New commuting wheels for road bike

gabriel959

Hello chaps!

I need some commuting wheels for my Giant SCR 2. I used to have Aksiums but they have just collapsed today after 4 years of abuse. I have around £150 tops for the new wheels. What would you recommend for that amount of money?

Cheers

JamesFree

I had some Fulcrum Racing 5's which were nice and solid got them for £155 from merlin, stayed perfectly true even after some nasty potholes

gabriel959

Thanks for the suggestion - got some Fulcrum 3's on my good bike and they are great but I would like something a bit more repairable in case something goes wrong.

What do you guys think? Rutland Cycling have Shimano 105 hubs on Mavic Open Pro rims for £165 inc shipping.

clarkey cat

sound good to me!

davis

gabriel959 wrote:

Rutland Cycling have Shimano 105 hubs on Mavic Open Pro rims for £165 inc shipping.

That sounds like a bargain to me.

itboffin

Just bought a set of Shimano RS10 for £92 to go on one of the commuters, I've also been looking at the Planet-X AL30 but alas out of stock.

cjcp

Difficult to argue with the Open Pro option.

I saw a mate's RS10s tonight. Look nice, but not sure how they'll stand up against the commute.

cjcp

Ah, sorry Boffin!

tailwindhome

Askiums

gabriel959

Thanks for the replies.

Yes, Open Pros on 105s sound tempting for that amount of money. RS10 look heavy, Aksiums I want to change to be honest, the planet x ones are too close to the price of the open pros, what about halo aero rage? They are £170 so a but over budget but they are supposed to be good. Any opinions?

Yukirin

I replaced my old wheels with some al30s a couple of weeks back. Chose them over the mavics because of the spoke availability, but I'm prepared to upgrade the bearings in the hubs if needed as I've read this is their weak point.
They're not super rigid, a little flex on the hills. I'm only 10 stone and average around 200 Strava watts (if that means anything at all?) so I could imagine a stronger, heavier guy or lass may have issues with brake rub on the hills or sprints.
They weigh about 500g less than my old pair, I've noticed the bike feels more twitchy and that took a couple of rides to get used to. Wasnt confident in the rain today, felt like I was going to suffer from oversteer on the roundabouts, but again, confidence will return in time. Really nice feel to the qr skewers and they look much better than my old ones, too. I can feel more 'bump' in the road, but less little vibrations, if that makes sense?
Overall I'm really happy with them. Pics on the my bike pics tread.

chadders81

I've been using Planet X Model Cs for a few months now. Still arrow straight after about 700 miles of commuting on some pretty awful roads.

Can't comment on the hubs yet but I've been quite impressed. Think they're under 1,800g for the pair as well.

sketchley

How much do you weigh?

gabriel959

90 kg and before anyone says anything, I am 6 foot 6'5! :-)

gabriel959

Right, Rutland is giving me a tenner off so £155 for a pair of Open Pro's on 105 hubs. I reckon that is what I am getting.

cjcp

What spoke count are you going for?

gabriel959

I would go for 36 but they only seem to do 32. do you think that is ok?

cjcp

Yeah, was asking more out of curiosity really. Mine were 32.

the_fuggler

My RS10s have taken a battering on the pot-holed roads of South Oxfordshire and are still absolutely fine. Can't comment on the weight as I've nothing to compare them to.

gabriel959

A spanner in the works! What about the Halo Aero Rage wheels? I can get a set for £165 so pretty similar, in white though

woodnut

Looks like a great deal from Rutland, and white wheels are nasty

kiwimatt

I built up myself some 105's on Open Pro a few months ago to replace a similarly thrashed set of Aksiums - priority on durability so 36 front and rear - I weigh 82kg. I think the parts were almost as much as you are quoting for the built up wheelset.
Have been pleasantly surprised at how smooth rolling they are, tough enough and haven't needed adjusting. Also have quite a smooth supple feel to them which is hard to describe but is most welcome on the daily pothole dodge.

tgotb

gabriel959 wrote:

I would go for 36 but they only seem to do 32. do you think that is ok?

I built up a pair of 32-spoke Open Pros ~18 months ago for commuting, and they've been totally and utterly bombproof, I haven't had to tweak a single spoke; I'm ~95kg and they've probably done 10,000 miles. I was getting a bit concerned about rim wear at one point, but that was before I realised how many miles they'd done, so I can't really complain.

You'll be fine with 32.

gabriel959

Thanks for the replies guys - wheels now ordered.

£155 all in.

Wrath Rob

gabriel959 wrote:

A spanner in the works! What about the Halo Aero Rage wheels? I can get a set for £165 so pretty similar, in white though

White wheels eh? Maybe something to stick on the Comtat to complete the look :P