Wheel upgrade

dombo6
dombo6 Posts: 582
edited November 2007 in Workshop
I currently ride a Lemond Buenos Aires carbon/steel spine with Bontrager Race wheels as standard. I'm signed up for Etape and thinking of upgrading to Easton Ascent II, or EA90 SLXs, Ksyrium or bontrager Race X-Lite, ie all around the £500 rrp mark. I weigh 145-150lbs. Anyone have any experience of these or can recommend any others?

Also, regarding tyres, is there much of a differnec in feel/performance between 23mm and 25mm versions of the same tyre?
Currently bike has 25mm Bonty RaceLites, again OE like the wheels.

Thanks for any advice.

Comments

  • wildmoustache
    wildmoustache Posts: 4,010
    Dombo6 wrote:
    I currently ride a Lemond Buenos Aires carbon/steel spine with Bontrager Race wheels as standard. I'm signed up for Etape and thinking of upgrading to Easton Ascent II, or EA90 SLXs, Ksyrium or bontrager Race X-Lite, ie all around the £500 rrp mark. I weigh 145-150lbs. Anyone have any experience of these or can recommend any others?

    Also, regarding tyres, is there much of a differnec in feel/performance between 23mm and 25mm versions of the same tyre?
    Currently bike has 25mm Bonty RaceLites, again OE like the wheels.

    Thanks for any advice.

    dumbo, there are loads of threads kicking around answering your question. Some people will urge handbuilts on you, but if you don't want to go down that route (perhaps because of aesthetics, choice of rims, spoke patterns, quality of wheelbuilder etc.) then factory builts it is.

    All of the wheels you mentioned are fine and the differences between them aren't huge. I personally like campag hubs and find their factory builts to be very strong and roll well. Shamal ultras would be just in your price range and at least as light as any of those you've mentioned.

    the truth is though that campag, mavic, shimano, easton, bonty etc. all make reliable wheels that will serve you well. people win races on all of them (not at once)! you can get just as light wheels handbuilt for less £. A fair bit of it comes down to aesthetic preference in all honesty.

    Finally, look around for the best price, Ribble are pretty cheap. Jedi Sports in Germany are cheaper still, but you are not buying from a UK store obviously.
  • pcd993
    pcd993 Posts: 74
    Campag Neutrons would be a good choice, and came out well in the Cycling Weekly test. Difficult to get tyres on and off, compared to Mavics though.
  • jkm
    jkm Posts: 80
    evans are advertising bonty race x-lites for £299 in their lates cataloge they sent out. £200 off

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