Wheels £400

dboden

Votes / experience / comments on best wheels for around £400 please

Thanks

maddog 2

for what purpose? commuting, TTing, racing, touring, general...

size? 700c?

do you want thme to be easily rebuildable?

how heavy are you?

clinchers/tubs/tubeless?

any colour?

dboden

Club riding, 700c, 13stone, clinchers, any colour,
Rebuildable??? dunno why may I want them to be rebuildable, I don't want them to fall to bits!!

maddog 2

handbuilts are generally easier to rebuild if you break a spoke, or ding a rim, or wear a rim out etc.

Factory hoops are fine when they work but can be tricky if something goes wrong, especially out on a run.

I'd advise handbuilts myself, just personal preference really.

Consider:

rims: 32h Mavic Open Pro, or Ambrosio Excellights. You could go 28h if you want something a tad lighter.

spokes: DT Comp double butted. Brass or prolock nipples. You could go DT Revolution if you want lightness. My builder (see below) tends to use a thicker spoke on the rear driveside to even up the tension.

hubs: for your budget, look at Ultegra if you're on Shimano, or equivalent for Campag. Or Hope Pro3, or indeed Ambrosio, although they're not the lightest. If you stretch the budget then you're in the realms on DT, Tune, PMP, Dura Ace etc. All good hubs.

For example, I recently had a set of 28h Excellights built onto Hope Pro3s, with slightly different spokes (DT aerospeed) and they came in at £375.

I always use Paul Hewitt to build them . Nice bloke and very good builds.



If you want factory wheels then the Mavic Ksyrium Elites (09) from Merlin for £360 must be a candidate. You could also consider running them as tubeless too.