New Wheelset

charliej

Hey guys,

First time properly posting on here, although I have been reading for a while and have purchased a few things through the classifieds.

I picked up my first road bike (although I have been mountain biking for years) last Friday, a Forme Vision. Out on my first ride on Sunday I crashed into a slate wall at speed coming down the back side of Honister Pass. My helmet literally saved my life, leaving me with just bad road rash, terrible swelling and 6 stitches above my eye where my helmet broke.

The bike was in a similar condition, chips to the paint and scratches on the pedels, shifters and saddle.
The wheels however are wrecked, the front only just resembles a wheel, being completely bent out of shape from the impact and the rear is a good inch from true. The wheels were One 23 (Alex) SL rims on anodized Formula hubs. They were quite light and fairly strong and stiff from the 20 miles I got out of them.

So my question is which new wheels? Being a student I am on a budget, the bike along with new shoes, pedals and saddle was already a grand...

I am looking at Mavic Askiums or Fulcrum Racing 7s. What are your views on these and have you any ideas of half decent wheels for a similar price?

Cheers,
Charlie

celbianchi

charliej wrote:

Hey guys,

My helmet literally saved my life, leaving me with just bad road rash, terrible swelling and 6 stitches above my eye where my helmet broke.

Cheers,
Charlie

Bad luck with the accident, but highlighted in bold is a ridiculous statement.

Bar Shaker

cadseen wrote:

Sorry to here of your accident.

Many good decent wheels, a lot recommend the Planet X .

I tend to like Mavic, Ksyruim Elites are a good compromise http://tidd.ly/7d2db5fb

I really like the Elites too but was curious... are your links some sort of way of racking up points or credit with certain suppliers?

If so, how do I register as I would like some too?

blackhands

Unless you are racing, why bother with light wheels - go for strength. For general riding I'd get a set of Quest Como. (http://www.questbikes.co.uk/acatalog/Wheels.html)

People on here will tell you that they are heavy - so what. They are fairly aerodynamic and the diffence between them and wheels at 2 or 3 times the prices is at most marginal.

Bar Shaker

I'm not convinced that an aero rim does anything much below 25mph.

Good bladed spokes - yes, aero rims - no.

So I picked my Elites because of their stiffness, wide thin spoke design and the bullet proof nipple design.

NapD quite rightly says that they are a bit harsh to ride on. He's right, they are. That's the stiffness. Their climb ability is reflected in this.

brucey72

celbianchi wrote:

charliej wrote:

Hey guys,

My helmet literally saved my life, leaving me with just bad road rash, terrible swelling and 6 stitches above my eye where my helmet broke.

Cheers,
Charlie

Bad luck with the accident, but highlighted in bold is a ridiculous statement.

Why is it ridiculous????

celbianchi

brucey72 wrote:

celbianchi wrote:

charliej wrote:

Hey guys,

My helmet literally saved my life, leaving me with just bad road rash, terrible swelling and 6 stitches above my eye where my helmet broke.

Cheers,
Charlie

Bad luck with the accident, but highlighted in bold is a ridiculous statement.

Why is it ridiculous????

Seriously, you don't know?

It's because the OP has no idea what role the helmet played unless the iincident is exactly repeated without it.
No-one can categorically claim a helmet saved their life.
Anyhoo the thread isn't about the merits of head wear and it was bad form of me to bring it up.

Sorry.

grotty

celbianchi wrote:

brucey72 wrote:

celbianchi wrote:

charliej wrote:

Hey guys,

My helmet literally saved my life, leaving me with just bad road rash, terrible swelling and 6 stitches above my eye where my helmet broke.

Cheers,
Charlie

Bad luck with the accident, but highlighted in bold is a ridiculous statement.

Why is it ridiculous????

Seriously, you don't know?

It's because the OP has no idea what role the helmet played unless the iincident is exactly repeated without it.
No-one can categorically claim a helmet saved their life.
Anyhoo the thread isn't about the merits of head wear and it was bad form of me to bring it up.

Sorry.

