ShimUltegra or Harry Rowland Hand-Builts

Tiltzey Boy

Another wheelset dilemma, Sorry! :oops:

Building up my Scott CR1 Pro at the minute, I've gone for full Ultegra Group, all bought second hand off here and the Bay! The only thing left to get is the wheels and tyres.

I don't know what to do. Do I go for the Shimano Ultegra 6700's from Ribble for a bargain price of 198 quid, or pay the extra 70 odd quid and go for the Hand Builts by Harry Rowland - Mavic Open Pro, Sappim spokes and Miche hubs (£270 delivered)??

Been deliberating on this for weeks now, I'm trying to build the bike on a tight budget, so the tight arse Northerner in me is telling me to go for the Shimano's!!!!

Any help will be appreciated!

:?

ugo.santalucia

They are two radically different wheelsets. One is fully serviceable, repairable and very durable. The other one offers the appeal of roughly 200 grams weight saving, give or take. The Shimano have good hubs that you can grease and service, anything else is realistically difficult to repair/replace.
If you are on the heavy side, the choice is obvious and going for the cheaper Ultegra would be false economy, while if you are light the choice is in your hands.
Miche hubs can be upgraded to take 11 speed if needed, Shimano 6700 can't. Open PRO take any tyre and every tyre is easy to fit, you need to check which tyres you can fit to the Ultegra wheels... these are tubeless compatible, which probably means they are tight fit

cycleclinic

Miche hubs now come only with 11 speed freehub bosies or the campag freehub body. The 10 speed freehubs I have not seen on any of my recent purchases from chicken's cycles or direct from Miche ugo. Miche hubs are also lighter and a fair bit cheaper.

harrywolper

I have RS80s and two lots of Mr Rowland wheels (Ambrosio and Durace varients) . Nothing wrong with the RS80s at all but my next set will be with Mr Rowland as his wheels feel better, stay true and are cheaper for what you get in my view. I bought my first set 7-8 years ago - many 1,000 miles and just the odd spoke issue.

Regards, Harry

Tiltzey Boy

ugo.santalucia wrote:

They are two radically different wheelsets. One is fully serviceable, repairable and very durable. The other one offers the appeal of roughly 200 grams weight saving, give or take. The Shimano have good hubs that you can grease and service, anything else is realistically difficult to repair/replace.
If you are on the heavy side, the choice is obvious and going for the cheaper Ultegra would be false economy, while if you are light the choice is in your hands.
Miche hubs can be upgraded to take 11 speed if needed, Shimano 6700 can't. Open PRO take any tyre and every tyre is easy to fit, you need to check which tyres you can fit to the Ultegra wheels... these are tubeless compatible, which probably means they are tight fit

Thanks for the reply Ugo.
I'm 12 stone, so not exactly heavy, but certainly not the skinniest kid on the block!!

I'm only a recreational rider, but do insist on doing almost all of my own maintenance, so being able to service my wheels is an important factor.

Weight saving isn't really an issue for me, so saving 200 grams for the sake of the extra dosh doesn't really sway me any further towards the hand builts either

I think I'm going to go for the Ultegra's, and see how they are.

Worst case scenario is that I regret not going to Mr Rowland, so I decide to put the Ultegra's on my Giant Defy which I use for commuting daily (around 130 miles a week) and I get rid of the RS30's that are currently fitted to it. Then I spend the extra cash on a set of hand builts for my "best bike", i.e. the CR1.

Thanks for the responses folks!!!!

ugo.santalucia

I think you have misread my post

The heavier and serviceable are the Open PRO ones... the lighter but difficult to repair are the Ultegra (although they do have serviceable hubs)

paultheparaglider

Tiltzey Boy wrote:

I'm 12 stone, so not exactly heavy, but certainly not the skinniest kid on the block!!

I think I'm going to go for the Ultegra's, and see how they are.

Worst case scenario is that I regret not going to Mr Rowland, so I decide to put the Ultegra's on my Giant Defy which I use for commuting daily (around 130 miles a week) and I get rid of the RS30's that are currently fitted to it. Then I spend the extra cash on a set of hand builts for my "best bike", i.e. the CR1.

I've just bought a pair of these from Ribble as the price was so tempting. They are a lovely looking set of wheels, but even though I'm lighter than you I have to admit to my concerns about the low spoke count, and how thin the spokes look. I can't imagine they would make a good commuter wheel, especially if your commute is on poor roads.

Time will tell, but at under £200 delivered it is worth a punt.