Mid price wheel upgrade

3SportGman

I bought a Trek Emonda ALR4 that i hope will see me through leisure riding, sportives and a spot of time trialling.

But the emonda comes with crappy bontrager wheels.

So, i need some sweet new ones.
I've been looknig at the Shimano Dura-Ace R9100 C24 Clincher Wheelset or the Campagnolo Eurus Road Wheelset 2018

Im 70kg
3/4 years of riding
Im most interested in ride quality.
Looking to spend £400-£700

Please help!

imposter2.0

Wheels are unlikely to improve 'ride quality'. If that's what you want, you need to consider tyre choice and pressure...

3SportGman

Imposter wrote:

Wheels are unlikely to improve 'ride quality'. If that's what you want, you need to consider tyre choice and pressure...

Trust me, if you try the bontrager stock wheels then switch to some swanky campags... you feel it

mfin

Potentially a £700 wheelset on an £800 bike?

imposter2.0

3SportGman wrote:

Imposter wrote:

Wheels are unlikely to improve 'ride quality'. If that's what you want, you need to consider tyre choice and pressure...

Trust me, if you try the bontrager stock wheels then switch to some swanky campags... you feel it

Not sure about that. Presumably the Campag wheels had exactly the same tyres at exactly the same pressure? If so, you're basically suggesting that expensive wheels have more vertical compliance than cheap ones. Unlikely to be the case, if you think about it. I suppose it depends what you mean by 'ride quality', but I'm assuming you mean 'comfort'...

3SportGman

mfin wrote:

Potentially a £700 wheelset on an £800 bike?

The frame from the ALR4 is the same as the ALR6, isnt it?

3SportGman

Imposter wrote:

If so, you're basically suggesting that expensive wheels have more vertical compliance than cheap ones. Unlikely to be the case, if you think about it. I suppose it depends what you mean by 'ride quality', but I'm assuming you mean 'comfort'...

I mean the feeling that you are on a quality bike, fast acceleration, fast cornering etc.

3SportGman

3SportGman wrote:

So, i need some sweet new ones.
I've been looknig at the Shimano Dura-Ace R9100 C24 Clincher Wheelset or the Campagnolo Eurus Road Wheelset 2018

Decided on these: https://www.evanscycles.com/mavic-ksyri ... t-EV310514

redvision

3SportGman wrote:

Decided on these: https://www.evanscycles.com/mavic-ksyri ... t-EV310514

Good wheels but have you seen these?
https://www.cycledivision.co.uk/cero-ar ... elset-2017

They get excellent reviews and are half the price.

tonysj

redvision wrote:

3SportGman wrote:

Decided on these: https://www.evanscycles.com/mavic-ksyri ... t-EV310514

Good wheels but have you seen these?
https://www.cycledivision.co.uk/cero-ar ... elset-2017

They get excellent reviews and are half the price.

Yep Id agree with this one as I have them on my sub £1000 carbon bike. Im not sure if they are more Comfortable but they are definitely lighter,faster and the bonus is the bike feels better to ride over the stock wheels.

Well worth it and I weigh 78kg FYI.

Camcycle1974

why not a hand built set with a lifetime guarantee?

thecycleclinic.co.uk/collections/road-rim-brake-wheelsets/products/borg31-light-aero-wheelset

Malcolm builds quality wheels with great attention to detail.

keef66

3SportGman wrote:

Imposter wrote:

Wheels are unlikely to improve 'ride quality'. If that's what you want, you need to consider tyre choice and pressure...

Trust me, if you try the bontrager stock wheels then switch to some swanky campags... you feel it

Then how about a pair of swanky Campags then? eg:

https://www.probikekit.co.uk/bicycle-wh ... 75987.html

But if you want a better bang per buck and want wheels which can be economically repaired, talk to Malcolm

joe_totale-2

Given that you want better ride quality and cornering you should be looking for wheels with wide rims to stretch those 25mm tyres, it doesn't look like the ALR Emonda takes tyres wider than that.
For that reason some Hunt Aero Wide's may be a good shout:

https://www.huntbikewheels.com/collecti ... eep-24wide

I agree with the others that £700 is a bit much to spend on a bike like this and spending half the price should get you a a great set of wheels.
The Cero's and going for hand built wheels would also be good options.

mfin

3SportGman wrote:

3SportGman wrote:

So, i need some sweet new ones.
I've been looknig at the Shimano Dura-Ace R9100 C24 Clincher Wheelset or the Campagnolo Eurus Road Wheelset 2018

Decided on these: https://www.evanscycles.com/mavic-ksyri ... t-EV310514

Ride quality on those is pretty wooden.

