Wheel upgrade advice please !

andyboyce

I am looking to upgrade the wheels that came as standard on my Specialized Roubaix Compact 2012 which are Swiss DT 2.0

I have been to my local shop but the young lad did that really annoying thing where he just read the spec for each wheel...which I could have done myself ! The finally suggested the Mavic Ksyrium Equipe which they are selling at £299 for a pair.

The bit that really worries me is that I will be spending my £300 budget on a set of wheels that are lower spec than those I have. No-one (including the Specialzed dealer) seems to be able to tell me anything in terms of weight etc about the Swiss DT wheels that I have.

So....now confused, I looked through a few forum postings and looked at http://www.bike-discount.de/shop/k632/liste.html?od=2u who seem to be well recommended by a few forum users and seem to have some really good deals.

Can anyone please point me at a set, within my budget that they think will make a marked improvement to my set up. I am 5' 11 and weigh 12.5 stone. I'm doing a 50 miler at the weekend, generally with lots of climbing and then a couple of 1 hour sessions in the week and looking to do a couple of Sportives this year.

Many thanks !

unixnerd

Personally if I were getting Mavic Ksyriums (which I'd love to!) I'd pay the extra for the lighter Elite version, not the Equipe. Sometimes you find Shimano RS-80s on special offer around your budget.

I paid 180ish for Pro-Lite Braccianos at 1500g and they're lovely but have since gone up in price. Similar weight to the Mavics but not the same build quality or bearings (still very nice though).

g00se

Someone I know is thinking of getting a Specialized bike with these wheels so I've just googled about them (DT Swiss Axis 2.0 - you didn't say Axis in the post but I assume that's what they are). They seem to be OEM Specialized wheels (DT Swiss rims and spokes and Specialized hubs). Folks selling them unused - just taken off of the bike - are pricing them around $200 US dollars. A weight given for them with skewers was 2.15kg though it wasn't clear if that's with skewers or not. Even if it were, that'll be just over 2kg for the wheelset which is quite heavy.

For £300, you should get a good upgrade. The Mavics have a good rep - as do Fulcrum Racing 3s. For around £300, you could also be able to get some hand-built wheels to order.

Personally, I've got some of these that come in just under £300 (1700g) http://www.hopetech.com/page.aspx?itemid=SPG92&tab=specification The hub noise is a Marmite thing though.

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=40042&t=12829710&p=17382433&hilit=hope+rs+mono#p17382433

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=40042&t=12838582#p17467814

ugo.santalucia

andyboyce wrote:

I am looking to upgrade the wheels that came as standard on my Specialized Roubaix Compact 2012 which are Swiss DT 2.0

I have been to my local shop but the young lad did that really annoying thing where he just read the spec for each wheel...which I could have done myself ! The finally suggested the Mavic Ksyrium Equipe which they are selling at £299 for a pair.

The bit that really worries me is that I will be spending my £300 budget on a set of wheels that are lower spec than those I have. No-one (including the Specialzed dealer) seems to be able to tell me anything in terms of weight etc about the Swiss DT wheels that I have.

So....now confused, I looked through a few forum postings and looked at http://www.bike-discount.de/shop/k632/liste.html?od=2u who seem to be well recommended by a few forum users and seem to have some really good deals.

Can anyone please point me at a set, within my budget that they think will make a marked improvement to my set up. I am 5' 11 and weigh 12.5 stone. I'm doing a 50 miler at the weekend, generally with lots of climbing and then a couple of 1 hour sessions in the week and looking to do a couple of Sportives this year.

Many thanks !

Don't get obsessed by weight... the difference between your wheels and a £ 300 set is probably half a pound and even as rotating mass is very little. Provided they feel good descending and accelerating doesn't feel ike you are pulling a cart, they are probably a good product and not worth upgrading. First thing first, identify what is wrong with your wheels, if you think they are heavy, swap them for a ride with your mate with ultra light wheels and feel the difference... if you find it massive, then upgrade or don't return the wheels, whichever is most convenient.

The equations heavy = durable and light = disposable often apply

andyboyce

Great advice all...many thanks. I have a mate that has Ksyrium Equipe from his bike that he bought from Wiggle last year but he has a SPRAM Force cassette. Will this work with my Tiagra (new 10 speed) ???

keef66

Shimano fit wheels take SRAM cassettes and vice versa