Bontrager SSR wheelset to Mavic Aksium?

jimsam33

I know questions about wheels keep getting asked but here goes.

I'm looking at upgrading the wheelset on my 2009 Trek 1.5 which has the stock Bontrager SSR wheelset.

The bike is my summer / best weather bike which I use for getting fit, having fun and long weekend rides. I generally cycle alone so a broken wheel will mean a long walk home.

I am 87 Kilos, and require a solid rather than light wheelset. Hence I prefer the Aksiums over wheelsets such as Model Bs.

My first thoughts would be to buy some Mavic Aksiums for £125 delivered. These look great and I presume would be an upgrade for me.

My other thought would be to have a set a Mavic Open Pros made up an Tiagra hubs from Parker International for about £150.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I'm sure lots of lower range riders have this issue rolling around in their head.

thanks in advance.

FransJacques

gut feel is - would they be an upgrade? just because they're a few grams lighter doesn't mean they'll ride tighter or better or you'll see a performance improvement - the Aksium's are at the bottom of the Mavic racey range. what is the weight diffference?

I have a SSR rear (FSA 220 front) on my training bike and the wheel is heavy but relaible and true for my 82 kgs.

you used the verb "upgrade" so go for a real upgrade and get something like the RS80s which you can find for about £330. that's an upgrade rather than more of the same. i think the issue is your price range of £125-150 is exactly the after-market cost of the SSR themselves. you'll have to move up to a different pool of wheels.

why not just switch your tyres to something racier like 25mm Pro3s? all caveats on light tyres and bad roads naturally apply...

jimsam33

thankyou for your thoughts.

I think you are more than likely right with the point that the Aksiums probably will not be much of an improvement.

I'm now thinking either stay as I am or have some Open Pros made up.

By the way I already have some lovely 23mm Rubino Pro 3 in green on the bike and they do seem an improvement on the stock bontragers.

FransJacques

if you need to save up your cash from the £125 to the £350 of some Eurus or Fulcrum 3s or RS80s etc, why not set yourself a weight goal? When I get to 83kgs or 80 kgs I'll reward myself with new wheels.

It's a neat approach b/c at your lighter weight the wheels will thank you by going out of true less.

I find that with lower-end equipment I have for training or commuting, if it's good quality, like a set of R500 wheels which i rode into oblivion but refused to die, you actually develop a nice respect for them. and instead of wishing it would wear out, it grows on you. I held out for prob too high a price for the R500s when I sold them (£40 when they're £68 new on ribble) b/c after 5000 kms they were beat up but the bearing races were smooth as they had worn in really beautifully.

you might find the same with the SSRs, don't underestimate them. what kind of mileage will you do this year? what is your weight goal for the summer?

syncro

I've got a 2008 Trek 1.5. The SSR's were fine for the first 900 miles or so then after that every couple of hundred miles I started having trouble with broken spokes time and time again.
I soon lost patience with this so i bought a set of Aksiums and have been very pleased with them. They are only a little lighter so they haven't made much of a change to the ride but so far so good.

tigerben

On my commuter I switched from SSR's to Bontrager Race wheels (which I think are only 1 or 2 steps up the Bontrager ladder) and I noticed a significant difference in ride quality and bike speed.

I have no experience of the mavic wheels so do not know how they would compare against either the SSR or the Race wheels.

I would echo the comments of another poster and perhaps looking at pushing the boat out a little bit further and going for Fulcrum 3's... these have rrp of c. £500 but can be picked up online for c. £300. I have these on my main bike and I can highly recommend them (I am 95 kg and have had zero problems after 2k).

giant_man

It will be much better for you as you going from dreadful Bontragers - I'm not a fan of any of their wheels quite honestly - to a decent wheel manufacturer Mavic.

FransJacques

have you ridden all Bontragers wheels? what have you compared them against? please tell

Contador didn't seem to mind - he even spent his own money on them.

jimsam33

I must admit that as of yet I haven't had any major issues with the wheelset so far. I was just thinking I would like to upgrade my bike a little. I believed that spending £150 on some wheels would improve my ride a little. The bike was only £600 so I thought the stock bontragers might be a ripe for an upgrade. Most people on here seem to point as the wheels as a good place to start to upgrade.

