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Wheels

GilbogoGilbogo Posts: 7
edited February 2013 in Road buying advice
Hi,

I'm thinking about upgrading my wheels this year. I'd love to hear your recommendations and advice.

I've got a Trek 5.2 with bontrager race wheels. I use my bike mainly for sportives and 50-100k weekend rides.

Thanks
Gilbogo

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  • MattC59MattC59 Posts: 5,408
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  • bikeit65bikeit65 Posts: 982
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  • imposter2.0imposter2.0 Posts: 12,015
    Gilbogo wrote:
    Hi,

    I'm thinking about upgrading my wheels this year. I'd love to hear your recommendations and advice.

    I've got a Trek 5.2 with bontrager race wheels. I use my bike mainly for sportives and 50-100k weekend rides.

    Thanks
    Gilbogo

    what's the problem with your current wheels ?
  • dennisndennisn Posts: 10,601
    Imposter wrote:
    Gilbogo wrote:
    Hi,

    I'm thinking about upgrading my wheels this year. I'd love to hear your recommendations and advice.

    I've got a Trek 5.2 with bontrager race wheels. I use my bike mainly for sportives and 50-100k weekend rides.

    Thanks
    Gilbogo

    what's the problem with your current wheels ?

    Obviously they are not cool looking enough. I thought that was the reason for everyone "upgrading"?
  • ShutUpLegsShutUpLegs Posts: 3,522
    He rides a Trek FFS Sake
  • deswellerdesweller Posts: 5,175
    ShutUpLegs wrote:
    He rides a Trek FFS Sake

    FFS Sake?
    - - - - - - - - - -
    On Strava.{/url}
  • buzzwoldbuzzwold Posts: 197
    DesWeller wrote:
    ShutUpLegs wrote:
    He rides a Trek FFS Sake

    FFS Sake?

    Guys how about helping with an answer. I know I'd be interested in some real life advice as the link provided doesn't help a lot and frankly the reviews of kit by Cycling Plus/Bike Radar are often bizarre.

    I'm looking to upgrade myself cos I'd like to go a bit faster and use less energy doing so. Someone quoted 1mph gain for a wheel upgrade but this has to a relative 1mph for an amount of rolling mass reduced, otherwise the pros wouldn't be racing on superlight wheels.

    Gilbogo you probably need to determine a budget and work within that. I'm currently deciding between Campag Scirroco's or Fulcrum 5s. Good wheels at a budget of around £200.
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  • imposter2.0imposter2.0 Posts: 12,015
    buzzwold wrote:
    Guys how about helping with an answer. I know I'd be interested in some real life advice as the link provided doesn't help a lot and frankly the reviews of kit by Cycling Plus/Bike Radar are often bizarre.

    I'm looking to upgrade myself cos I'd like to go a bit faster and use less energy doing so. Someone quoted 1mph gain for a wheel upgrade but this has to a relative 1mph for an amount of rolling mass reduced, otherwise the pros wouldn't be racing on superlight wheels.

    Gilbogo you probably need to determine a budget and work within that. I'm currently deciding between Campag Scirroco's or Fulcrum 5s. Good wheels at a budget of around £200.

    Anyone got a link to those wheels which make you 1mph faster while using less energy?? I'll buy some.
  • deswellerdesweller Posts: 5,175
    Pros basically have no budget constraints. The equipment costs of professional cycling represent a comparitively small proportion of the total cost. So they can afford to buy all the latest and greatest gear even if it's only worth 0.5% in real terms. Plus the placebo effect it has on the rider might be worth another 2%.

    However, there are a dozen threads on this topic on this forum every week, so why not run a search first.
    - - - - - - - - - -
    On Strava.{/url}
  • martincashmanmartincashman Posts: 116
    How much do you want to spend?

    Do you want wheels with and aero profile or would you prefer to go for the lighter rather than aero, within you budget.

    Do you want full carbon or do you want to have wheels with an aluminium braking surface?

    Have you any more specifics about your current wheel set-up, weights, material, tyres and tubes used etc.
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    Road Winter(w): Carrera Virtuoso '10
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    http://app.strava.com/athletes/130161
  • GilbogoGilbogo Posts: 7
    Current wheels are bontrager race (both hubs and rims). I use conti Grand Prix 4000 tyres. I don't want aero rims and I'm looking at up to about £600
  • martincashmanmartincashman Posts: 116
    OK, I did the whole 'Good Wheels' thing myself a few years back. And found Shimano Dura-Ace 7850 C24 CL's to be a pretty good all round fit for aero, lightness and budget.

    PBK have the 9000 version just slightly over your budget £620, http://www.probikekit.com/uk/components ... elset.html May find them cheaper if you look around.

    In my opinion these are worth the stretch and they are future proofed for 11-speed.

    You could also try these http://www.swissside.com/shop/gotthard-wheelset - Similar spec to the Shimano's but for about £400, I just bought a cheaper set from the range, for training, haven't tried them out yet but out of the box they look and feel pretty impressive.

    It is worth nothing that tyre's make a big difference too, so I would fit a good racy set with latex tubes to maximize the benefit of the good wheels. Only problem there is that the racier the tyres the easier they wear and more susceptible to punchers they are. But you do feel the benefit of race tyres over training tyres.

    I keep the my C24's for racing and a few of the more challenging sportives and use another set of wheels with more sturdier tyres for logging high mileage. That way I don't go through so many tyres and have an instant performance boost whenever I need it.
    MTB HardTail: GT Aggressor XC2 '09
    Road Summer(s): Kuota Kharma '10
    Road Winter(w): Carrera Virtuoso '10
    Full Suspension: Trek Fuel Ex 8 '11

    http://app.strava.com/athletes/130161
  • ugo.santaluciaugo.santalucia Posts: 28,029
    martincashman wrote:

    PBK have the 9000 version just slightly over your budget £620, http://www.probikekit.com/uk/components ... elset.html May find them cheaper if you look around.

    .

    I don't mean to be rude, but if the OP has a budget of 200, how can 620 be "slightly over budget"? It's a bit like Top Gear advising to buy an Aston Martin as your hatchback
    left the forum March 2023
  • martincashmanmartincashman Posts: 116
    The OP has a budget of around £600 - I recommend a set around £620, which with a bit more searching may be available somewhere for closer to the £600 mark. I also suggested a set for around £400 that I would consider myself, had I not already invested in a good set a while back. Another poster suggested the £200 mark but the OP's current set aren't too far off the spec you would get at that level so wouldn't be worth changing.
    MTB HardTail: GT Aggressor XC2 '09
    Road Summer(s): Kuota Kharma '10
    Road Winter(w): Carrera Virtuoso '10
    Full Suspension: Trek Fuel Ex 8 '11

    http://app.strava.com/athletes/130161
  • ugo.santaluciaugo.santalucia Posts: 28,029
    martincashman wrote:
    The OP has a budget of around £600 - I recommend a set around £620, which with a bit more searching may be available somewhere for closer to the £600 mark. I also suggested a set for around £400 that I would consider myself, had I not already invested in a good set a while back. Another poster suggested the £200 mark but the OP's current set aren't too far off the spec you would get at that level so wouldn't be worth changing.

    You are right... I misread another post where somebody else had a 200 budget... :oops:
    left the forum March 2023
  • GilbogoGilbogo Posts: 7
    Great stuff thanks Martin Cashman - very helpful!
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