wheel upgrade; aksium, race 7 or r500

kikonameko

hi guys, i have a 2012 trek 7.3fx with its stock nebula wheels. Now i dont know how crappy these wheels are neither do i know how much they really weigh. I am now thinking of getting better wheels so i can have that slight bump in speed. I use my bike mainly for commuting and some 20-30km weekend rides. I weigh 80kg.

what do you think about the aksium, fulcrum 7 and r500. yes, i know that these are all entry levels. i dont want to spend a lot right now as i am thinking of getting a new bike mid next year and will spend my money on that one. i have some spare change at the moment for any of these (they are pretty much in the same range) Im located in China and there are really not a lot of choices here aside from Giant. I am lucky as it is to be able to find a LBS that has these.

r500 is the cheapest of the 3
aksium and fulcrum 7 are pretty much neck to neck with a 30% price difference from the r500

its hard to decide as i am really new into cycling.. but tons of people has already told me that if i will be changing something to my bike..the wheels must be the one to be upgraded. thanks in advance

supersonic

First thing to do is weight your wheels - strip them down (remove tyres, tubes, tape and QR skewers) then weigh them. No point upgrading if the new ones will be heavier!

kikonameko

i ran a search in google and couldn't find how much a bontrager nebula wheel weigh.. i am nearly positive that it would be heaver than the 1850 gms which will be the heaviest of all the 3 that i mentioned..

if it were a light wheel there would've been tons of information in the web already.

supersonic

Possibly, but it is really something I would do for the sake of 10 minutes work on the bike. Some OE wheels can be surprisingly light as may use thin plain gauge spokes ie many Specialized wheels.

kikonameko

i ended up changing my wheels to a set of fulcrum racing 7s. while installing i lifted both wheels and there is a noticeable weight difference. I chose the racing 7 as it worked out pretty much economically. Although i was considering a racing 5 for its price i was able to get the 7s plus a deda superzero carbon seatpost.

the only thing that i noticed that the performance difference of a racing 7 from my stock was not really that much of a huge jump. i guess this is to be expected as the 7s are entry levels of fulcrum. perhaps if i had the the racing 3s it would have been more obvious.. but that wouldve been a different level of cost in any case i can say im a happy camper at least for now..

Yellow Peril

My commuter has had Aksiums on it for some time. The first rear Aksium developed an awful metallic creak, at first I thought it was the bottom bracket and then a frame joint. My LBS, try as they might, couldn't cure it. I replaced it with another Aksium which was fine then 18 months in service the rim failed catastrophically splitting in several places. I've replaced it with an R500 which seems fine at the moment. If you are commuting weight shouldn't be an issue unless you are racing on the same wheels. If you are a regular commuter then remember that your wheels will wear out so factor that in perhaps ahead of "performance".

kikonameko

Interesting story Peril, i was so close in getting the aksiums --actually i placed a call on one of my LBS to give them a heads up that i was going after work to have it installed when they said that it has already be sold. Thats why i went with the Fulcrums. So far so good, i have put in around 100km now since i got it, the hubs are starting to have that "noise"

Overall i agree with your assessment, my 7.3Fx is indeed predominantly a commuter bike but at the same time i want to have a bit of fun when riding it. I could imagine having more fun if it was a racing 5 or better a racing 3 thats in my bike. Racing 1s and zeros will be overkill.

Yellow Peril

I don't think you'll have too many worries with the Fulcrums. I have a set of Racing 3's which I TT and race on occassionally. They seem well constructed. If you do get some expensive wheels use them for saturday/ Sunday best only! I might be wrong but I believe that Fulcrum technology tends to filter down the range in the way that some Shimano groupset stuff does as in new F7's are as good as F5's a few years ago.

kikonameko

i dont think ill be getting new wheels for at least the next 6 mos selling your old gear is the biggest problem here for bike enthusiasts in Shanghai. The 2nd hand market is not as mature yet.