Tangible differences a wheel change would realise ?

P_Tucker

You have my view. And I currently have 2 sets of wheels that cost over a grand.

nickel

andyeb wrote:

Nickel wrote:

if the tyres are stock OEM wire ones changing to some decent folding tyres would make a big difference to the ride.

Thanks! Any that you would particularly recommend?

Conti GP 4000s get a good write up, they're a good all round lightweight fairly puncture resistant fast tyre. Schwalbe ultremos are also good, very fast and grippy, I've got a pair on at the moment but they're quite prone to cuts and I doubt they'll last much beyond 2000 miles. If you want a little more puncture protection/durability I cant recommend conti gatorskins enough. I had a pair of wire ones on last winter, despite being wire they're a lot more comfy that the spesh tyres that came with my bike and I had one puncture in about 2000 miles.

slowondefy2

Nickel wrote:

slowondefy2 wrote:

Nickel wrote:

I noticed the difference switching between the stock cxp22s/shimano hub wheels on my allez and the Planet X Al30s I upgraded too. I think its rubbish saying that £150 won't get you a set of wheels any better than the stocks wheels that come with a bike. Changing to the Planet X wheels shaved 400g off the weight of the bike, but the main difference for me was the stiffness increase. With the stock wheels the rim would be rubbing on the pads on steep climbs (and at 64kg I'm not exactly heavy) whereas I get virtually no flex out the Al30s at all.

My stock CXP22s would flex and rub on the brake pads too... Until I got my LBS to sort them out (free under warranty) and it felt like I'd been given new wheels.

Interesting, mine were retrued a couple of times but it made no difference at all.

Mine stayed true from the factory, but the spoke tensions were all over the place. The LBS retensioned all the spokes and placed locktite (or similar) to help stop the spokes moving.

Edit: add context.

houndlegs

Raffles wrote:

P_Tucker wrote:

Raffles wrote:

If I took out the old credit card and spent £300 on a lighter wheelset ,is there a real chance I may notice nothing diffferent at all ? I am a club rider myself ,but I have no interest in racing nor time trialling and I cycle to stay fit. Could I be throwing £300 out the window ?

I did a longer post along these lines a bit earlier.....but it has disappeared :?

You wouldn't notice anything quanitifiable. If you ride with a group the people who drop you will still drop you. If you ride on your own you may arrive home a few seconds earlier from a 60 mile ride, not that you'd ever be able to measure this given that you don't ride in a vacuum. Your bike may feel slightly different, and after you've spent £300 you'll quickly convince yourself that this feeling is worth it. Well, you might not because you don't appear to be an idiot.

When I ride with the club I would do about 60 miles each time. By the end of the run the club kind of splits into two groupings ............the racing contingent who have a lashing session over the last 5 miles and there really isnt a point in me trying to keep up. The group in which I ride would average about 18.5 - 19.5 mph over the 60 mile journey, im happy with that but do realise that pack riding plays a large part. There are incline sections where the guys with the nicer bikes and wheelsets just make it look a lot less effort and I suppose thats what got me looking into what a wheelset can bring to the table. If nicer wheels definitely equalled superior riding then id go for them, but if I was wasting my money...........well its money I cant afford to waste.

Could you not ask one of your club mates if they'd swap wheels for a ride? Then you could see how it feels before shelling out the money.

Evil Laugh

Different wheels just feel different to ride. I buy a lot of gear second hand just to try it out without any ties of a big investment or whatnot. I'll try with a few sets of tyres i like and am familiar with on different bikes I also know well. I would try to find the psi sweetspot for each wheel/tyre combo.

It's sort of a little hobby of mine. I'm not really interested in quantifiable performance gains as it's a pretty futile quest I think.

Wheels can transform a way a bike feels when you accelerate, climb, corner, descend or just roll along. My goal or preference is to find a wheel that feels light, springy and energised when I give input and feels planted and glued to the road on descents and corners.

Tyre type, pressures and profiles created by the rim width all play their part so I generally vittoria or veloflex tyres and tubs.

Personally I find higher cost does not always equal better wheels in terms of my own requirements.

My favourites so far are almost all shimano wheels. Dura ace c24 clinchers being the best "every day" wheels. They are a good tamer of high frequency frame harshness and a very planted ride. They feel light and springy. The c24 and c35 tubs are both stunning wheelsets. My bike feels so good with these they take the feeling of the clinchers to a new level of smoothness. The da huns feels really smooth. I equally like the rs10 wheels which are dirt cheap. They feel good if a little sluggish.

I've had other expensive wheels I was less impressed with. Most mavics, they generally feel dead and lifeless to me. Planet x were flexy garbage, Reynolds didn't ride very nice, very harsh and gave the tyre a nasty profile for cornering. I've had a few handbuilt sets that were a ok. I did like the feel of the mavic r-sys rear wheel. I just got a set of Ksyrium slr in which the rear is an r-sys so looking forward to giving them a spin.

Buy some second hand and just see what you think. If you don't like them sell them on and you don't lose much if anything.