Best road bike wheels? - up to £150

skip75surf

Hi there,

I've just upgraded from my Marin Nail Trail HT mountain bike (with road tyres / tri bars etc) to a very peachy Wilier Escape road bike. The wheels and tyres will need upgrading at some point as I can knock about 1kg off with decent spec upgrades.

For lightness, durability, and all round performance (I do triathlons / duathlons) which wheels would you recommend up to £150? It doesn't have to reach £150 necessarily, have seen some Fulcrum 7's at £100 which look good. What tyres would people recommend also?

One consideration....... I'd like to keep the wheels/tyres Italian really, in spirit with the bike.

Cheers :-)

Paul.

cooper.michael1

Mavic Askiums, competitive weight, solid and will not let you down. I always buy Mavic, not always the lightest but, they are well made. You can get them for £130 ish....they are French.

Fulcrum Wheels are made by Campagnolo, so again they will be solid and reliable....if a little noisy! If your Willier has Campag gears, look at Campagnolo Khamsin wheels, they are pretty much the same wheels.

Alternatively a pair of decent hubs (miche maybe if you want italian) and Mavic Open Pro rims hand built would be a solid option.

dmch2

Planet x have (had?) a sale or something with fulcrum 5 below 100 and even the 3s were under 200 I think.

rolf_f

Ribble are doing Campagnolo Vento Reaction for £131. Not quite the bargain they were a couple of months back but still about £54 off retail. They are the next model up from the Khamsins and a useful bit lighter. Equivalentish to Fulcrum 5s.

danlikesbikes

+1 for Mavic's have them on my Felt as day to day wheels and are pretty good, OK weight wise and doubt you'll have any issues with them. Plus with such a large brand plenty of on-line stores you should be able to get a great deal at this time of year

daveydave43

Planet X model B's also worth a serious look if you are looking to save weight, and quite aero too. at £130 you've got a great wheelset, they look cool, the hubs spin really well, bladed spokes actually work

have a search through, they get good reviews, only niggle being the 10spd only freehubs from a couple of years ago but i think that's sorted now.

cooper.michael1

dmch2 wrote:

Planet x have (had?) a sale or something with fulcrum 5 below 100 and even the 3s were under 200 I think.

I love campag, but the noise...how can anyone deal with it?

dmch2

I'm going to have to find some way of hearing this famous noise. Is it loud if you just spin the wheel? ie in a shop? Or are all the iPod wearers also fulcrum wheel owners?

giant_man

+1 for the PX Model Bs. Quiet, strong, smooth, and feel fast, great for cheap winter wheels.

MarkS1980

I picked up a set of Fulcrum 7s last week. They seem brilliant for £100. I can't really compare them to any of the others at a similar price but I'm happy with them. I don't know if it's a coincidence or not but I've also knocked 5-10 minutes off my commute time since fitting them.
The rear is noisy but I find it helps. Part of my commute is along a cycle path where there can be a few dog walkers so when I get close I stop pedalling and they hear the noisy freewheel and step to one side. The rest of the time I'm pedalling so there is no noise anyway.

avoidingmyphd

Planet X model B's.
They have never let me down. The only negative thing I've ever seen said about them is the "chewed up freehub" niggle, but that isn't just their problem, and it's easy to avoid.
As far as I'm concerned, they make spending anything between £125 and (at least) £225 a waste of money.

flasher

avoidingmyphd wrote:

Planet X model B's.
They have never let me down. The only negative thing I've ever seen said about them is the "chewed up freehub" niggle, but that isn't just their problem, and it's easy to avoid.
As far as I'm concerned, they make spending anything between £125 and (at least) £225 a waste of money.

Couldn't agree more.

rolf_f

dmch2 wrote:

I'm going to have to find some way of hearing this famous noise. Is it loud if you just spin the wheel? ie in a shop? Or are all the iPod wearers also fulcrum wheel owners?

