New wheels for Merida cyclocross 3

friedpizzainbatter

Hi I'm thinking of 'upgrading' the stock wheelset that came with my Merida which is mostly used for commuting and a bit of offroad. I was looking at the Mavic Crossride Disc, or the Fulcrum Red Power SL both of which have a fairly decent discount. Another set I was considering at a bit more were the Shimano XT WH-M785 Centerlock.
Does anyone have any experience of any of these wheels, which do you think would be best?

Thanks for any advice.

The Rookie

XT, super reliable, slightly lower bearing friction due to the cup an cone, but the cup/cone do need a small amount if TLC, probably the heaviest.

Mavic have too many expensive proprietary parts for my liking.

Fulcrums are a nice wheel.

How about getting some made up?
With some small luck I just built a set of wheels for £180 that weigh in at 1432g (26"), Stans rims, Sapim spokes and A2Z front, Novatec rear hub, in the last two pages of my kraken thread (link in sig).

friedpizzainbatter

Thanks for the reply, I was leaning towards the fulcrums as they're the cheapest at the moment and I won't need to buy centrelock rotors. However would like super reliable as its my commuting and winter bike so I do a lot of miles on it, so perhaps the extra on the XT would be worth it.
Another thing will MTB 29er wheels be ok on a disc brake cyclocross bike. There seems to be differring opinions, the fulcrums apparently have 19mm width rims which should be ok as I use 28mm tyres for commuting?
Are there any other concerns, or should I be trying to find cyclocross disc 700c wheels? They seem to be pretty rare at the moment.

friedpizzainbatter

Just to confuse matters have found cyclocross disc wheels, has anyone heard of these:
http://www.superstarcomponents.com/en/s ... arance.htm
They're extremely well priced at 129 quid (I take it QR means Quick Release adapter as I was going to choose this).
or:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/kinesis-crossli ... -wheelset/
Which are more expensive.

Are these a better option than 29er wheels. I have spent far too much of my day reading about wheels and I think I'm more confused than when I started.

The Rookie

The Superstar wheels are a good option and an excellent price.

29er wheels are fine as long as you stick to an upto 19mm internal rim width.

the Kinesis are a nice option and usefully lighter than the SS wheels, if they keep that price when they have stock!

friedpizzainbatter

Thanks again Mr The Rookie. I'm leaning towards SS now, I can't find anyone with a bad word to say about them, there are two bikeradar reviews for SS wheels one road one mtb both 4 stars and say excellent value.

My sister has a Whyte Stirling with Black Dragon rims and they seem to be bomb proof given the abuse that bike gets.
I started getting a bit obsessed with contact points yesterday as well, 27 in the Switch Ultra compared to 72 in the Tesla (the more expensive SS hub), but figure I'd really only need to worry about that if it was a mountain bike?

I also can't find the Kinesis in stock anywhere (all are saying end this year early next before back in, and my tendencies lean to impatience), you're right they're probably much better, but on the other hand it's a commute bike and a couple hundred grams compared to all the mudguards, lights, baggage and my fluctuating weight probably won't count for much?

Plus I can get Mrs Friedpizzainbatter the chip pan she's been coveting all year so she can do battered mars bars ( and cream eggs come the 2nd January), with the money I save, and I might even have enough left over for a set of fat pants from Primark.

The Rookie

Superstar (rebranded Novatec) hubs are pretty good, slightly weak point is the slightly cheap bearings but as a full set only costs about £15 (and they are a doddle to change) it's worth it. Superstar service is very good and they are probably the biggest seller of MTB wheels in the country.

I had SS hubs on my MTB and now swapped onto the commuter and my new wheelset on the MTB uses a Novatec rear hub (so I haven't exactly been put off!).

Engagement points on the hub just tell you the maximum angle you may have to rotate the freehub relative to the wheel to get a pawl to engage, it has some relevance on an MTB or CX bike when you may want instant response for negotiating an obstacle, but for road/commuting use it has little relevance at all.

friedpizzainbatter

Thanks again. That's just the sort of thing I was trying to find out before I ordered. I noticed they'd updated the bearings on the ultra hubs to SKF which I'd read somewhere else was a step up.

The Rookie

If they are SKF then yes, that is a step up, they will look at the cost for them to buy versus the warranty cost of early failure, too many of the latter and they will fit better bearings to save money, it's all a numbers game!

I'm sure you wont be disappointed.

friedpizzainbatter

Just thought I'd post a quick update. Have had the wheels about a month, although not many miles in yet (weather and bugs prevailed) very impressed for the price. Noticable difference to the stock ones that came with the bike. They're lighter and spin up faster, have hit some rough bits of road with them and they've stayed true so far. Thanks to The Rookie for all the helpful advice.

bigmonka

Any chance of some details of the wheels you went for? The original link you posted no longer works and I can't work out on their website which ones you meant.

The Rookie

Hi wheels were in the clearance event, so they may have had only the one set.

Here is the clearance listing.
http://www.superstarcomponents.com/en/s ... ance-sale/

friedpizzainbatter

Hi,
These are the wheels, although they've gone back up in price again.

http://www.superstarcomponents.com/en/a ... h-hubs.htm