Wheels - Dura Ace 9000

bradders123

I've just bought a new bike, and need to upgrade the wheels. I'm planning to get Dura Ace 9000, as they seem to receive good reviews, and can be purchased for around £600. Is there anything else I should be considering around this price range?

Bradders

DiscoBoy

A description of you and your usage would help. Also which version of the DA9000 wheels are you considering? There are several.

rnarito

I own the Dura Ace C24 and have no complaints...another wheel set that is around that price is the Mavic Kysrium SLS...about the same weight, but no carbon laminate...

How Far is too Far

Fulcrum 1 or Campag Eurus or Nutron.

phillips1965

campag Neutron ultras for me. spin up quickly and carry on spinning. Not overly impressed with my Kysriums tbh.

duckson

I have had the DA9000 C24's for 12 months, awesome wheelset.

Also consider the RS81, same rim but different hub and quite a bit cheaper....slightly heavier but its at the hub so rotating mass is the same.

Your weight can be a deciding factor on the wheelset though, if you are overly heavy i wouldnt bother with them to be safe.

mfin

I had C24s for 12 months, un-awesome wheelset.

Unimpressed. Stiff enough, but harsh with regards to road buzz. Glad I don't have them anymore.

duckson

Harsh? I think most peoples view is the opposite but if thats your findings.

mfin

duckson wrote:

Harsh? I think most peoples view is the opposite but if thats your findings.

Yes, it is, in regards to road-buzz. Two other riding buddies who had ridden my bike that I had them on at the time both 'before and after' swapping them agreed in no time at all.

simonj

Ksyrium Elites I find a bit harsh, C24's I love, they roll and roll due to the hubs, RS81's with different hubs, whilst cheaper, miss out on the best bit.

Camcycle1974

bradders123 wrote:

I've just bought a new bike, and need to upgrade the wheels. I'm planning to get Dura Ace 9000, as they seem to receive good reviews, and can be purchased for around £600. Is there anything else I should be considering around this price range?

Bradders

Ok, I'll bite.

Firstly the sensible advice. Handmade!!!! for £600 you could have DA hubs with a light (around 400g) rim or a more robust rim (H Plus Son Archetype for example which are heavier but stiff and well engineered) with Sapim CX Ray spokes weighing in around the 1600g (or sub 1500 if you go with the lighter rim) mark. Look for a good wheelbuilder in your area and go talk to them. Depends on your weight and riding style as to what is best for you which is the benefit of talking to a wheel builder.

Alternatively, have a look at some full carbon jobbies from China. About 1/2 the price of the DA's. A bit more risk admittedly but the reviews online are mostly favourable if you buy from a reputable supplier like Farsports.

I have a set of handbuilt Archetypes which are great but I hanker after something lighter and carbon so considering some 38mm carbon clinchers from Farsports 1) to reduce weight and 2) to look nice! (don't mind admitting it) These will cost sub £400 including shipping/tax etc.

northpole

DA wheels are a great all rounder. There are others such as fulcrum and campag, but I'm not sure there is a down side to DA compared to other factory wheels. The DA hubs are fantastic and will last the lifetime of the rims (and beyond). That's perhaps a reason you may wish to consider hand builts, maybe with DA hubs - if you wreck a rim, it can be replaced, or if the rims wear out again they can be replaced.

You'll probably know yourself which camp you sit in with regards to rim replacements. If you are likely to want to replace your wheels when the rims wear out, I don't think you could go wrong with DA. I still use an old pair of 7800 DA's on my commuting bike every day, they date back to 2006/2007; the rims are pretty much gone now, but the hubs are still original and smooth. Amazing really.

Peter

northpole

PS when I say rims can be replaced on hand builts, I mean economically - the cost to replace a DA rim would likely be prohibitive. You could still do it, but you may just decide to buy a new wheel instead!

Peter

socrates

+1 for handbuilts

hypster

I would also recommend hand builts. With £600 to spend you have a wide choice of quality hubs like Shimano Dura Ace 9000 as suggested by others or something like Royce or White Industries. There are several rims you could choose from as well depending on how light or stiff you wanted to go.

The advantage with hand built wheels is that a quality wheel builder should be able to advise you on which combination of components would be best for your weight and riding style. The wheels should then last several years and be much easier to fix should you damage a rim or spoke.

ugo.santalucia

An often forgotten side of going bespoke is that a honest builder should be able to give you an accurate view of what can go wrong and how much it costs to fix it and whether spares are available. Not everything is bombproof and great and problem free.
When you buy something online, they are very good ad hyping the PROs, but there is never any mention of the cons, which one has to find for himself.
This should be the job of magazine reviews, as it happens with cars, but magazines are more keen to hype how great the stickers look or how smooth the freehub sounds than to make you aware that this particular brand/model doesn't supply spares.
There is never any mention of what the conditions of warranty actually are... e.g. do you need to send the wheels back to a Service Centre or can you DIY? Can your LBS do a repair within warranty?
Unfortunately these things are not "fit and forget" like a car, therefore the same model of warranty = official service centre is not practical.