Noise when freewheeling. Oddly enough, whilst my Khamsins and Vento Reactions are noisy, my Neutrons are totally silent! All Campag hubbed so not sure what is going on there!

skip75surf

Thanks for the replies, I've plumped for Fulcrum Racing 7's, at £105. Seem like a good price and knock a touch over 1k off the stock wheels before even thinking about performance tyres :-)

I'm going for Vittoria tyres to keep everything nice and Italian.... any recommendations on which ones from £20 - £35ish per tyre. Want the best combination of lightness, low rolling resistance, grip and durability/puncture protection.

I can't help but smile when I see people describe £100 - £250 wheels as "winter wheels". Makes me wonder how many people have oodles of money to burn on super expensive race wheels, and how I'd use that extra money! :-)

nochekmate

skip75surf wrote:

I can't help but smile when I see people describe £100 - £250 wheels as "winter wheels". Makes me wonder how many people have oodles of money to burn on super expensive race wheels, and how I'd use that extra money! :-)

If you had that extra money you would spend it on super expensive race wheels like everybody else!

G-Wiz

Both excellent choices. Ksyriums win out for durability, Planet-X B's for a bit lighter weight.

I'm 100Kg and ridden my Planet X's all year over shitty Surrey roads with no problem so they're not exactly fragile but the abuse I gave my Ksyriums for 4 years before with no maintenance was quite impressive.

2alexcoo

skip75surf wrote:

Thanks for the replies, I've plumped for Fulcrum Racing 7's, at £105. Seem like a good price and knock a touch over 1k off the stock wheels before even thinking about performance tyres :-)

You'll save 250g or so, which is worth doing, but unless your current wheels are made of lead you won't save a kilo!

Alumin-Liam

Wheels and tyres are one thing that will make you faster. Brakes and gears won't do that, but a decent groupset will set you back £500 easily. I would say Fulcrum 7s are noticeably slower than Fulcrum 3s or Ksyriums. They are robust though. If you are going to spen money on upgrades wheels are a good choice.

skip75surf

It looks like the Fulcrums will save around 1kg in weight.... amazingly. The stock Miche Reflex BX5 wheels are stated as weighing approx 3100g combined, and Fulcrum 7's are approx 1900g together.

Realistically I think wheels and tyres are as far as I'll go to improve the performance, I have some tri bars which I may trial next year..... who knows :-)

dru

surely the 3.1kg weight includes the tyres and accessories.... surely :shock:

daveydave43

where did you get the weights from?
lob up a link

cooper.michael1

Dru wrote:

surely the 3.1kg weight includes the tyres and accessories.... surely :shock:

Indeed the weights quoted in cycling plus or on bike radar include tyres, tubes etc. I seriously doubt they weigh 3.1kg alone!

EKIMIKE

You sure they're not these:

http://www.dotbike.com/ProductsP8841.as ... mpaign=FGL

2120g.

vs. Fulcrum Racing 7 = 1930g

Saving: 190g

The 3.1KG is almost definitely with Tyres and Tube and QR's: +200g for QR's, +600g for Tyres , +200g for Tubes. You come to 3120g.

I'd suggest getting Vittoria Diamante Pro Tyres. They're nearly as supple as Corsa's but more durable. 420g for a pair so not too heavy.

warrior4life

Another one for model B's... fantastic wheels for the money, Light, strong and cheap.

skip75surf

If you type Miche Reflex BX5 into Google, the 3rd link down takes you to a Wilier Lavaredo 2009 review. Click on "full specification" and it gives the wheel weights as 1309g for the front wheel and 1819g for the rear wheel. Naturally I assumed this meant the wheels weighed 3128g in total.

The Fulcrum Racing 7's are listed at 1075g for the rear and 855g for the front. I therefore assumed that combined they weighed 1930g. This looks, the way the wheels are written up to be a 1198g weight saving. I figured cassettes / skewers were interchangeable and variable in weight, therefore wouldn't be considered part of the wheel in terms of weight / marketing. If the actual weight saving is closer to 200 -300g then I'm a bit peeved..........

