Commuter wheels?

drhaggis

Hi,

(TL;DR) Can you recommend a nice <£200 wheelset that's reliable and easy to maintain? Light and aero are a bonus.

As almost anybody out there, I'd like to upgrade my wheels to something better. In my case, the starting point are the stock Giant SR2 on my Defy 2. I'm sure they're slow, heavy and don't roll that great, but I expected them to be bombproof. The are not. The bearings in one of the wheels were gone after 2000 km and one winter in Edinburgh, so the LBS diagnosed and fixed the problem. Note I couldn't ride in February or March due to injury.

Recently, the freehub started feeling a bit sticky, and last week it stopped being free. I srviced it to the best of my ability (not very much) with the available tools (lacked an M13 ratchet) and now it's OK, but I suspect the bearings are shot. These could be either ~2000 or ~4000 km old.

I understand that, due to lack of knowledge, tools, time and desire, I've neglected maintenance. However, it seems the bearings aren't that good and the wheel design doesn't stop crud from getting into the rear hub. And, damnit, if I ride on the Roseburn to lengthen my commute I end up mucky, but my bike can't have more showers than I do. Therefore, I'm looking at seeveral options:

1. Get mudguards, and hopefully there's enough clearance between the 105 5800 brakes and the "25mm" Michelin Pro4 Endurance v2.
2. Get a new commuter wheelset. Not the upgrade I want, but if Axiums, Cero AR24, or low-end Fulcrums survvive better and are easier to maintain, so be it.
3. Have the LBS service the stock wheels and just buy the extra tools I need to service them on my own, as anything flashier will inevitably be less robust.
4. A combination of two of the abive.

Any comments? Maybe my expectations are unrealistic? How often do you service your wheels?

trivial_poursuivant

Mavic Aksiums should do the job. Pretty solid good quality

Matthewfalle

I was just about t say Aksiums.

Maybe you can find some kyseriums in a crazy sale somewhere.

chippyk

Planet X have Vision 35 Comps for £150

drhaggis

ChippyK wrote:

Planet X have Vision 35 Comps for £150

These look quite badass, but haven't quite heard of the brand. Are these resilient used all year round, when compared with the Aksiums suggested above? Easy to service?

Also, to the folks suggesting aksiums, a video disassembling a Mavic freehub showed it had only two flaps, which were removable. Is that a concern in the lifespan of the wheel? Or are those freehubs longlasting despite of this?

jameshulsk

Matthewfalle wrote:

I was just about t say Aksiums.

Maybe you can find some kyseriums in a crazy sale somewhere.

+1 for this. If you can stretch the budget by another £100 you could have a set of Kysrium wheels, which are bombproof and a great upgrade for most bikes.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/prim ... prod156951 or the disc version for £200 and use British Cycling membership 10% discount?

ayjaycee

I’ve used a pair of Mavic Aksiums on my winter bike for three years now without any problems. They have never gone out of true and I have never had to replace the bearings or, indeed, do anything else internally. That said, I have been thinking that I might make a pre-emptive strike and replace them (the bearings) after this winter.

milemuncher1

Another vote for Aksiums from me. They are very good VFM in my experience.

drhaggis

OK, so the freehub seized again, after a misery two weeks. I should be unsurprised, but I'm a sad sad panda. From external examination, my LBS reckons the rear wheel's a goner, and the front one will soon follow the same path.

I guess at this point it doesn't really make sense to put good money into bad wheels. So unless next Friday I get some really good news, I'll go aksiums and probably mudguards too. Ugh. If I get really good news, I may go for Fulcrum quattros, although the thought of even spending £100, let alon £220, makes me grumpy ATM.

So given the many votes for the Aksiums, how long should I expect them to last as commuter wheels? What sort of maintenance do they require and how often?

joebristol

I had some ritchey wheels on my racer for commuting and they went the same way as yours within a few years. the braking surface pitted and wore quickly and the bearings / freehub in the back wheel didn’t last well.

Replaced with Mavic aksiums and I’ve had no dramas since. The brake surface is lasting well and I’ve not had to touch the hubs at all ever. They just keep running smoothly - been a fair few years I’ve had them now - maybe 3 or 4 years or so.

Matthewfalle

Aksiums last forever and none. Maybe bearings after about 5 years but they are just cartridge bearings so a tenner to buy and 30 mins to fit.

Bombproof.

bobones

I always seemed to wear down the rims on Aksiums pretty quickly, but the only maintenance I needed to do was add motor oil to the freehub bushing once it started squealing. The rims were always gone before the bearings gave me any trouble. I wouldn't buy them again to be honest as I don't like spending a lot of money on disposable wheels. I now use handbuilts (self built) where I can replace rims cheaply.

DT Swiss R460 rims (less than £30 each) on Shimano 105 hubs would be a great commuting wheel as the rims look pretty enough, have a nice wide profile and support tubes or tubeless tyres.

