Lightweight alloy clinchers

jediment

I live in a very hilly area with nasty roads and do quite a bit of climbing at over 10% gradient. I'm looking to make a wheel upgrade, my budget is around $900 for the wheelset. Ideally I'd like something reasonably wide that would fit 25mm tires well, and tubeless ready would be a bonus too. For reference, my current wheels are Rolf Prima Echelons that weigh around 1650 grams. The front rim is slightly bent

Here's what I'm looking at so far:
* HED Ardennes +
* HED Belgium + with Chris King R45 (via wheelbuilder)
* Bontrager Paradigm Elite
* Roval SLX 24
* Mavic Ksyrium Elite UST
* American Classic Sprint 350
* Hunt Aero Wide

Any opinions on these? Other good choices I'm missing?

ugo.santalucia

jediment wrote:

I live in a very hilly area with nasty roads and do quite a bit of climbing at over 10% gradient. I'm looking to make a wheel upgrade, my budget is around $900 for the wheelset. Ideally I'd like something reasonably wide that would fit 25mm tires well, and tubeless ready would be a bonus too. For reference, my current wheels are Rolf Prima Echelons that weigh around 1650 grams. The front rim is slightly bent

Here's what I'm looking at so far:
* HED Ardennes +
* HED Belgium + with Chris King R45 (via wheelbuilder)
* Bontrager Paradigm Elite
* Roval SLX 24
* Mavic Ksyrium Elite UST
* American Classic Sprint 350
* Hunt Aero Wide

Any opinions on these? Other good choices I'm missing?

There is a big difference in price between the top two and say the Mavic... a fair comparison would be with the Mavic SLR. Of course the HED + hand builts will give you the opportunity to rebuild at a reasonable cost when the rims are worn. If that is not of interest, then I would look at Mavic... no point in spending a lot of money on CK hubs to throw them away. I always thought American Classic are junk and the same can be said about Bontrager in general (being that tyres, wheels or else)

mrb123

If I was in the market for some factory alloy clinchers at the moment I'd be very tempted by the DT Swiss Oxic PR1400.

jediment

ugo.santalucia wrote:

jediment wrote:

I live in a very hilly area with nasty roads and do quite a bit of climbing at over 10% gradient. I'm looking to make a wheel upgrade, my budget is around $900 for the wheelset. Ideally I'd like something reasonably wide that would fit 25mm tires well, and tubeless ready would be a bonus too. For reference, my current wheels are Rolf Prima Echelons that weigh around 1650 grams. The front rim is slightly bent

Here's what I'm looking at so far:
* HED Ardennes +
* HED Belgium + with Chris King R45 (via wheelbuilder)
* Bontrager Paradigm Elite
* Roval SLX 24
* Mavic Ksyrium Elite UST
* American Classic Sprint 350
* Hunt Aero Wide

Any opinions on these? Other good choices I'm missing?

There is a big difference in price between the top two and say the Mavic... a fair comparison would be with the Mavic SLR. Of course the HED + hand builts will give you the opportunity to rebuild at a reasonable cost when the rims are worn. If that is not of interest, then I would look at Mavic... no point in spending a lot of money on CK hubs to throw them away. I always thought American Classic are junk and the same can be said about Bontrager in general (being that tyres, wheels or else)

The HED wheels I was looking at are $900, and the handbuilt ones with CK hubs were $889. By contrast the new Mavics are $700.

If I do go with factory wheels, is it still possible to replace the rim when it wears out? Or is it better to just replace the whole thing?

pblakeney

jediment wrote:

If I do go with factory wheels, is it still possible to replace the rim when it wears out? Or is it better to just replace the whole thing?

If the hubs are good enough then why not?
Then again, why not go CK in the first place?

ugo.santalucia

jediment wrote:

If I do go with factory wheels, is it still possible to replace the rim when it wears out? Or is it better to just replace the whole thing?

Difficult... don't know many who have managed to find spare rims from Mavic at a price that was worth bothering

700 USD for the Mavic Elite sounds like extortion to me

pblakeney

ugo.santalucia wrote:

...Difficult... don't know many who have managed to find spare rims from Mavic at a price that was worth bothering...

Ah. I meant replacing the rims with something completely different. Hence the question as to why not go CK in the first place.
I regard factory built as disposable, regardless of cost. Which is why I have handbuilts. (I don't race).

tangerineowl

r2-bike has some tubeless (DT Swiss) options within your budget. Carbon-ti hubs with CX-Ray.

You can view what they offer by weight.

Garry H

Zondas.

jediment

Thanks everyone for the input! The DT Swiss options sound appealing; Merlin has the Pr1400 for a good price and the hubs seem to be 240 based. I'll look into some deals on handbuilt wheels with DT rims as well. I've heard RR21 Dicut are good too.

mrb123

jediment wrote:

Thanks everyone for the input! The DT Swiss options sound appealing; Merlin has the Pr1400 for a good price and the hubs seem to be 240 based. I'll look into some deals on handbuilt wheels with DT rims as well. I've heard RR21 Dicut are good too.

These look rather nice...
https://www.moonglu.com/products/moongl ... oad-wheels

cycleclinic

Hed rims are nice but pricey. For light rims think the new mavic open pro ust, kinlin xr22t or dt swiss rr411. Have then laced to bitex raf/raf12 for cheap and light white industries t11 for light lovely but not cheap (still cheaper than ck hubs) or something else. For really light hubs think extralite.

Hed rims or the easton r90sl will be stiff enougb for 20f/24r then carbon ti hubs could be used. These are a bit heavier than extralite but they are more user friendly.

Sub 1400g clicher are quite doable but at a price. Sub 1500g is straightfoward. The factory options will be fine but are throwaway when rims are worn or damaged. That Dt swiss wheel wont be very stiff though.

Part weights so you can add together.
Rims hed belgium + 465g 20internal width 25mm deep
Easton r90sl 455g 20mm internal width 27mm deep
Mavic OP UST 430g 19mm internal width variable deptb
Kinlin XR 22T440g 19mm internal width 22mm deep
Dt swiss RR411 435g 18mm interrnal width 22mm deep
Kinlin xr31t 485g 19mm internal width 31mm deep

52 sapim cx ray or laser spokes with alloy nipples 260g
44 spokes 220g

Hubs
Extralite 182g
Carbon ti 224g*straight pull spokes only 20f24r only.
Bitex raf/rar12 280g
White industries T11 345g

ckr45 hubs are overly expensive for a lightish hub.

The hed and and easton rims are stiff enough for a 24 spoke rear. The dtwiss pr 1400 wheels use a ceramic coated rr411 rim which i would not build as a 24spoke rear and dt swiss weight limit of 110kg is optimistic. The mavic wheels will be stiffer. If you go with shop built wheels you can stiffer without a weight penetly and have a wheelset that is reapairable.

scott_w1987

Shamal or racing zero, no brainer surely?

cycleclinic

The only thing those wheels mentioned above offer is there ceramic like brake tracks which wear and become patchy and look a bit off in time. They do apparatnly wear slower than normal alloy rims. Other than that I cant see a reason to pick them over other wheels.