Another which wheel thread: Shamals, Zeros or Carbones.

Shavedlegs

I know there is a slighty different wheel thread every week. But the sales are on, I have money in my pocket and I'm looking for a bargain.

GB Butler has 20% off everything for example, but which wheelset should I really be searching for. The Shamals get praise from most people, I haven't heard much about Zeros (do they use the same hubs as the Shamals?)
and I'm wondering if Carbones are versitile enough for training, club rides as well as racing.

Your thoughts and any best prices found would be appreciated.

Monty Dog

The Fulcrum Zeros and Shamals are pretty similar in design - just the spoke design/patterns are different. Generally, you can find the Shamals for less money. I'm not a big fan of Cosmic Carbones - mainly because they're so darn heavy - you'd really notice the 400g difference in comparison to the others and carbon wheels are not as strong or durable as alloy wheels so less suited to training use.

Captain Fagor

I asked about Carbones a while back, and got a big fat zero responses. Either (i) people here don't like me, (ii) they're not very helpful or (iii) they don't use Carbones. Regards their weight, you'd be advised not to use them for a climbing bike, but if it's out and out speed you're after on a flat-ish course, then I don't see weight being too much of an issue. Indeed the rotational inertia might be advantageous.

FWIW, I have several sets of light racing wheels (SL's, Eurus) and semi-light wheels (zondas and handbuilt DA on 32 open pro), but the ones I get a buzz out of riding are my crappy Litespeed / Real Design deep section efforts.

Regarding bargains, fatbirds have some good prices on SLs. Jedi sports (Germany) and Lordgun (Italy) have good prices on everything!! Rip off Britain strikes again.

PS - MontyDog: Carbones have an alloy rim and hub, with a carbon fairing. I suspect that they're similar to the Ksyrium SLs, but with a fairing.

Fat Head

hi all

i have zeros and have just had delivered a pair of carbone premium's I ordered from ra cycles in new york which I won't be riding for a while yet.

the zeros are a good, lightish weight pair of clinchers. i wouldnt pay the retail price for them but shop about and you can get them at a decent price which will give you more value for money. as with shamals they get decent reviews from those who use them.

i got the carbones because i wanted an aero racing wheel that i can use for TTing too...i had to go for a strong wheel because of my weight and they are generally regarded as the most durable of aero wheels....they are highly thought of on the weight weenies forum where people are generally very ITk as far as tech stuff is concerned. ok they are heavy compared to more expensive wheels but for me this wasnt much of a factor - i wanted proven durability at a cheapish (as far as aero wheels are concerned) price

for all round riding you couldnt go wrong with either the shamals or zeros, the carbones are more of a specialist wheel

mercsport

Funnily enough I've just been on both Jedi and Lordgun to have a looksee at what they're charging for a pair of Shamal Ultra now , but couldn't find any reference to them !
Strange , for when I was hunting down the best prices at the start of last summer they were up there with the rest at around £520 or so for a pair . I ended up being screwed by a scam artist on ebay called 'soniacopodanno' ( or " Cavaliersisrl " ) but , after three months , got my money back with the bank's 'cash-back' scheme . Got a pair eventually from a chap in London for £475 but consider myself lucky at that . They're a nice wheel .
It's a small matter perhaps , but putting on an old set of Record hubbed Mavic Sup's the other week on the 2nd bike it hit me how sculptural and beautiful the machining and polish of the old Recrd hubs were compared to the considerably less artful looking , agricultural form of the hugely dull looking resin ( supposedly carbon ) hub of the top-end Campag wheels now .