Surely by your own rationale then you know far less than the OP about the incident, close to nothing in fact.

gkerr4

bad news on the accident

- i'd get your forks and frame / headset checked out on your bike before you go replacing wheels - a high speed impact which ruined a (usually pretty tough) front wheel will have taken a considerable toll on a carbon fork (assuming they are carbon)

and whatever material the forks are made of, it will have passed a lot of the impact to the headtube also.

get them checked - you don't want a repeat accident from a failed fork!

charliej

grotty wrote:

celbianchi wrote:

brucey72 wrote:

celbianchi wrote:

charliej wrote:

Hey guys,

My helmet literally saved my life, leaving me with just bad road rash, terrible swelling and 6 stitches above my eye where my helmet broke.

Cheers,
Charlie

Bad luck with the accident, but highlighted in bold is a ridiculous statement.

Why is it ridiculous????

Seriously, you don't know?

It's because the OP has no idea what role the helmet played unless the iincident is exactly repeated without it.
No-one can categorically claim a helmet saved their life.
Anyhoo the thread isn't about the merits of head wear and it was bad form of me to bring it up.

Sorry.

Surely by your own rationale then you know far less than the OP about the incident, close to nothing in fact.

All I know is that in hitting a slate wall at 35+ mph and going over the bars, colliding with said wall head first my helmet played a massive role in me walking and not being carried away. The helmet did exactly what it is designed to do, not just crumpling but breaking completely at one point. I believe it is the piece which broke away which caused the need for stitches above my eye. I seriously believe that if I had crashed in the same way without a helmet I wouldn't be here now. At the very least because I would still be in hospital. A fractured skull and brain damage might have been the minimum injuries.

@gkerr4
I have just picked the bike up from the shop again today, they have checked it over and passed it ok. Upon looking myself as well there is no apparent damage, no stress visible, in terms of paint movement or cracking, same on the forks.

gkerr4

[/quote]

@gkerr4
I have just picked the bike up from the shop again today, they have checked it over and passed it ok. Upon looking myself as well there is no apparent damage, no stress visible, in terms of paint movement or cracking, same on the forks.[/quote]

ah - thats good then - i was worried you might have overlooked it - but clearly not.

good luck with your wheel search - FWIW, i think if you have shimano groupset, then the shimano range of wheels are tremendous value for money - at whatever price range you want to buy at.

charliej

I do have a shimano groupset, Tiagra throughout. For that reason I was looking at a set of the WH R500. They are a similar price to the Mavics. The reviews are fairly similar as well. Safe to say I'm stuck with which way to go...

gkerr4

charliej wrote:

I do have a shimano groupset, Tiagra throughout. For that reason I was looking at a set of the WH R500. They are a similar price to the Mavics. The reviews are fairly similar as well. Safe to say I'm stuck with which way to go...

Hmm - i'm not sure that the R500's will offer much in terms of value for money - the RS range seems to offfer the better blend of performance / lightweight / cheapness.

That said, if you arent interested in 'upgrading' and just want a replacement set of wheels then probably can't go too far wrong with them.
(they should be much cheaper than mavic aksiums i'd have thought?)

gkerr4

yeah - you can get the R500's for £76 if you want them:
http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/Bike+Shop ... O-R500.htm

the mavics are £150 - if you were paying that much id' prefer the RS20's at £122 and save a few quid for tyres etc.
http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/Bike+Shop ... r_2225.htm

centimani

charliej wrote:

grotty wrote:

celbianchi wrote:

brucey72 wrote:

celbianchi wrote:

charliej wrote:

Hey guys,

My helmet literally saved my life, leaving me with just bad road rash, terrible swelling and 6 stitches above my eye where my helmet broke.

Cheers,
Charlie

Bad luck with the accident, but highlighted in bold is a ridiculous statement.

Why is it ridiculous????

Seriously, you don't know?

It's because the OP has no idea what role the helmet played unless the iincident is exactly repeated without it.
No-one can categorically claim a helmet saved their life.
Anyhoo the thread isn't about the merits of head wear and it was bad form of me to bring it up.

