Let's have some facts on wheels

pliptrot

There are a lot of differing views about factory built wheels. Can someone indicate the weight of Ksyrium rims, Dura Ace wheel rims, (etc.)? Total wheel weights for most factory built wheels don't impress much, and these products reduce consumer choice - if the bits are decent why can we no longer buy Mavic hubs and Aksium, Ksyrium (etc.) rims eparately?

A friend of mine recently broke a spoke on an Easton wheel (spoke threaded at both ends) and the LBS didn't have spokes, couldn't get spokes..........so he bought a new pair of (different) wheels. FOR A BROKEN SPOKE? WTF? This does not, fellow cyclists, appear to be progress.

Discuss.

Monty Dog

You can buy Ksyrium rims as spares my LBS can get them, but they're about £100 each. But the design of the rim is such that they're only compatible with the Ksyrium spoke because the nipples are captive. The advantage of factory wheels is that they can be designed and built as a 'system' and better process contol means a stronger, lighter wheel results - rim weights are pretty meaningless on their own. About the lightest rim you can buy in the AM Classic 350 - which weights 350g, but stiff it ain't, whereas most others are in the region of 400g and above. It's quite difficult to build a pair of wheels less than 1500g that are as strong and stiff as a Ksyrium too, which is one of the reasons they're so popular.

pliptrot

Montydog,

we have sparred over this before, and I submit. Tomorrow I buy a pair of Ksyriums. Is the extra $ for ES worth it do you think?

Pjl

gkerr4

pliptrot wrote:

Montydog,

we have sparred over this before, and I submit. Tomorrow I buy a pair of Ksyriums. Is the extra $ for ES worth it do you think?

Pjl

I'm going to chip in with a massive 'yes' - even if only for one reason - they look amazing!

Those big wide flat aluminiium spokes look great - even the weird single red one (which lets everyone on the road know you paid the extra)

oh and also I believe they are a bit lighter and stiffer - or something...

you know you want them..

acorn_user

32 spokes, Record hubs and light rims like IRD Cadence or Open Pros. Mavic GEL280 if you're adventurous. Done
If you need really light, there are plenty of über hubs to choose from. Tune and DT for example. To get a stiff wheel with low spoke count, you generally have to use a deeper section. Deeper section rims are heavier, although rims like Mavic CXP-30s do look cool So to make up for using heavy rims, you use superlight hubs. Fair enough, but the rim is rotating more than the hub.

Eurostar

You need to go to the weightweenies site. There they list actual weights (not the manufacturers' claimed weights) of all the factory wheels. Plus there's a forum in which every model of wheel has been discussed and found fault with by hard core racers, bike builders, manufacturers etc. One of the T-Mobiles is a member! It seems the only ultralight wheels which never break are Lightweights - but they cost a grand each and use tubs only. But there are alternatives. Some Reynolds and Bontragers and Shimanos score very highly. Do some searches there and you'll find out everything you ever wanted to know. It's not all about weight - good aerodynamics will give you lots more speed than a 300 gram weight saving. There's lots of research and testing discussed in the forum - it will take you a while to choose what to buy! Then you can spend another month looking into the rolling resistance of all the different tyres. Here's a good starting point for your reading http://tinyurl.com/3yrahx

In my opinion Ksyriums are ugly, heavy and boring because they're everywhere! But buy whatever excites you - new wheels should ALWAYS be exciting! I reckon Rolf Primas are fantastic and very underrated in this country because they haven't been imported for long and they don't get any marketing. They are hand built, in the factory. Good value, strong, light, funky looking, innovative design by a proper boffin. www.rolfprima.com

I'm going on a course to learn to build my own wheels so I can repair them when I'm abroad. They should last a lot longer than the Ksyriums and if I buy posh hubs they might be a shade lighter too. We shall see!

Brian B

I have the ES wheels on 2 of my bikes and they are an excellent wheel. They look good and are strong too and I upgraded from Fulcrum 3s to the ES wheels and the extra £150 was noticeable within 2 pedal strokes. Kysrium Sls are good wheels too but avoid elites as there is problems with the newer version with spoke coming loose.