Shimano hubs can last a long time with just a little bit of care (cleaning and regreasing hubs/bearings once or twice a year), but can be ruined if left to corrode. For something a bit lighter and requiring less care you could opt for cheapish cartridge bearing hubs from likes of Novatec or Miche or perhaps splash out on some nicer DT Swiss 350 hubs.

I like the look of these but I suspect your local wheelbuilder could come up with something nice around the £200 mark.

joe_totale-2

Cero AR24's are certainly lightweight and fall within your budget but have never owned them so not sure if they can stand up to commuting.

I've been using Prime Race Road's which I got from CRC for £160 and they've been super reliable as well as being pretty light. I replaced a pair of Aksium's with them and they certainly have more zip to them.

darkhairedlord

Fulcrum 5, not quite Anderson shelter but not far off.

cycleclinic

is suggest bombproof wheels are parked in that suburb of damascus for a test. I think the syrian army will finsh them off.

Seriously though try miche wheel. The hubs are very reliable and the wheels are very well built.

no a wheel builder could not build wheels with DT hub and rims for £200 and actually make money the parts would cost that at trade. for £200 buy off the shelf.

kingrollo

campag khamsins - they come in shimano versions.....a real surprise in quality at £140

bobones

thecycleclinic wrote:

no a wheel builder could not build wheels with DT hub and rims for £200 and actually make money the parts would cost that at trade. for £200 buy off the shelf.

I didn't suggest they could with DT hubs: I meant with DT Rims and cheaper hubs. I can buy these retail:
2 x DT Swiss R460 from R2 bike = £56
1 x Selcof Front Hub (rebranded Novatec) from Planet X = £12.50
1 x Selcof Rear Hub from PX = £30
56 x ACI silver DB spoke with brass nipples from Cyclebasket = £12.60
Add in a few quid for tape, valves and shipping and there's a decent set of wheels for £120. 105 hubs doable for £150. So £200-£230 from a wheelbuilder seems a fair enough.

cycleclinic

planet X hubs humm those are novatec hubs which to buy trade cost as much as planet X are selling them for. Also R460 rims cost more from madison than they do for R2 bike so if wheelbuilder go near them they are daft. I dont anymore. you do jobs you can make money on. given a wheelset like that will take 2+ hours of building time then there is parts ordering time if they are charging £50 labour inc VAT they will go out of business if they are trying to do this as there living. I do this for a living £200 wheelset are doable but you have to be selective about the parts and the margin on them is not really big enough to make it truely worthwhile.

So those cheap online prices are for home mechanics (why planet X and others freely opt to make almost nothing on parts is beyond me). R2 bike can only be making a couple of euro on the rims which maybe profit but really that just covers costs. the whole industry is shagged.
If you have £200 to spend on wheel just buy of the shelf but if you try and compare online prices to shop prices for parts you cant. we cant buy at those prices.

The only £28 rim I can buy that is worth while is the Kinlin ADHN. In fact the only way I can make money on rims is to buy direct of kinlin and that the problem with the whole industry the supply chain is broken.

Matthewfalle

thecycleclinic wrote:

is suggest bombproof wheels are parked in that suburb of damascus for a test. I think the syrian army will finsh them off.

Seriously though .......

I suggest that considering what is happening in East Ghouta (that’s the area where hundreds of civilians are being killed by the way) that comment is utterly appalling.

But hey - since when has human sufferring come in the way of a bad pun.....

drhaggis

Thanks everybody for your suggestions. In the end, I bought Aksiums from my LBS. Slightly dearer than CRC, or Decathlon, but they're nearby, and can/will bug them if issues arise. The wheels weighed exactly as advertised (855 and 1005 grams w/o skewers), and seem true enough.

So money has bought me roughly 250 g and, hopefully, more reliable wheels for the scottish commtes. Time will tell...

drhaggis

DrHaggis wrote:

Thanks everybody for your suggestions. In the end, I bought Aksiums from my LBS. Slightly dearer than CRC, or Decathlon, but they're nearby, and can/will bug them if issues arise. The wheels weighed exactly as advertised (855 and 1005 grams w/o skewers), and seem true enough.

So money has bought me roughly 250 g and, hopefully, more reliable wheels for the scottish commtes. Time will tell...

Indeed, time has told. 13 months, ~2500 miles and one winter later, several nipples in the rear wheel are seized, with one of the spokes being quite loose. LBS said this is lack of maintenance, meaning cleaning after every wet ride, which translates into every other commute day in my case. Been told this won't be covered by the warranty either. I'm not particularly happy, given the LBS sold me the wheels as commuter-friendly. Cleaning the wheels after every wet commute is not commuter friendly in my book.

The problem now is that if I want to avoid grit corrosion and cleaning the bike every other day, I'll need brass nipples. Does any wheel builder take C2W vouchers?