Best Wheels, what do you do?

gmb

Hi all,

I've just received a new set of Planet X 50mm carbon wheels. My current wheels have an Ultegra cassette.

Do you normally swap the cassette over every time you change wheels or is it worth forking out £40ish on a cassette for a second set of wheels?

I don't have a great amount of tools at the moment (no chain whip or cassette tool) and will have to go to LBS to ask them to do it. Would I be better off buying tools and doing the work myself?

Look forward to receiving your opinions.

Cheers

1_reaper

I have a cassette on my spare wheels. Saves faffing around changing cassettes over every time you change wheels. Don't know about the DIY thing. I went to my LBS to get it done.Took them minutes and not to much money. Depends i guess how friendly you are with your LBS mechanic

Monty Dog

Its worth having the tools regardless - £20 will see you sorted for a lifetime. If you opt for two cassettes, you need to keep wear matched and suggest you either swap cassettes around regularly, or alternatively keep a spare chain and quicklink for your best wheels.

father_jack

Doesn't cost too much, £10 for Campag BB/casstte remover, £5 for Shimano BB remover (removes cassettes as well?) £8 for chain whip, then set of various spanners, allen keys, pliers, cutters (and wire cutters)

GavH

I'd agree with Monty - get some tools, it'll save you more in the long run in both cash and time and you'll have a far better understanding of your bike and how it all works!

keef66

I got the tools and took my cassette off just out of curiosity. Certainly made it easier to clean since it fell apart as it came off.

Now I have very shiny sprockets and 9 spare cassette removers since I was sent a box of 10 instead of the 1 I ordered.

dodgy

Make sure you return the additional items, karma gets you in the end 8)

antikythera

Depends on how your wheel sets differ?

I have 50mm Bontrager's with a 11/21 cassette used for time trials and fast flat riding. But I have a 12/25 on the Eurus for climbing.

So different wheels, different purpose and different cassettes.

If your wheels are pretty much the same for the same terrain then it's just as easy to swap over the exising cassette.

cougie

Cassette on each. CBA faffing.

Dancing Bear

GMB
a cassette on each - I have the tools but only to swap over from Campag to Ultegra depending upon the bike

too much hassle otherwise

White Line

I'd go for a cassette on each, with a chain for each cassette as well.

Although, if you're not switching them about too much then I'd just swap the cassette over. Assuming you want the same gearing that is. It just depends if you can be bothered or not.

Owning your own tools is invaluable. Shops always seem to be closed / unavailable at the worst of times.

Chrissz

Cassette on each - nice one on the best wheels and a cheaper one on the winter wheels.

gmb

Thanks all for the replies. Definitely food for thought.

Going to go down the two cassettes route (perhaps with different ratios as recommended by Antikithera) and may also buy some tools (I suppose I'd better start taking care of my own bikes some day).

Can anyone recommend a good wheel bag? I was hoping to get the Planet X bag but looks like it's been discontinued.

andy_wrx

Get a chain-checker too.

If you're running just one set of wheels and your chain wears, it'll wear the cassette too.
If you replace the chain, it'll skip on the worn cassette. You have to replace the cassette too.

Running two sets of wheels is the same problem, if the chain and cassette on one set are worn and the cassette isn't worn on the other set.

As Monty says above, one answer is to keep a separate chain for each set of wheels, then swap the chain when you swap wheels.

But this is faffy (and oily !), easier is to replace the chain before it becomes very worn, then it'll work on either set of wheels.

You can measure chainwear using a ruler, but a chain-checker guage is cheap and easy to use - replace the chain when the 0.75% marker shows it's worn, the 1% marker may be too late.