Sorry.

Surely by your own rationale then you know far less than the OP about the incident, close to nothing in fact.

All I know is that in hitting a slate wall at 35+ mph and going over the bars, colliding with said wall head first my helmet played a massive role in me walking and not being carried away. The helmet did exactly what it is designed to do, not just crumpling but breaking completely at one point. I believe it is the piece which broke away which caused the need for stitches above my eye. I seriously believe that if I had crashed in the same way without a helmet I wouldn't be here now. At the very least because I would still be in hospital. A fractured skull and brain damage might have been the minimum injuries.

@gkerr4
I have just picked the bike up from the shop again today, they have checked it over and passed it ok. Upon looking myself as well there is no apparent damage, no stress visible, in terms of paint movement or cracking, same on the forks.

I'd refer you to a similar discussion on another site regarding fork failure after an impact that sounded less serious than yours.
After the incident, bike was checked thoroughly, passed as safe. Inspected twice again (i think), then the forks failed two years later at the interface of the alloy steerer/carbon forks...and it was even checked on the day of the failure (not very well on that occasion obviously).
During that discussion, i was of the opinion that if we replaced forks every time we had a low level impact (compared to yours) we'd be replacing forks that MAY well be ok.
Common sense says after a 35 mph impact thats wrecked your wheels...even i'd be replacing the forks pronto.
1 low level impact, 1 immediate inspection of the forks by a LBS that didnt show anything, 2 subsequent inspections that didnt show anything and a (in all probability) poor inspection on the day of the failure. The damage obviously doesnt neccessarily display itself to the naked eye.
I'd replace without doubt.

FWIW, i have a set of W-R500s on my winter commuter. Maybe 3 years old, riding in all the cr@p that winter throws at you, never had to true them, havnt had to do the hubs, braking surfaces are still good, ideal commuting wheelset albeit a little flexy (and they're not particually slow wheels either)

Philby

I've got R500s on my Bianchi - they're not the lightest wheelset but appear to be quite bomb-proof as suggested above, which is a bit of a b*gger as I would like to get a lighter set but am reluctant to buy some until the R500s are kaput.

mroli

I've got a pair of r500s as well and they are cheap, cheerful and plenty good enough for most occassions. If you've got the money - Planet X Model B's are better and I would rate them above the Aksiums - I have both and find the Aksiums more flexy.

Davey C

charliej wrote:

grotty wrote:

celbianchi wrote:

brucey72 wrote:

celbianchi wrote:

charliej wrote:

Hey guys,

My helmet literally saved my life, leaving me with just bad road rash, terrible swelling and 6 stitches above my eye where my helmet broke.

Cheers,
Charlie

Bad luck with the accident, but highlighted in bold is a ridiculous statement.

Why is it ridiculous????

Seriously, you don't know?

It's because the OP has no idea what role the helmet played unless the iincident is exactly repeated without it.
No-one can categorically claim a helmet saved their life.
Anyhoo the thread isn't about the merits of head wear and it was bad form of me to bring it up.

Sorry.

Surely by your own rationale then you know far less than the OP about the incident, close to nothing in fact.

All I know is that in hitting a slate wall at 35+ mph and going over the bars, colliding with said wall head first my helmet played a massive role in me walking and not being carried away. The helmet did exactly what it is designed to do, not just crumpling but breaking completely at one point. I believe it is the piece which broke away which caused the need for stitches above my eye. I seriously believe that if I had crashed in the same way without a helmet I wouldn't be here now. At the very least because I would still be in hospital. A fractured skull and brain damage might have been the minimum injuries.

@gkerr4
I have just picked the bike up from the shop again today, they have checked it over and passed it ok. Upon looking myself as well there is no apparent damage, no stress visible, in terms of paint movement or cracking, same on the forks.

You can NEVER KNOW what effect not wearing a helmet would have had in that situation I'm afraid. It would require a forensic investigation by a team of experts before you could even come close to a conclusion and even that would only be a probability.

To say it LITERALLY SAVED MY LIFE is indeed a ridiculous statement.