Wheels for my Cervelo R5

gloomyandy

Ok, so I'm building a bike around a Cervelo R5 frame. I've pretty much decided most things but still need to choose some wheels.

I ride regularly with my club (50-70 mile rides, in hilly West Yorkshire, think Pennines, not Vale of York ), take part in the occasional club level competition (hill climb, time trial), but not that into racing. I weigh about 70Kg. I'm looking for a set of wheels that will cope with normal (poor!) road surfaces and which will provide a reasonable ride and will look good with the new frame (so I would prefer black rims). It can get pretty windy in these parts (our normal club run cafe is called "the windmills"!), so not really interested in deep rims (at least I don't think I am).

I've been reading various posts on the forum (seems a very popular topic), but am getting more and more confused! Wheels I've thought about so far...
Mavic Ksyrium Elite (possibly SLS)
Zipp 101
HED Ardennes
SRAM S30AL
I'd also consider hand-built but I know very little about wheels and find the options available at wheelsmith rather confusing! If I did go hand-built is there anyone in my area that you would recommend? I'm intrigued by the notion of wider rims making for a better ride (and maybe being more areo in some cases), but no idea if this is true!

This will be very much my "best bike" so no commuting or winter riding.

Oh and I'm sure that the bike (and wheels) will be much better than I am. I'm sure I would be better off spending my money on coaching etc. But that is not what this is about (if I want coaching I'm sure I can get it from club mates or others). I'm looking forward to building this bike, and then to riding it, I don't expect it to make me go faster (though faster is always good). I want to be able to look at it and smile and have it tempt me to go ride that bit further or often.

So what would you choose?

Thanks

Andy

LegendLust

First things first - what's your budget!

gloomyandy

LegendLust wrote:

First things first - what's your budget!

Oops! Reasonably flexible on that. Say around £700 (though happy to spend less!)...

thegreatdivide

Get the Wheelsmith Race 23

http://www.wheelsmith.co.uk/news/63-new ... 23-tweaked
http://thewashingmachinepost.net/wheelsmith/ride/

Very light (1395g), very strong, free Ti skewers, the stealth black will go well with your R5 and you get Derek's 'spoke for life' guarantee too. All for £450!

I wish these had been around when I bought my Racing 3's :-(

gloomyandy

Thanks they certainly look nice and the review is good too. Trying to work out how deep they are, I assume they will be fine in a cross wind?

Crispyapp

Andy, where abouts do you ride, it sounds like your in the same area as me, where is the the windmills ride?

Sorry and back on topic, I have bought the same frame as a new summer bike and I'm considering ksyrium slr, originally wanted a pair of carbon deeps but then decided against them due to our landscape and winds etc...

Cornish-J

so are those wheelsmith wheels clincher or tubular - doesnt look overly obvious at first glance?

Cornish-J

found it, clincher.

northpole

If you are fitting Campag groupset to your bike you might want to have a look at Campag Shamal Ultra's or possibly Fulcrum Racing Zero's if you can find a good deal on them.

If Shimano equipped, you could do alot worse than opting for dura-ace wheels - either C24 which are fab all rounders or C35 which I think look great but may be a bit too aero for you. The dura-ace hubs have a great reputation for smooth rolling and longevity.

Peter

gloomyandy

Peter: I'm probably going to be fitting a Sram groupset to the bike. So I guess the C24 or C35 would still apply to that?

Been looking again at the wheelsmith race 23, not sure I like the none machined braking surface. Based on the comment in the other thread, will it start to look rather bad after a while if the anodising wears away?

Crispy: The Windmills is a cafe on Whitley Rd just north of penistone. It is the standard cafe stop for the Saturday morning run for my club (Ravensthorpe cc), which starts/finishes near Mirfield. A nice 37 mile run with just under 3000ft of ascent.

ugo.santalucia

gloomyandy wrote:

Peter: I'm probably going to be fitting a Sram groupset to the bike. So I guess the C24 or C35 would still apply to that?

Been looking again at the wheelsmith race 23, not sure I like the none machined braking surface. Based on the comment in the other thread, will it start to look rather bad after a while if the anodising wears away?

Crispy: The Windmills is a cafe on Whitley Rd just north of penistone. It is the standard cafe stop for the Saturday morning run for my club (Ravensthorpe cc), which starts/finishes near Mirfield. A nice 37 mile run with just under 3000ft of ascent.

Yes, it will wear away.. I quite like the look when they do wear off, but some find it ugly and irritating... When it is completely worn, it will look like a normal rim... But it might take a few thousand miles... Depends on weather and roads of course

LegendLust

gloomyandy wrote:

Peter: I'm probably going to be fitting a Sram groupset to the bike. So I guess the C24 or C35 would still apply to that?

Been looking again at the wheelsmith race 23, not sure I like the none machined braking surface. Based on the comment in the other thread, will it start to look rather bad after a while if the anodising wears away?

Crispy: The Windmills is a cafe on Whitley Rd just north of penistone. It is the standard cafe stop for the Saturday morning run for my club (Ravensthorpe cc), which starts/finishes near Mirfield. A nice 37 mile run with just under 3000ft of ascent.

Tough roads round Penistone. I should know, I used to ride round there a lot in the 80s when I lived in Dodworth.

northpole

Peter: I'm probably going to be fitting a Sram groupset to the bike. So I guess the C24 or C35 would still apply to that?

Yep.

thegreatdivide

If you want detailed shots and reviews of the rim Wheelsmith is using Google H Plus Son Archetype - same rims as the Strada above. As for the eventual wear on the rim, all hard anodized rims like the Open Pro CD and even Mavic’s Exalith eventually wear down (the latter comes with added squeal), however if you use pads like Swissstop Green it reduces the wear.

Here’s a video of the rim for people who find reading a challenge:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MECdrI5aAGY

I like the fact that it’s a 23mm wide rim so you don’t get the ‘bulge’ on the tyre. It’s a bit like a Zipp 101 albeit slightly narrower in depth and less than half the price ;-)

ugo.santalucia

thegreatdivide wrote:

It’s a bit like a Zipp 101 albeit slightly narrower in depth and less than half the price ;-)

Or... It's a bit like a set of Velocity A 23 on unbranded Bitex hubs, just all black and nearly twice the price...