3SportGman

Joe Totale wrote:

I agree with the others that £700 is a bit much to spend on a bike like this and spending half the price should get you a a great set of wheels.

Thanks for your comment, but i struggle to understand your perspective.
The cost of a bike is made up of its frame and components. The Emonda ALR4, costing £1000, is a bike that has a quality frame (the same as the ALR6, £2000) and cheap components. So by upgrading the components, ie. the wheels i am increasing the value and quality of the bike.

Please let me know if i have got this wrong. Cheers

joe_totale-2

3SportGman wrote:

Joe Totale wrote:

I agree with the others that £700 is a bit much to spend on a bike like this and spending half the price should get you a a great set of wheels.

Thanks for your comment, but i struggle to understand your perspective.
The cost of a bike is made up of its frame and components. The Emonda ALR4, costing £1000, is a bike that has a quality frame (the same as the ALR6, £2000) and cheap components. So by upgrading the components, ie. the wheels i am increasing the value and quality of the bike.

Please let me know if i have got this wrong. Cheers

You never increase the value of a bike! Once it's done a single mile it's never worth the same again.
Ride quality is a different kettle of fish, personally I fail to see how the wheels you're considering a worth twice as much as the wheels that myself and others have suggested. Specs wise there's certainly not much in it.

Considering the bike has "cheap components" why not use the £300 - 400 saved to upgrade stuff like the seatpost and handlebars which will also have a positive impact on the weight and ride quality of the bike?

ds2288

A comfy saddle, carbon seatpost, carbon bars, good bar tape and most importantly wide tyres and lower pressures are the comfort upgrades. You’d be hard pressed to notice comfort differences between alloy wheelsets.

mfin

ds2288 wrote:

You’d be hard pressed to notice comfort differences between alloy wheelsets.

Not true. It sounds like you haven't noticed it between ones you have ridden and hence have made an assumption.

Some wheelsets are quite noticeably harsher to ride than others, and of course most will be somewhere in the middle.

It's not something that's easy to pick a set though unless by recommendation from others as there's no measurement for it, and marketing bôllocks counts for nothing either as pretty much all bike components claim to be stiff, efficient, light and comfortable (+aero at the minimum excuse to mention it).

ds2288

mfin wrote:

ds2288 wrote:

You’d be hard pressed to notice comfort differences between alloy wheelsets.

Not true. It sounds like you haven't noticed it between ones you have ridden and hence have made an assumption.

Some wheelsets are quite noticeably harsher to ride than others, and of course most will be somewhere in the middle.

It's not something that's easy to pick a set though unless by recommendation from others as there's no measurement for it, and marketing bôllocks counts for nothing either as pretty much all bike components claim to be stiff, efficient, light and comfortable (+aero at the minimum excuse to mention it).

Splitting hairs on this sort of stuff. The fact is, comfort is generally not achieved by changing a wheel set. It may be a contributing factor but not one of the main ones. Even wide rims are comfortable because of the larger tyre interface and subsequent potential for lower pressures. Yes, some wheels are stiffer than others; stainless steel vs aluminium spokes, spoke count, lacing pattern, rim material, etc, but even then, the rider weight and power output will determine what a wheel set feels like more than construction. That’s what I think anyway. Maybe I’m just an ignorant sod.....

Broono83

redvision wrote:

3SportGman wrote:

Decided on these: https://www.evanscycles.com/mavic-ksyri ... t-EV310514

Good wheels but have you seen these?
https://www.cycledivision.co.uk/cero-ar ... elset-2017

They get excellent reviews and are half the price.

That's the first set i've seen that rival Zondas (which I was about to get) for cost v weight. Struggling to decide from that listing if they are tubeless compatible clinchers or just tubeless only, any idea?

cycleclinic

the only way to improve ride comfort is to a spend on a good carbon rim (the laminar structure can reduce buzz) and or go with a wider rim which increases air volume of the your tyres.