£105 is still a lot of money (+ tyres and tubes I haven't bought yet) when you have a mortgage and baby & a normal(ish) job....... :-) have I just wasted my money on unlikely gains or are the Fulcrums likely to improve the bike significantly? The CST Comp tyres are my stock tyres on the Miche wheels I'm using at the mo. They're written up as heavy and the weak link in reviews. Which tyres would you recommend? The bike will be used for training and triathlon events, Sprints and Olympic. My training mileage is not too high as I swim and run more.

Thanks for all the responses so far.

TommyEss

skip75surf wrote:

have I just wasted my money on unlikely gains or are the Fulcrums likely to improve the bike significantly?

Probably not "significantly" - you need to spend quite a bit more to see a significant improvement - but you should see some improvement - reducing rolling weight is the most cost effective way of improving the riding experience - climbing gets that bit easier, the bike should accelerate a little quicker - and of course, it should look even better too!!

Just ride them til they break - it's your first road bike. Keep at it, see how you like it, and then if the urge takes you, splash out on a whole new bike. Don't waste silly money on a lower spec bike - for example, don't go putting $500 wheels on it - put the money towards the next bike! (that should read pounds - but it's an Aussie keyboard!)

skip75surf

Michelin Pro Race 3 or Vittoria Rubino Pro 3 tyres.......? Vittorias in general seem to get really mixed reviews whereas the Michelins seem very good, £47 for 2 on Ebay and they're lightweight........

carrock

much easier weigh to save 100 grammes is to buy a pair of lighweight tubes. Will cost about £12 in total.

daveydave43

get more punctures, it'll cost more than £12

Velonutter

skip75surf wrote:

If you type Miche Reflex BX5 into Google, the 3rd link down takes you to a Wilier Lavaredo 2009 review. Click on "full specification" and it gives the wheel weights as 1309g for the front wheel and 1819g for the rear wheel. Naturally I assumed this meant the wheels weighed 3128g in total.

The Fulcrum Racing 7's are listed at 1075g for the rear and 855g for the front. I therefore assumed that combined they weighed 1930g. This looks, the way the wheels are written up to be a 1198g weight saving. I figured cassettes / skewers were interchangeable and variable in weight, therefore wouldn't be considered part of the wheel in terms of weight / marketing. If the actual weight saving is closer to 200 -300g then I'm a bit peeved..........

£105 is still a lot of money (+ tyres and tubes I haven't bought yet) when you have a mortgage and baby & a normal(ish) job....... :-) have I just wasted my money on unlikely gains or are the Fulcrums likely to improve the bike significantly? The CST Comp tyres are my stock tyres on the Miche wheels I'm using at the mo. They're written up as heavy and the weak link in reviews. Which tyres would you recommend? The bike will be used for training and triathlon events, Sprints and Olympic. My training mileage is not too high as I swim and run more.

Thanks for all the responses so far.

Unless we are looking at different things, under full specification it says: -

* Rim depth: 23mm

* Spokes: frt/rear 24/28

* Axles: 100/130mm

* Weight: frt 945g/rear 1175g

* Q/R weight: 100g

When I was at school 945 + 1175 = 2120g

So as EKIMIKE says: -

2120g.

vs. Fulcrum Racing 7 = 1930g

Saving: 190g

You honestly won't know the difference.

I ride Fulcrum 7's on my Turbo Bike because they were the cheapest wheels I could find at a budget Price, I ride Fulcrum 5's on my Training bike as they take all the crap from winter roads, on my best bike I use Campag Ultra Shamals and even then they weigh about 1425g.

To really notice the difference you need to drop the weight of the wheels like I did or if you are doing TT's/Tri's then go deep rim and keep your speeds over 25mph :shock:

daveydave43

plus qr skewers on that 2120g?
that takes it down to 90 gram saving