New cyclocross wheels

Tomhughes

Hi,

I've recently bought a new cannondale caadx ultegra that I intend to use for cyclocross, winter road training and the occasional summer touring trip.

I want to buy a new wheel set so I'm not having to switch thr tyres around all the time.

I'm thinking of using the wheels supplied with the bike for winter road rides and buying a new set for off road use which I'll run tubeless on. I might also use the new set for short touring trips if they are stronger and more durable.

So far, I've done a bit of research and I'm down to three choices:

Hope Stans Alpha 400. http://www.hopetech.com/product/stans-alpha-pro-4/

Kinesis crosslight cx disc http://www.kinesisbikes.co.uk/Catalogue ... lincher-V4

Kinesis crosslight cx disc HD http://www.kinesisbikes.co.uk/Catalogue ... C-Clincher

Any advice on which ones might be more suitable? Or any other suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks
Tom

47p2

I had a similar predicament as you, my CX came with carbon tubs but I wanted clinchers for general use and after weeks of researching I decided on HUNT 4Season Gravel Disc which should arrive tomorrow

bendertherobot

How much off road? A better choice might be nicer wheels for the road and use the stock ones for off road. Certainly for CX they'd be fine.

trek_dan

Go Chinese carbon, i.e Light Cycle/Far Sport etc. No disadvantage to carbon if using discs.

Tomhughes

Thanks for the advice. I'll be off road for about twice a week over the winter.

Following feedback and research the hunt 4 season gravel sound like a good choice.
Somebody mentioned the Cosine wheels which sound like a cheaper but decent alternative, anybody got these?


Trek_dan : I hadn't considered Chinese carbon and I'm a bit dubious about its strength and durability. Do you have a set yourself and are they built well?

bendertherobot

Tomhughes wrote:

Thanks for the advice. I'll be off road for about twice a week over the winter.

Following feedback and research the hunt 4 season gravel sound like a good choice.
Somebody mentioned the Cosine wheels which sound like a cheaper but decent alternative, anybody got these?


Trek_dan : I hadn't considered Chinese carbon and I'm a bit dubious about its strength and durability. Do you have a set yourself and are they built well?

The Cosine are very well received on Wiggle's reviews. My mate has some and his pawls have just gone. But otherwise......

The Hunt do look to be excellent and are very well reviewed (as all Hunt wheels are).

At the end of the day, in this market, it's essentially remove grams add £. So something like the Fulcrum 5 loses you 80g over the Hunts but adds £130. May be worth it for the additional spokes of course. The Cosine match the Hunts on weight as well.

A lot of us on here have the Pro Lite Revo because we got them cheap, £160 on Wiggle (price match). At that price they are still the best wheels around. I have 2 pairs and they are utterly bombproof. (Though again, for balance, one bike radar user had cracked rims on his)

trek_dan

Tomhughes wrote:

Trek_dan : I hadn't considered Chinese carbon and I'm a bit dubious about its strength and durability. Do you have a set yourself and are they built well?

Yes 3 sets. All of them have been perfect. The subject is done to death all over the internet if you want to do some more research.

bendertherobot

Yep. I've no experience of carbon discs but, as you say, the usual carbon issues just aren't there. At the end of the day, build with good hubs, good spokes and you've got a good wheel. I'm very tempted to try 38's next year for CX to see whether they cut through the mud more.

robertpb

Have you looked at http://www.superstarcomponents.com off the shelf and custom build.
I have some on my MTB and they have been excellent.

TriathleteIain

I was looking at doing exactly this, but was put off by someone suggesting that the disc may not match up exactly with my calipers when I switch wheels. Is this going to be an issue and mean I have to adjust the calipers every time i switch wheels?

bendertherobot

That's the case whatever you choose. FWIW I swap between two sets of pro lite and one fulcrum and don't have that issue. If you do it's 2 minutes on a stand.

luv2ride

TriathleteIain wrote:

I was looking at doing exactly this, but was put off by someone suggesting that the disc may not match up exactly with my calipers when I switch wheels. Is this going to be an issue and mean I have to adjust the calipers every time i switch wheels?

You can step the rotors out a bit by using thin spacers (Hope do them, I bought mine from CRC). This has helped reduce the fettling of calipers between different sets of wheels on my Pro6 Disc - I've a pair of Kinesis CX Disc wheels, and Pro Lite Revos. Might be worth considering....