Should I buy new wheels for my new bike

friedpizzainbatter

Hi,
New to road bikes, got a bit of a nice bonus from work and after commuting for a year or so decided it would be nice to splash out on a nice shiny road bike for the weekends, went for an Allez elite which I am enjoying immensely.
However found out that I have some change in the region of about 200 quid so, after reading a few forum posts about the quality of wheels packaged with bikes new bikes, I was considering ugrading the wheels.
The wheels that are on it are DT Swiss 1.0, can't find out much information about them, I've been eyeing up a set of Fulcrum 5s which seem to get good reviews and are in budget. I don't know much about wheels, so is this much of an upgrade? Would I be better saving a bit more and getting something else.

jgsi

Ride the bike with the stock wheels for a while.
£200 is only going to get you similar type of wheels to the DT Swiss anyways.
DT Swiss wheelsets usually denoted like r1900 r1800 r1450's etc .. giving some indication of weight in grams.. so have you got the wheels correctly identified....
R1900's I have used and are very much fit for purpose.

keef66

Treat it to some decent tyres and save the rest for kit.

friedpizzainbatter

JGSI wrote:

Ride the bike with the stock wheels for a while.
£200 is only going to get you similar type of wheels to the DT Swiss anyways.
DT Swiss wheelsets usually denoted like r1900 r1800 r1450's etc .. giving some indication of weight in grams.. so have you got the wheels correctly identified....
R1900's I have used and are very much fit for purpose.

Sorry got the name completely wrong, they are:
Rims:
DT Axis 1.0
Front Hub:
DT Axis 1.0
Rear Hub:
DT Axis 1.0
Spokes:
DT Axis 1.0

woozor

I'd personally just use the stock wheels. If you cant find a fault with them then there is no need to upgrade.

What about new clothing/helmet/glasses/gps computer/tyres

Wirral_paul

Personally i'd say buy them if it makes you happy (or save up another month and go for a really noticable upgrade and get some Shimano RS80 C24s from Planet X for £299.)

I've learnt to ignore the "dont really need them" posts, and just go with the "I want them because i can" posts.

If we all just bought what we needed then none of us would likely have anything really nice to be proud of!!

Wirral_paul

...

houndlegs

I'm new to road bikes as well, so this may or may not be correct, as I'm certainly no expert.
Would you actually notice any difference with new wheels? Personally I think not, but as I said I'm no expert so may be wrong.

flasher

houndlegs wrote:

I'm new to road bikes as well, so this may or may not be correct, as I'm certainly no expert.
Would you actually notice any difference with new wheels? Personally I think not, but as I said I'm no expert so may be wrong.

Depending on how heavy the original wheels are, light wheels/tyres make an enormous difference.

houndlegs

Flasher wrote:

houndlegs wrote:

I'm new to road bikes as well, so this may or may not be correct, as I'm certainly no expert.
Would you actually notice any difference with new wheels? Personally I think not, but as I said I'm no expert so may be wrong.

Depending on how heavy the original wheels are, light wheels/tyres make an enormous difference.

In that case I stand corrected,cheers mate

g00se

There was a similar post on here about DT Swiss Axis 2.0 wheels that came on a Specialized bike (they're OEM wheels made specifically for specialized) - i think the 2.0 will be the next model up from what you have.

They weighed 3.4kg for the pair without tyres and tubes... So they're quite heavy.

warrerj

3.4KG QUITE HEAVY ???

Have you got that correct ? 3.4Kg is VERY heavy for a pair of wheels even when you're talking MTB down hill wheels.

g00se

Sorry, typo. 2.4 kg.

friedpizzainbatter

Thanks for all the replies. From some of the advice I'm thinking I should leave it for a while and save some money, probably better to get a bit fitter, get my times down and my speed up and concentrate on taking weight off me rather than the bike. After all it only has a few pounds it can loose, I have many.
I'll probably see more benefit of a lighter set of wheels and other upgrades once I'm lighter, faster and have more savings (Like the look of the RS80s ). Cheers.

petemadoc

The RS80's would be a decent upgrade, probably much better value for money than anything you'd get for £200.

I'd make sure you had some decent kit first, maybe a new saddle. Get the comfort aspect sorted then look at performance improvements.

Oh and I'd buy new tyres straight away. An inexpensive way to improve the feel and weight. Stock tyres are nearly always pants.

friedpizzainbatter

PeteMadoc wrote:

The RS80's would be a decent upgrade, probably much better value for money than anything you'd get for £200.

I'd make sure you had some decent kit first, maybe a new saddle. Get the comfort aspect sorted then look at performance improvements.

Oh and I'd buy new tyres straight away. An inexpensive way to improve the feel and weight. Stock tyres are nearly always pants.

