Groupset/Wheels

craigleese

Hi

i have a £2k budget to upgrade my Spec Tarmac Sl4..

I had my heart set on Dura Ace 9000 however i'm not sure i cannot justify the extra £400/500 over the utlegra 6800 groupset. Also depending on what groupset i purchase will depend on what wheels i purchase, i was looking at Mavic Carbone Cosmis or Dura Ace C50's (any other recommendations please feel free) . Obviously i would prefer both dura ace groupset & wheels which i could stretch too but is that just greedy/too flash.

Any wise words from the gods ?

Cheers
Craig

Dommy

Why not, if you can afford it then do it!!

There's nothing worse than riding round and thinking I wonder what Dura-Ace feels like. I'm just about to order a new bike with Dura-Ace Di2 9070, I don't need it, I don't race but it's just nice to have the best I can afford and think yeah I've worked hard to have what I've got and I love it. The shifting of Dura-Ace is absolutely amazing.

As for wheels I have a friend who's just bought some Mavics and he rates them. Say's he can get up hills faster because they are a lighter set of wheels than the one's he had before.

Dom

foggymike

You can easily get both with your budget, no problem at all. Yes, you're well I to diminishing returns with Ultegra vs DA and aero wheels generally (personally I've not found them to be any quicker but they do look nice) but if you want them and have the cash then why not?!

craigleese

Because i'm trying to think with my head & not my heart. :S

foggymike

What about Ultegra and reynolds assault slg's then - £1400 (£500 groupset and £900 wheels from PBK). That's pretty good VFM.

Dommy

It's all about heart

craigleese

Anybody had any experience of Zipp 60 wheels ?

Cheers Foggymike, dont know anything about reynold wheels.. i'll read some reviews

ivanoile

Heavy and expensive wheels with a lot of marketing hype.

And why not a combination of D/A shifters with Ultegra group,if you want Dura Ace that much?

cycleclinic

DA 9000 is quite nice looks alot better than ultegra. As for wheels some really high end builds with DA9000 hubs are possible now madison are making the 18H front available. Talk to a good shop £2k will buy you all that with some change perhaps.

dwanes

I wouldn't go down the hand-built wheel route if I had that kind of money to burn.
Unless you are a heavy rider, Factory wheels are where its at, they look more blingy (like it or not, this is important to most) and pretty consistent in build quality and stiff at your price range.
Hand-builts can be a bit hit or miss regarding consistency of build, and you don't want to be paying big money for something where they need re-truing every 6 months or are a bit flexy.

intheknowcycling.com

Craig - I've evaluated both the top tier groupset and all-around wheelset categories recently. The Ultegra 6800 groupset will give you everything the DA 9000 will (except for the label). If you can do it, the real upgrade is to go from mechanical to electronic. I'd recommend the Ultegra 6870 Di2 - will cost you the same or less than the DA 9000 based on the best pricing from good shops with inventory now that I'm tracking.

Not knowing what kind of riding you want to do, hard to suggest wheels but based on your Tarmac and budget, I'd recommend Reynolds Assault SLG (or DA c35 cl if you want to do serious climbing or regularly find yourself riding on wet roads) + the Ultegra 6870 Di2 for about 2K. If you want to put more money into your wheels, go with a Zipp 303 and Ultegra 6800 for the same 2K. I recommend all of these but would think the Di2/SLG combo would be best. I'd only consider the DA 50 wheels if you are mostly about riding flats and crits and think the Mavic Cosmic Carbone 40C are relatively overpriced and under perform others in this category. Cheers, Steve

ozzzyosborn206

agree with the di2 over mechanical, earlier this year i built up a new bike with mechanical 9000, then a few months later rode a mates bike with DA di2 and instantly wish I had gone for di2, he has da on race bike and ultegra on training bike and reckons they both work as well as each other, just DA is a tad lighter and nicer looking.

cycleclinic

Handbuilt wheels need not be flexy. the modern crop of wide medium depth rims like the Pacenti SL23 are very stiff indeed. Lace them to the best hubs and you have a fine wheelset. A good shop/wheelbuilder is required though, the good ones can be found, you may have one locally. As for a handbuilt wheel being more inconsitant than a factory wheel, well I have put a spoke tension gauge on a few and let just say the tensions are not always even.

As for blingy I did these for myself. Cost a fortune as well, no factory wheel comes close to art of these hubs and they are stiffer than almost anything you can buy of the self.



That said the 2015 range of fulcrum wheels have moved over to 23mm wide rims so those would get my vote over anything else "factory". Fulcrum wheels are also the most reliable in my experience (see very few in the shop for spoke work).

Pokerface

Ribble have the Dura Ace Di2 upgrade kit for £1100 and the Ultegra DI2 Upgrade kit for around £670.

This leave a lot for wheels!

For an everyday whilst, I recommend the Dura Ace C24 wheels for £537: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-dura-ac ... lset-2014/

The C50 wheels are £1000: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-dura-ac ... lset-2014/

AndC35 wheels are £889: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-dura-ac ... lset-2014/

You could get Dura Ace Di2 and C35 wheels for your £2K if you have a chainset and brakes already.

intheknowcycling.com

Pokerface wrote:

Ribble have the Dura Ace Di2 upgrade kit for £1100 and the Ultegra DI2 Upgrade kit for around £670.

Just know that the Di2 "upgrade kit" you are referring to isn't the complete groupset. It's got the DI2 components to upgrade from a mechanical to an electronic - the shifters, derailleurs, battery, wiring, etc. - but doesn't include the DA or Ultegra mechanical drivetrain parts - crankset, chain, cassette.

Fortunately it's not much more to get the complete groupset.

Pokerface

intheknowcycling.com wrote:

Pokerface wrote:

Ribble have the Dura Ace Di2 upgrade kit for £1100 and the Ultegra DI2 Upgrade kit for around £670.

Just know that the Di2 "upgrade kit" you are referring to isn't the complete groupset. It's got the DI2 components to upgrade from a mechanical to an electronic - the shifters, derailleurs, battery, wiring, etc. - but doesn't include the DA or Ultegra mechanical drivetrain parts - crankset, chain, cassette.

Fortunately it's not much more to get the complete groupset.

Yeah, which is why I said you would need to have a crankset and brakes! I also assumed if the OP was 'upgrading' he would already have these parts. Would need Shimano-compatible brakes obviously though.

Undertones

intheknowcycling.com wrote:

Pokerface wrote:

Ribble have the Dura Ace Di2 upgrade kit for £1100 and the Ultegra DI2 Upgrade kit for around £670.

Just know that the Di2 "upgrade kit" you are referring to isn't the complete groupset. It's got the DI2 components to upgrade from a mechanical to an electronic - the shifters, derailleurs, battery, wiring, etc. - but doesn't include the DA or Ultegra mechanical drivetrain parts - crankset, chain, cassette.

Fortunately it's not much more to get the complete groupset.

I'm sorry but is there any way you could express that with a complicated chart or a bad graph?

cycleclinic

The 2015 fulcrum range with 23mm wide rims is the zero carbon (you get those and ultegra for £2000) and the lower range fulcrum R5LG and R7LG. If you have not tried wide rims you should. I certainlly would not spend money on a narow rim any more. Some of the Zipp offerings use wider rims too so look at those. The hub issues have apparantly been cured.