New Wheels

Stu07
Stu07 Posts: 48
edited March 2014 in Road buying advice
Looking at racing this year but also enjoy nice hilly rides. Looking for a set of light slightly aero clinchers wheels.
Spoke to LBS and they suggested-

Zipp 303
Mavic Cosmic Carbone 40
Bontrager Aeolus 3 D3

All around 1500-1600 grams.

Budget is around £1500 poss stretch to £2k.

Which out of those 3 would you recommend or any other alternatives?

Thanks

Comments

  • Monty Dog
    Monty Dog Posts: 20,614
    NAFWT! (Not Another F'ing Wheels Thread!)

    Recommendation - use the search function?
    Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,310
    When you start to race, you start as a category 4... and unless you are God, you might linger in Cat. 4 for the entire season, until you collect those 12 points you need to get to cat. 3... only then maybe you get blessed and surrounded by riders who have more experience and might not crash into you... but then again, maybe not.
    If you race, you will most likely crash at some point... crashes can be painful and/or can be expensive, proportionally to how much your bike costs... replacing a broken rim on the wheels you mention will probably make you 500-800 pounds poorer, so on balance I suggest you keep your wheels for general riding and downgrade to a set of Shimano R 500 for racing.... they are 60 pounds and when you crash them, you get another pair.
    If you really really need to have carbon wheels to feel adequate, then get some Planet X 45 carbon tubulars, they are 399 for the set and you won't weep too much when you wreck them
    left the forum March 2023
  • northpole
    northpole Posts: 1,499
    I'd kick off by asking are the hilly rides going to be outside the racing activities - the type of race events (you'd be as well to say what they are likely to be) may dictate that you'd be much better off having a more aero race set and a separate general training set. Perhaps your existing wheels would suffice for hilly training rides? Too many possible solutions to generate answers which will genuinely help you, without you first narrowing the scope down further.

    Peter
  • Stu07
    Stu07 Posts: 48
    Thanks for the help Monty Dog. You're right there are a lot of wheel threads which I have looked through. However tech moves on so a post from 2 years ago might not be relevant. Also lots of different budgets and requirements.

    The wheels I currently have are Mavic R-Sys however due to wear they need replacing soon (bearings shot and rims getting low).

    Therefore I need a one wheel suits all solution.

    Bloke from the LBS is Cat 1 and he suggested the above, but then again they are the wheels he stocks. Hence looking for some independent advice.
  • desweller
    desweller Posts: 5,175
    Bike tech doesn't move on much in 2 years, despite what the marketing men would have us believe. Ultimately they are still just bicycle wheels and the difference between the front of the field and the back will be the quality of the athlete.
    - - - - - - - - - -
    On Strava.{/url}
  • thegibdog
    thegibdog Posts: 2,106
    Stu07 wrote:
    Therefore I need a one wheel suits all solution.
    Not sure if the reasoning behind this, surely for £1500 you could get more than one pair of wheels? Some lightweight low profile wheels for days in the hills and some (cheaper & more crashable) deeper sections for presumably fairly flat races.
    https://gibworth.mypixieset.com
  • cycleclinic
    cycleclinic Posts: 6,865
    For racing spend £300 or less and get a 20F/24R set built with Kinlin XR-270, XR-300 or XC-279 rims and either Miche hubs or some other low priced hubs in that drilling like novatec A291/F482 (not everyones favourite hubs for training but for racing they will do nicely). Cheap, a bit aero due to the low spoke count, stiff and quite light. Cheap also so if you do crash and wreck them a rim will cost you £40-£45. Weight wide they would be 1435g to 1650g depending on the hubs used and the rims of course. £1500 on wheels will not make you win races. You will win races or get points if you are fit enough. You don't have to spend allot to get light wheels for racing especially at Cat 4.
    http://www.thecycleclinic.co.uk -wheel building and other stuff.
  • bendertherobot
    bendertherobot Posts: 11,684
    Win a race with 2k wheels, it's the wheels

    Lose a race with 2k wheels, you look silly

    Win a race with r500, you are a god

    Do that and buy some tidy wheels for your leisure time
    My blog: http://www.roubaixcycling.cc (kit reviews and other musings)
    https://twitter.com/roubaixcc
    Facebook? No. Just say no.
  • hypster
    hypster Posts: 1,229
    My advice is listen to the wheel builders i.e. Ugo and The Cycle Clinic. I'm not a racer but have just built up a set of Miche hubs with Kinlin XR-270 rims 24F/28R with Sapim Race spokes all round and they came out at 1707g. You should be able to get a set professionally built for around £250.

    If you can't win on them then you won't win on a £1500 set at 1500g.

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