Yeah that was suggested by keef66 as well, I have a pair of Specialized Roubaix Armadillo Elite tyres in the garage from an unsuccesful experiment with my tricross, they've not seen too much wear I take it these would be better than the Espoirs that the bike came with?

Think the saddle might be a plan too, unless I can adjust it, as have been noticing a numbing of the meat n 2 veg (...baby carrot and 2 peas in this weather) area whilst riding it.

wishitwasallflat

friedpizzainbatter wrote:

Think the saddle might be a plan too, unless I can adjust it, as have been noticing a numbing of the meat n 2 veg (...baby carrot and 2 peas in this weather) area whilst riding it.

For what it's worth my Spesh Sectuer came with the Riva saddle think they fit to most Spesh bikes. I upgraded to an Avatar Gel and it is way way better - saddle choice is a whole other thread though (or perhaps needs even a whole other Forum to itself).

nickel

What tyres does the Allez Elite come with? If they're anything like the all conditions that came with my 2011 Allez Sport i'd ditch them immediately for some good quality folding tyres (Michelin Pro Race 3, Conti GP4000 etc) they'll be lighter, roll quicker and significantly improve the quality of the ride. That would be the best initial upgrade and then in time you can change the wheels, I used the stock shimano/mavic wheels for about 6 months before I decided to get some lighter/stiffer wheels.

chippyk

I've upgraded the wheels on my Bianchi Via Nirone Veloce to Campag Zonda with some pink Ultremo HD tyres. The wheels were £250 post free and I can't fault them, they certainly make a difference. The pink stripe Ultremos are the fastest colour but have given me two punctures and have cut in under 200 miles, one puncture was at close on 30mph and was like a gun shot.

friedpizzainbatter

Just out of curiousity, is the RS80 deal on Planet X quite long term or is it likely to come to an end soon?

Nickel wrote:

What tyres does the Allez Elite come with? .

It came with Specialized Espoir Sport tyres, so not sure how they compare with the Robaix Armadillo Elites I have sitting in the garage at the moment, although on Evans the Espoir is 15 quid cheaper which I suppose says something.

friedpizzainbatter

wishitwasallflat wrote:

friedpizzainbatter wrote:

Think the saddle might be a plan too, unless I can adjust it, as have been noticing a numbing of the meat n 2 veg (...baby carrot and 2 peas in this weather) area whilst riding it.

For what it's worth my Spesh Sectuer came with the Riva saddle think they fit to most Spesh bikes. I upgraded to an Avatar Gel and it is way way better - saddle choice is a whole other thread though (or perhaps needs even a whole other Forum to itself).

Yeah that's the one I got with mine. I'm going to give it a few more runs out, maybe adjust it a little and if it's still numb danglers after that I'll start looking for a new one.

friedpizzainbatter

Wirral_Paul wrote:

Personally i'd say buy them if it makes you happy (or save up another month and go for a really noticable upgrade and get some Shimano RS80 C24s from Planet X for £299.)

I've learnt to ignore the "dont really need them" posts, and just go with the "I want them because i can" posts.

If we all just bought what we needed then none of us would likely have anything really nice to be proud of!!

PeteMadoc wrote:

The RS80's would be a decent upgrade, probably much better value for money than anything you'd get for £200.

I'd make sure you had some decent kit first, maybe a new saddle. Get the comfort aspect sorted then look at performance improvements.

Oh and I'd buy new tyres straight away. An inexpensive way to improve the feel and weight. Stock tyres are nearly always pants.

Thanks for all the replies, and recommendation Wirral_Paul and PeteMadoc, turns out I have utterly no self control and have bought a set. Got my wife to chip in so they are my birthday present which means they'll get wrapped up and I'll get them in a couple of months.

bam49

nice one on getting the RS80's - I'm sure you will not be disappointed and I reckon you will definitely notice the difference.. One thing though - get some decent rubber for them ( Conti GP4000 S or Michelin Pro Race - great deals on Pro Race 3's at the mo.. ), do not stick those Armadilloe's on them - they are more suited to commuting ...

iPete

Congrats on the RS80s, I've got them on my Allez and can feel the difference over my commuter wheels with heavier tyres.

Have Michelin Pro 3 and Conti ultra light tubes, no point in buying nice wheels and not keeping the weight down. Enjoy the subtle wooooshing.

friedpizzainbatter

bam49 wrote:

nice one on getting the RS80's - I'm sure you will not be disappointed and I reckon you will definitely notice the difference.. One thing though - get some decent rubber for them ( Conti GP4000 S or Michelin Pro Race - great deals on Pro Race 3's at the mo.. ), do not stick those Armadilloe's on them - they are more suited to commuting ...

Thanks for the advice and ddraver's post here:
viewtopic.php?f=40020&t=12843249

I got a pair of GP4000s from http://www.bike-discount.de for 49 quid including delivery, seem to have some good deals on tyres at the moment in case anyone else is interested.