Which wheels

Primus84

I recently bought some Shimano R500 wheels to use primarily as a turbo wheel - ended up buying both front and back as I got a good deal on them. However since buying them I've got to thinking - are these wheels better than my stock set?

The bike is a 2014 Giant Defy 1 with their Giant P-Elite C Wheelset.

So which is best to keep for my road rides - the Giant wheels or the Shimano R500?

Furthermore, although the Giant came with a 12-30 Tiagra cassette, the wheels came with a 105 11-28 cassette - will I need to adjust the rear derailleur if I use this?

I live in quite a hilly area (read very hilly) will I notice much difference between a 28 and 30 bottom gear?

Thanks for answer my many questions!

nochekmate

Both wheelsets would be considered to be at the lower end of the market.

Rear derailleur should need no adjustment moving from 28 cassette to 30. Will you notice a difference between them? Depends if you need the 30 - if you have a 34T compact chainset then 34/28 combination should see you up virtually anything if you have a few miles in your legs.

34/30 is for climbing vertical roads I imagine

Primus84

Will I see any benefits from the 105 cassette over the Tiagra? The Tiagra cassette is one of the few non-105 parts of the Defy 1.

Bobbinogs

Primus84 wrote:

Will I see any benefits from the 105 cassette over the Tiagra? The Tiagra cassette is one of the few non-105 parts of the Defy 1.

Nope. The main difference will be about 10g of metal. Far better to concentrate on getting the gears set up sweet. I would make it a thing to change (if you really have to spend the cash) when the cassette is worn.

I agree with the "R500 wheels are at the bottom end of the just about decent pile" comments. They do work well and I would happily ride them through the winter but are they better than your stock wheels? Nah, probably not.

Primus84

Ok no worries. I bought it for turbo duty so that's fine and now I have a backup wheelset so it's all good.

kajjal

Bobbinogs wrote:

Primus84 wrote:

Will I see any benefits from the 105 cassette over the Tiagra? The Tiagra cassette is one of the few non-105 parts of the Defy 1.

Nope. The main difference will be about 10g of metal. Far better to concentrate on getting the gears set up sweet. I would make it a thing to change (if you really have to spend the cash) when the cassette is worn.

I agree with the "R500 wheels are at the bottom end of the just about decent pile" comments. They do work well and I would happily ride them through the winter but are they better than your stock wheels? Nah, probably not.

Good advice, time spent setting up gears well is well worth it in the smoothness it gives your riding.