Wheel Upgrade

Holme_Moss

HI All

First time on site.

I have a Specialized Allez Elite 2012 and want to upgrade the wheel (existing wheel set DT Swiss 1.0). I weigh 105kg (looking to lose weight). I researched and the Shimano RS80 C24 wheel set looks like a good choice especially for riders over 100kg? does this look like a good upgrade my budget is £400.00 ?

Thanks

crescent

Wheels are generally thought of as the best place to start upgrading your bike, decreasing the mass of anything that rotates is more beneficial than the decreasing the same mass on a static part. However, if you are upgrading to improve performance then you will only be changing the mass of your bike by somewhere in the region of a few hundred grammes (I don't know exactly the difference in mass of both the sets you quoted but this would be fairly typical). You mention that you are looking to lose weight, if you think of yourself and the bike as a combined mass then it is worth looking at what would give you the biggest improvement in mass - losing a few hundred grammes from wheels or losing say a 1kg of body mass. I hope that doesn't sound rude or personal, I really don't mean it that way, but if you are just starting on a weight loss campaign then it may be the case that you find it easy to shed a few kg reasonably quickly giving you + bike a considerable weight advantage without actually changing any components. I speak from experience as a fellow Allez owner who lost 3-4kg a few years ago. However, if you just want something shiny and new on your bike (and there's nothing wrong with that) then wheels are probably the best place to start, the Allez is a great bike and is well worth upgrading. Good luck and enjoy either way

SFT

indeed, losing a few kg has made a massive difference for me...
But I went for some new Shimano RS80 C24' and they certainly made the bike more lively; but you will need to go for the current RS81's..
Also take a look at the Campagnola Zonda's they get great review's and are one sale at Wiggle. I've just got a pair of these for my Bianchi.

ugo.santalucia

Depends how much you ride.
At your weight the spokes will fatigue at as much as ten times the rate of someone weighing half your weight. Although predicting fatigue is a bit like weather forecasting, the correlation between weight (stress) and fatigue rate is not linear. So, if in his case it is possible they might even last 30,000 miles, in your case they might only last 3,000 miles or 6,000 at best.

If you don't ride a lot, that might even be 3 years of use, which is enough to get bored of them. If you do ride a lot, I would suggest something that doesn't weigh 1500 grams and has a few more spokes.

declan1

I've just changed from a set of 1500g race wheels to 32 spoke Archetypes which weigh around 2000g. I'm getting PBs on strava segments uphill and they still feel like fast wheels!

cycleclinic

A bit of extra wheel weight does not slow you down. I finished my alloy rimmed race wheels today, 1590g not weight weenie at all but once I wind up my rubber band they won't be slow but it never the wheels that are fast it is always the rider. For a 100kg rider think 32 spoke rear or a 36 on a wide medium depth stiff rim like the H plus son archetype or a deeper narrow rim like the ambrosio focus 30 on decent hubs. No point in skimping on the spoke count and gram pinching here. If you are going to shell out £300 on wheels they might as well last you.