Wheel buying advise needed

carlsaint

I have a budget of around £600. Want a decent set of aero clinchers that will be solid all rounders! Looked at Cosmic sls but can't find any cheaper than £700. Looked at American Classic 420's and whilst they get good reviews they aren't the lightest wheels around.

So looking for recommendations please! Thank you in advance!

ugo.santalucia

If they are light and aerodynamic and not full carbon, there is something wrong, clearly. To be honest at 1530 grams the AC are way too light already and most likely don't fit your "solidity" requirements... unless you are happy with one year of moderate use as many people seem to be these days

JayKosta

Aero, solid, reasonable price, and lightweight is asking a lot.....

Unless you have a specific need for aero, it should be your last concern.
Yes, aero IS getting a lot of attention and magazine coverage, but I think mostly because it is something new for us to buy....
Having dependable wheels that are not overly heavy or expensive is fine for all recreational riders.

Jay Kosta
Endwell NY USA

lochindaal

I am in a similar place to you as I wanted to get some aero wheels that I could use for triathlon as well and there is nothing that will fit what you want.

To keep aero and roughly at budget the cosmic sls appears to be the lightest option.

If you want cheaper (and about 250g heavier) then the RS81 C50 is about £550 but seems to get good reliability claims from people that have them. ( the DA C50 version can be had at about the same price as the mavics on ebay and weighs the same)

If you want light then you need to double the budget.

You need to compromise somewhere so will have to decide what is important to you most. I've decided to wait and hope some nice sale bargain appears either for end of season or XMAS time that jumps out!

Camcycle1974

carlsaint wrote:

I have a budget of around £600. Want a decent set of aero clinchers that will be solid all rounders! Looked at Cosmic sls but can't find any cheaper than £700. Looked at American Classic 420's and whilst they get good reviews they aren't the lightest wheels around.

So looking for recommendations please! Thank you in advance!

50mm Chinese Carbon Clinchers is clearly what you need

lawrences

3 sets of chinese clinchers and maybe a support car.

cycleclinic

Aero can be acheieved with low spoke count to a large degree. The difference in aero drag between a medium depth wide low spoke count rim and a narrower 50mm deep rim may not be that big.

Pacenti SL23 rims 20F/24R spoke count and CX-ray spokes is about as aero as an alloy clincher gets without using the Flo30 rim which is not easy to source. Mate to hubs of your choice and job done for what I would call a semi aero alloy clincher wheelset

The Mavic and shimano offerings may have a lower spoke count but as they used thicker aero spokes and rim is not as wide meaning a less flat transition between tyre and rim (with a 23mm tyre) the aero advantage of the lower spoke count is somewhat offset.

Pancenti SL23 build can be as light as 1400g but with sensible cheaper hubs will be c. 1500g. Is it a robust rim, well robust enough but H plus Archetype is more wide robust and only a bit heavier but not as aero (but how significant this is I am not sure any one has any data) a 24F/28R build with the archetype rim is a robust build and if you are light enough a 20F/24R spoke count will be fine. Ultimatley though if want long spoke life pick a spoke count that matches your riding style and weight.

Look at all the "factory" options and they are quite similar in spoke count to the design constraints low weight places on them that is not to say they are all the same they are not but similar patterns emerge the only ones that are a bit different are the HED Ardennes they maybe worth a look.

Getting all hung up on wheelset weight is not a good way of selecting a wheelset. got an e-mail from a racer on a set of Kinlin XC-279 (500g rims)/novatec wheels with round spokes, I did and he won an E/1/2 race on those I don't think the extra mass or the round spokes slowed him down but it is probably daft power outputs he can put out that is the cause of that. The point is wheelset weight is a very minor part of the overall performance of the rider, it is the rider who drives the bike forward.

Deep carbon rims that are U shaped are more aero but I would not say they are good allrounders a what do you do in the wet on a down hill stretch of road?

marroktook

I would suggest looking at the Shimano RS81 C50 which have already been mentioned, they are good all rounders and can be used in all conditions. I have the DA 7900 C50 and have used them all year round in all weather with no issues whatsoever, my brother has the RS80 C50 and I would be happy with those instead of the DA so the newer RS81 should be just as good.

ugo.santalucia

marroktook wrote:

I would suggest looking at the Shimano RS81 C50 which have already been mentioned,

Or best, buying them without looking... the graphics on the rims are revolting... :?

marroktook

Ha yeah they aren't the best looking, I know the RS80s decals could be removed but I can't tell from the pictures I've seen if those can

racingcondor

The only way you'll get something aero is by going to chinese (or Planet X) carbon but given the cash I'd ignore the aero part (unless you're looking for asthetiscs to go with an aero frame) and get either RS80/81's or handbuilts with a good hub and reasonably light rim.

I wonder if you might bve able to get Dura Ace hubs laced to something by kinlin or Velocity for that...

lawrences

Aero wheels for 600 isn't a big ask. You don't have to go Planet X or Chinese.

cycleclinic

DA hubs are 24H at the lowest and for a front wheel that no very aero. White Industries hubs are a high end option in low spoke count and there are others too. Using DA C50 wheels all year round sound expensive to me as rim wear is more likely to be an issue if you ride in proper winter filth. I wore out a set of rims in about 3000 miles by just riding them in the wet/filth only, not happy about that not DA C50 rims thankfully.

For £600 you could have DA hubs laced to whatever you like. An althernative idea is finding a good used set of DA 7850, 7900 or 9000 hubs from a C24 or C50 wheelset and lacing those to custom drilled carbon rims form China. Chickens now do straight pull Sapim CX-ray or Race spokes cut to length so spokes are no longer an issue. I would have done that for myself but all the ones I have seen are 7900 10 speed hubs which is pretty useless for campagnolo drivetrain.

The only issue I can see with complete chinese wheelsets from a reputable source is the hubs, they are normally bitex or light weight novatec, fine for racing but for year round riding they are not the best idea unless you like changing bearings.