This got me thinking which way to go. I didn't want a massive improvement, jsut something to justify a little spend and perhaps improve the look of the bike. I like the aero and handmade looks.

Whish wheels though:

Stay as I am and save a little, could never see me spending over £200 though.

or

Mavic Aksiums
Shimano RS30s
Halo Aerorages (in white)
Pro Lite - Treviso from ribble.
Handmade Mavic Open Pro on Tiagra Hubs

all under £150 apart from the Halos which are a little more.

I would like a solid dependable wheel that looks nice and rides nice without going mad on the finances. I only ride for fun and fitness.

many thanks for your responces so far.

Slimbods

I'd upgrade those wheels when you have to, unless you're going to spend a fair bit more.

FransJacques

jim/sam - the group is quite unanimous - give the £150 to Warren Buffet for now while you reach you weight or mileage target. It's good discipline.

Never spend money for spending sake - you can't ride 2 pairs of wheels can you and riding the heavier ones will make you quicker. If you hate the SSRs that much, get back at them by riding them into the dirt over the summer. Put 5000 miles on em!

I used to spend every nickle I had on my bikes now I have a garage that would rival one of those Service Courses places of old parts that no one wants to buy....except for my vintage XT thumbshifters :-D

jimsam33

fransJacques,

Can't argue with your logic. It's a good job you don't know my wife.

You are right though, I'll just keep the wheels until I brake something.

Then I can justify soem new wheels over repair costs.

FransJacques

"You are right though, I'll just keep the wheels until I brake something."

Your logic is correct, you do need wheels to be able to brake :-D

In the meantime, what would your budget be in say August or September? What will your target weight be then?

If you can find lighter, stronger wheels with better bearing at this price lemme know and I'll buy a pair! http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/road-t ... HIMWHFR385

Add a 23mm PR3 on the front a 25mm PR3 on the back and there's not a continental sportive you couldn't do on these!

jimsam33

I just can't see myself spending that sort of money at any point in the near future. Now would be around £120 but in Sept around £200 but not much higher ever really

having a look at that website I like the look of the Pro-Lite Treviso's.

Weight wise, yes I would like to lose a little but as I'm now on the wrong side of 40 it's getting more difficult. I like to lose another 1/2 stone taking me down to 13 stone / 82.5kg.

fungus_the_muffin_man

IMO all you are going to do is change the wheels for the sake of it. I have the original bonty's on my Trek 1.5 and Kyrisums equippe on my Bianchi.

If I swapped them over I doubt very much I'd notice much difference in my avg and highest speeds. On both bikes.

The bonty's have been through some severe weather and plenty of miles since I bought it March '09. They are still true and have not needed messing with at all despite the state of the roads and my ability to find every pot hole known to man.

If you really want to change wheels then save up more and get yourself some for bling purposes. No matter what you choose I'm sure mentally you'll already be convinced that they will be better. Isn't that the case with most things we change on the bike without the expertise to notice the difference. The exception being the difference in higher quality gears and the difference in carbon and alu frames.

Nack

For what it's worth, my girlfriend has been using her Bontrager SSR wheels for over three years now without a single issue. We do quite a lot of light touring (her bike's a Trek Pilot 1.2) and the wheels are still perfectly true and still haven't changed the stock Bontrager tyres. The wheels must have done at least 3000 miles.

They're not the lightest and probably not the most aero wheels out there but I can vouch for their solidity/bombproofness.

As others have said, for you to notice a real difference you would need to invest a little more. I went from Open Sport rims / Specialized hubs (which came with my bike when I bought it) to Easton EA90s + Contis GP4000s tyres and have noticed a HUGE difference in speed, acceleration, etc...

Why not go for a handbuilts option - Ultegra on Open Pro rims? Reasonably light and bombproof.

jimsam33

I've decided to basically do what you said Nack.

I'm going to keep mine until i buy a pair of handbulit open pros. Not sure which hubs though. Tiagra will probably be good for me.

Any suggestions on where to have them made?

Internet or local shop.

Local shop more expensive but at least you can take them back when required.