which neatly avoids any potential problems sourcing spares.

 

[Tetedelacourse]

Jings they look good. I've got an 8 gear shimano cassette at the back with a Tiagra derailleur. Any probs with that?

Also, possibly a daft question but as I've never bought just wheels before, do they come with a new axle, quick-release etc or do I have to mess about with my old stuff?

 

[alecstilleyedye]

all you need to do with the vueltas is put the rear cassette on, then you're ready to go.
i got spare spokes with the corsas too.

 

[Tetedelacourse]

do I need any special tools?

 

[giant man]

These Vuelta wheels do look good value and a little bit bling which can't be bad!