Shimano R501 any good?
DeeKayKoutsi
Posts: 6
Hi there. My stock wheels seem to be really bad so I had better buy new ones. My bike is a cheap beginner's one, so I don't want to spend a lot of money on it, so I thought about the r500's. My current wheel set weighs around 2500 grams, the breaking surface catches fire and they are not stiff at all and they bend every time i break. The only good thing about them is that they have stayed true. I have read some reviews and every guy who upgraded from stock wheels was very satisfied with the performance. So does the r500 wheel set worth the money? My LBS sells them for 95e, but I would rather buy the C30 and I don't know if they have them and how much will they cost. In the worst case scenario I can buy them online for 110e.
Any advice appreciated. Thank you.
Any advice appreciated. Thank you.
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Comments
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I bought some for my entry level bike a few years ago and they were fine. I only spent about £70 online though and sold them on for about £40.0
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I'm using some at the moment, bought from Ribble for around £70. They're the 30mm version.
Happy with them for the price, they're heavy and flex a bit but for winter wheels they're great.0 -
They're great value for money & pretty robust (and I've got them on a bike with panniers and they do carry loads from time to time). I'm on my third set and they've never gone out of true or snapped a spoke.
FWIW I think they _are_ stock wheels on a large number of bikes in the £500 - £1000 price range. If you want something a bit lighter have a look at Planet X - the Model B's are £125 but a much lighter wheel. (I don't know if Px do the Model B any more but there's bound to be an equivalent).0 -
Yes, I think they're pretty good.
They're just over £70 per pair and weigh around 1800g which is good for the price. I've been running them for a little over a year now and they seem very reliable- despite the low spoke count they haven't come out of true. The hubs seem nice and smooth too and haven't needed any work. However, I had to bin the rear wheel about a month ago as the brake track was badly worn and did not come with wear indicators (but the front one did for some reason and has a lot less wear) but in its defense it was ridden through an awful lot of wet weather and my pads perhaps weren't the best for gritty conditions and others have got years of use out of theirs.
I've replaced the R501 rear wheel with the newer 11 speed RS010 wheel which seems the same in all other regards- although I do have the wear indicators this time!
Despite the rim wear, unless you can build wheels yourself or know someone who will we-use spokes on a build you'll be hard pressed to find a wheel that is worth riding that is cheaper to run than these.0 -
I have them on my winter bike. I went for the basic version with round j-bend spokes; should be easier to find replacements should I need them? I too paid £70 from Ribble. Minor hiccup when the first rear wheel arrived with a chunk out of the freehub, but quickly sorted. (the replacement arrived wrapped like a ming vase)
They have so far survived unscathed after a winter of night riding with the resultant, inevitable pothole incidents.
I like the fact that they have more spokes than the RS10's I have on the summer bike; lost a rear spoke on those and the bike was instantly unrideable because the tyre was jamming against the chainstay. Couldn't even push the thing in my search for better mobile phone reception...0 -
Thank you for your answers. Seems like you can't go wrong with them. But still i need to know more about their performance. Would you say that they perform more like stock unbranded wheels with sora hubs or more like racing 7/aksium/khamsin wheels?0
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I'm not quite sure what you mean by the wheels bending when you brake. However, it's possible that what you're describing is the wheel getting pushed to one side by un-centralized calipers. With no pressure on the lever, the right and left pads need to be the same distance from the rim. If one is closer than the other, it will push the rim over to meet the other pad when you apply the brakes.DeeKayKoutsi wrote:Hi there. My stock wheels seem to be really bad they are not stiff at all and they bend every time i break.
As for the performance of 501's, you're unlikely to get anything comparable for the money. £65 from MerlinCycles.Com.0 -
Hi there again. I asked my LBS about the R500s and they told me they are out of stock and they offered me a set of RS11 for 125e only because they took them off from a bike. What do you think should i go with them? They told me that if I want to order the R500s they are probably gonna cost more that the RS, and that the RS are better deal because of their lighter weigh and better aerodynamics. I like them because the look awesome, but I am kinda hesitant because the RS have a low spoke count and they may get damaged if the rider is heavy (i am 85Kg). What do you guys think?0
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They are a decent wheelset in terms of quality if that's what you're looking for. I wouldn't expect to see a performance improvement over your stock wheels really.
If you want something noticeably better take a look at the likes of RS21 / RS310 -
DeeKayKoutsi wrote:Hi there again. I asked my LBS about the R500s and they told me they are out of stock and they offered me a set of RS11 for 125e only because they took them off from a bike. What do you think should i go with them? They told me that if I want to order the R500s they are probably gonna cost more that the RS, and that the RS are better deal because of their lighter weigh and better aerodynamics. I like them because the look awesome, but I am kinda hesitant because the RS have a low spoke count and they may get damaged if the rider is heavy (i am 85Kg). What do you guys think?
I had the previous version of the wheels, RS10, on my first proper road bike back in 2007. (similar rims, weights, spokes, just not 11 speed compatible). 8000 miles later I'm still riding them. They've taken quite a few potholes in that time (I ride at night in the winter) I've had to true the front wheel a couple of times as a result. The back wheel broke a DS spoke last year; that put the wheel so far out of true it jammed on the chainstay so had to phone my wife to rescue me in the car. Eventually sourced a replacement spoke and the wheel's once more true and back in service. (on closer inspection it seems likely the spoke was damaged when the chain went off the back of the cassette a while ago. Others show some signs of scoring so they may fail too in time)
My weight has fallen from 70 to 65kg recently; I wouldn't have thought 85kg would be a problem for the RS11's unless you're doing BMX stunts on them.0
