Wheeley Confused

T-Rekster

Been looking at upgrade paths for my Trek 1.2 and the general consensus is that the best bang for buck performance wise is upgraded wheels and tyres

I appear to have narrowed the wheel choice down to either Shimano Ultegra 6700 or Mavic Cosmic Elite

on paper the Shimano are a lot lighter than the Mavic but Considering they are also a lot cheaper I cant help but think you get what you pay for, I'm also aware that it not so much the overall weight of the wheel but the rim weight that makes the real difference.

On top of which I have no specs for the Bontrager wheels originally fitted to make a comparison with, again I'm simply assuming that spending £300-£400 on a wheel set is going to buy better wheels than the originals????

Any thoughts / Advice on either of these wheel sets or alternative suggestions

night_porter

Here is what I would do:

Goto www.merlincycles.co.uk and join their VIP club (it's free)

Type in code 2111

The Shimano wheelset is now £224.96 delivered

Choose the best tyres for YOUR TYPE OF RIDING, I use Schwalbe Ultremo R1's and I like them but you may have other favorites.

Add to the basket, buy, take delivery, put on bike, try to get the big grin off of your face within six months.

Enjoy!

Headhuunter

I've got Shimano RS80 which are similar to Ultegra except that they're a bit lighter, carbon laminated and can't be used tubeless. I like them, they certainly feel stiffer than the old wheels I had - WHR 550 or something...

T-Rekster

Cheers, oddly I'd already decided on the Ultremo R1 tyres, regardless which wheel set I went for

Fuji-John

i bought the 6700 two weeks ago to upgrade my standard Alex wheels and they are much better they just seem to pick up faster. they loook better than the picture in the sites aswell. i bought from Merlin and recieved them in good time and condition. enjoy

gilesjuk

Upgrade the tyres and contact points first since those are what you spend all your time in contact with.

Bars, grips, saddle and pedals.

Wheel upgrades on a MTB aren't really that much of an upgrade so long as they don't break spokes and aren't heavier than required. There are different quality freehub mechanisms, but those come into play more when doing trials or singlespeeding.