All round wheels ??

Hengistpod
Hengistpod Posts: 9
edited September 2009 in Training, fitness and health
After 21, 000 miles on a specialised tricross, the alex 19 wheels that came with the bike have died.
I've got about £150 ish to spend, I only use this bike for wet winter training and very occasional cyclocross races....

Can anyone recommend a suitable wheelset ( shimano 8 speed) ??

Thanks

:D

Comments

  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Mavic Aksium.
  • freehub
    freehub Posts: 4,257
    I'd also say Aksium, I've got a pair and they seem fairly bomb proof and rims long lasting, only bugger is that stupid wear indicator line all the way around and the news about the rear hub breaking unless they sorted it now.
  • hopper1
    hopper1 Posts: 4,389
    "All round wheels ??"....

    I thought they were all round... or f**ked!!!! :wink::wink:

    Sorry....... Bored...... :oops:
    Start with a budget, finish with a mortgage!
  • Bhima
    Bhima Posts: 2,145
    ^ Beat me to it. :lol:

    Mavic Cosmic Elite wheels are quite aero for the price. The stiff aluminium deepish-section rim is almost unbreakable. Mine are still true after 5000+ miles and enough pot holes to knock your teeth out.
  • Hengistpod
    Hengistpod Posts: 9
    hopper1 wrote:
    "All round wheels ??"....

    I thought they were all round... or f**ked!!!! :wink::wink:

    Sorry....... Bored...... :oops:

    ha ha :lol: Quite ironic actually , since my user name is a character out of ' Carry on Cleo', the fella that made the Square wheel........ :?
  • phil s
    phil s Posts: 1,128
    edited August 2009
    Mavic Open Pro on whatever hub you can afford. Much better as an all-round wheel than Mavic Aksiums, which will be more fiddly for maintenance if you break a spoke for example
    -- Dirk Hofman Motorhomes --
  • nolf
    nolf Posts: 1,287
    Another vote for the aksiums, a good solid wheel thats very tough and seems to survive winters quite well.

    open pro rims are good if you want something completely bomb proof, and you could link them up to a well sealed hub suitable for slushy winter roads.
    "I hold it true, what'er befall;
    I feel it, when I sorrow most;
    'Tis better to have loved and lost;
    Than never to have loved at all."

    Alfred Tennyson
  • pianoman
    pianoman Posts: 706
    Mavic Open Pro on whatever hub you can afford.

    ANOTHER hijack from the handbuilt wheel brigade :P

    Don't worry about the cost of broken spokes, unless you buy over the internet or via mail order - then you're on your own because you got them cheap, and deservedly so. Buy them from a good LBS and you'll get them replaced under warranty. It happened with my Campag Zondas.
  • vorsprung
    vorsprung Posts: 1,953
    PianoMan wrote:
    Mavic Open Pro on whatever hub you can afford.

    ANOTHER hijack from the handbuilt wheel brigade :P

    Don't worry about the cost of broken spokes, unless you buy over the internet or via mail order - then you're on your own because you got them cheap, and deservedly so. Buy them from a good LBS and you'll get them replaced under warranty. It happened with my Campag Zondas.

    It's not the cost of replacing the spokes

    It's when your 24 hole wheels snap a spoke 38 miles from home on a sunday night with the sun setting fast. The wheel bends so the tyre fouls the brakes or chainstays. If you are lucky you can open the brake on the broken wheel ( usually rear and drive side that goes ) and get home with no rear brake

    A 32 hole wheel doesn't have so much tension in each spoke so the deflection from loosing one still gives a rideable bike. I use 36 at the back and I've broken two and still ridden 50 km to the nearest train station

    I'd recommend you either just get a rear wheel from goldtec

    http://www.mountainbikecomponents.co.uk ... and+Wheels

    Is the front wheel really broke after only 21k miles?

    or a pair of 105 ridga from spa cycles
    http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m2b0s178p0

    Sorry to be over budget but in these times 150 quid isn't enough
    Audaxing Blog - Long Distance Cycling
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  • chrisw12
    chrisw12 Posts: 1,246
    PianoMan wrote:
    Mavic Open Pro on whatever hub you can afford.

    ANOTHER hijack from the handbuilt wheel brigade :P

    Don't worry about the cost of broken spokes, unless you buy over the internet or via mail order - then you're on your own because you got them cheap, and deservedly so. Buy them from a good LBS and you'll get them replaced under warranty. It happened with my Campag Zondas.

    How long did that take then? I go into my (rubbish) Lbs with a broken spoke on my handbuilts and the spoke is replaced in minutes.

    How about if they break a year and a day after you bought them?

    Say you're away on holidays and you break a spoke, what's your warranty going to do then? 'cause again I can go to ANY bike shop and get them repaired relatively quickly.

    The 'handbuilt wheel brigade' hijack threads for one good reason, open pros/decent hub/decent spokes is an absolute no brainer compared to factory wheels for training on. :wink:
  • phil s
    phil s Posts: 1,128
    I've had both Aksiums and Open Pros on a decent hub. I opt for the latter as they are light, strong, and easily serviceable. I am no luddite - I am very much into using the best kit I can but it also has to be reliable. I used to have Ksyriums and popped a spoke on them - couldn't use them for a week.
    -- Dirk Hofman Motorhomes --
  • pianoman
    pianoman Posts: 706
    Sorry guys, I wasn't trying to start a full blown war about wheels (and by the way this thread should NOT even be in this part of the forum) :shock:

    I was just making the point that sometimes people will ask something like "Reynolds Solitude or Fulcrum 3" and the handbuilt brigade jump in, again completely out of any context whatsoever with the thread they are posting in.

    As for my spoke, well it was replaced in two days and I do have a second "training" set with rain tyres on for winter use. I just bolted them on for a couple of days. I WAS lucky that I mysteriously found the broken spoke when I was in the garage :P

    Couldn't speak for every LBS though.
  • blorg
    blorg Posts: 1,169
    Aksiums are perfectly solid if a little heavy.

    For what its worth I have both Aksiums and Open Pros on Ultegra (32 spoke) and the latter had more of a tendency to go out of true albeit easier to fix when they did. I previously had Open Pros on Tiagra and again same story. Factory wheels in my limited experience are pretty bombproof by comparison, maybe the high tension keeps them straight but if you do have a disaster you are fecked. Thankfully I have never had a disaster (and indeed have never had a broken spoke outside a crash other than on cheaper wheels and handbuilts.)

    I use the Open Pros on my touring bike.

    The Open Pros are 100g or so lighter than the Aksiums incidentally (mine are 1,000g rear /800g front actual weight.)

    Factory built wheels low spoke count or not are a perfectly reasonable option for training wheels IMHO. In the extremely unlikely event you can always call for a taxi, in my own experience there are a lot of things more likely to go wrong (snapped chain or cables for example... indeed I have actually snapped more CRANKS than I have spokes :) )

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