What wheels for a versatile road bike inc. light touring?

Huntos

I have just bought myself a Kinesis Racelight TK2 frameset with Deda Black Rain carbon forks which I intend to build up into a really versatile "do-it-all" machine. I want to use the bike for hacking to work all year round, longer weekend road rides, audax, sportives, and lightweight touring with minimal camping kit.

My question is what wheels should I be looking at that are going to give me plenty of zing for road rides and sportives, whilst being strong enough for light touring (with a larger 25 or 28 tyre fitted when touring)? I want decent wheels but don't want to spend the earth on them and quite happy to buy a good secondhand set of wheels to save some cost.

styxd

The obvious choice would be the Hope hub / Mavic open pro 32 spoke combo that you can get for less than £300. Reasonable weight, comfortable, stiff enough, serviceable, reliable, decent wheels.

You could go lighter than this if you wanted though, although you'd have to spend a bit more

Hoopdriver

Ambrosio make some lovely rims that would fit the bill as well

skellator3

above recomendation is ok, but i would consider going for a more easily serviced hub, ie a shimano 105 or ultegra hub built on to mavic open pro rims, can be had for less than £200 quid bombproof and easily repaired / serviced

styxd

Im not sure how Shimano hubs are more serviceable? Sure, you can re grease the bearings when you need to, but if the free hub goes then you have to buy a completely new unit.

Huntos

OK, well the open pro rim definitely seems a solid favorite so I think I'll go for that. Will probably go with a Shimano 105 hub as I'd rather stay under £200 or so, unless some decent second hand ones come up with Hope/Ultegra/Dura Ace hubs.

On a separate note, I'm also considering what set up to go for on the rest of the bike, ideally I'm aiming for a full Ultegra 6700 if I can find a group set at the right money (i.e. cheap!), but will happily settle for 105 if I can't stretch to the Ultegra. My question is that given the flexibility I want from the bike should I be considering a triple set up? It will either be that or a double with a bigger range on the cassette (i.e 12-28t).

asprilla

Have you looked at Sram Apex? I use it on my commuter and it is very good indeed. It also has an option of long cage rear derailleur that allows up to 32t on the back. Sram uses the same ergonomics across their range and they are all (apart form the new Red front mech) compatible so you can upgrade any part you like when you feel like it.

The only real difference across the Sram range is weight.

Huntos

To be honest I haven't really considered any other brands as Shimano is what I'm familiar with, but will have a look into the Sram Apex set up as you suggest.

Anonymous

for the price and given the year round use, you may as well go 105 5700....

Huntos

You are probably right to be fair, I do have some new Ultegra 6700 calipers sitting in the garage already though. Probably best off flogging them and going full 105

huuregeil

I wouldn't recommend open pros for your usage - there's not enough toughness margin to deal with e.g. a pothole strike when loaded, which is basically the kind of issue you might have to deal with when out touring, and this is a ride stopper. Go with a slightly chunkier rim: you'll honestly barely notice the weight difference, you'll save some money on the rims, and the thicker brake track will last longer. E.g. ambrosio excurion/mavic open sport/rigida chrina are perfect for that mixed kind of use, all very similar rims.

styxd

Buts he's not touring, he's "light weight" touring. Theres a big difference.

huuregeil

Sure, I did see that, and my opinion remains! It's all about trade-offs a the end of the day - marginal increase in weight vs lower risk of a ride being written off. I speak also as someone who's written off a rear open pro (on a commute, while lightly loaded). Despite what internet pundits say, and despite them being decent rims for other uses, they're not the last word in solidity ;-)

Hoopdriver

huuregeil wrote:

Sure, I did see that, and my opinion remains! It's all about trade-offs a the end of the day - marginal increase in weight vs lower risk of a ride being written off. I speak also as someone who's written off a rear open pro (on a commute, while lightly loaded). Despite what internet pundits say, and despite them being decent rims for other uses, they're not the last word in solidity ;-)

I agree. Open Pros are a nice rim but I wouldn't use one for touring. On my light tourer I went with Ambrosio and that was a very considered decision. I have Open Pros on my Pegoretti, and like them, but I really don't think they make the grade as a touring rim, even 'light touring'

arlowood

Huntos wrote:

My question is that given the flexibility I want from the bike should I be considering a triple set up? It will either be that or a double with a bigger range on the cassette (i.e 12-28t).

Hi there

Go for a compact (50/34) and just fit a Tiagra 12-30 cassette. You can keep all the other components as Ultegra or 105 if you wish. With a 34/30 as your lowest ratio, it will be virtually identical to that of a triple with a 30 inner ring and say 27 tooth largest rear sprocket. And you will save a bit of weight from not having the triple crankset.

I've done this on my Trek Madone where I've replaced the 11-28 Ultegra cassette with the 12-30 Tiagra. It just gives me that extra bail out ratio for those deadly hills at the end of a long sportive.

You can always switch to a higher set of gears when you're not carrying too much weight. After all the Tiagra cassette is only around £25

Huntos

Thanks for your input, in an ideal world I would probably run two different sets of wheels, a racey set with a hicher geared cassette, and a solid touring set with a lower geared cassette. Unfortunately other than just the money I live in a flat with very little storage space which limits my biking options alot, hence why I am going for one multi-purpose bike.

I may well go with a compact double, but my concern is that I will run out of gears at the top end when I'm pushing it as I find this the case on my current road bike with a 50t/11t top gear combo which I find too low for my liking really. My thinking on the triple was that I could benefit from a 52t chainring at the top end, but still retain a small 30t chainring for bad hills when touring. Surely the weight of a third chain ring is not really that substantial?

For reference when I say light weight touring I mean that the combined weight of myself and the gear would probably be around 85kg which is lighter than many riders anyway?

huuregeil

Go with the triple, the additional weight is slim (and typically "recovered" by being able to use a lighter cassette). You get the advantages of being able to run both a 53 and and 30, so you're never over- or under-geared. Ideal for this kind of bike, I don't get the anti-triple thing!

Regarding your wheels - the rims I mentioned (@~520g) really are the middle ground. They're neither a "solid" touring set (e.g. wide and 550g+) nor are they racey-light. They're ideal - I've run an excursion into the ground and chrinas are currently my go-to set for anything that's neither heavy touring nor racing. BTW I'm 70kg and rarely carry more than 15kg, so very similar situation.

Huntos

Thanks for the advice, personally I do think a triple will probably be the best for my needs. The way I see it any small increase in weight will be more than made up for by the longer gearing on the flats/downhills, plus I'll have some really low gears for the big hills when touring. What rear cassette would you run?

Which of the 3 rims you suggest do you recommend the most?

huuregeil

The cassette depends on your legs! If you're not carrying heavy loads, 12-25 will probably do you just fine (i.e. 30/25 should get most people up most things).

There's really nothing to split the rims - go with whatever is cheap/available. Spa Cycles will probably do you a great price on a 105/chrina build.

ugo.santalucia

I think a rim over 500 grams for road use is a bit excessive. I would rather stay on a lighter one and add another 4 spokes, bringing the rear count to 36. Open pro takes less tension, but with light load you don't really need high tension. The happy compromise is probably ambrosio excellence, bit pricey, but you are looking at 50 pounds difference for the pair over a rigida a for a rim which is more performing

How heavy is your load?