Ultegra wheels
shiznit76
Posts: 640
Hi, Ultegra wheels, worth my first upgrade to my bike? Can get a pair for £200, sounds alright to me, but can't find much info on them other than wee review on this site. Anyone any practical experience with them, verdicts?
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They're very good mid-range wheels, and will be a significant upgrade over stock wheels. You're unlikely to get anything better at that price point. I used a set on my summer bike for about 5 years and never had a single issue with them. Even at the end of their life, the hubs were still completely smooth and the rims never went out of true. However, a couple of things to bare in mind -
Low spoke count (16F/20R) - this might cause issues if you're a heavier rider or if you put out a lot of power. I hover around 68kg and had no problems with mine. It also means once the rims are worn through, you will not be able to (cost-effectively) re-build them, as there aren't many rims available with that low a spoke count. I got about 15,000 miles out of mine before I had to bin them.
Narrow by modern standards - not a huge issue really, but the internal rim width is only 16mm when the industry is moving towards 18+mm rims.
Hope that helps!0 -
Cheers dude, perfect info.
Were they quite light?
What difference does the Internal science bit mean? I'm new to this0 -
They can be impossibly tight with certain tyre combination. For that reason I'd avoid personally.0
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I've only ever had budget Shimano wheels, but I've never had difficulty fitting Conti / Michelin / Vittoria tyres. But if the Ultegras are tubeless ready that can make them trickier.
My cheap wheels have been pretty durable. I just clean / regrease / adjust the hubs once a year, and occasionally take off the freehub to prise out the seal and drizzle a bit of oil inside (that may not be possible on the dearer wheelsets, but they are better sealed anyway)
Wider rims give you a slightly different shaped tyre, greater air volume, bigger contact patch. So if your frame has the clearance for them you can enjoy better grip, cornering, comfort and possibly aerodynamics.
Low spoke count isn't an issue until you break a spoke*. Then your wheel goes Pringle shaped and your ride's over. And when you get home and try to order a replacement you find the only ones of the correct length are in Germany, and a different colour from the original. Possibly.
*in my case, self-inflicted. Said spoke snapped where it had been chewed by the chain in an earlier incident. Clipless fall / bent mech hanger / over-shifted into the spokes. I'm thinking I should've left the dork-disk on while I was still a dork...0 -
I've used a variety of tyres with them, but mainly Michelin (lithion 2, carbon krylion, Pro4 SC and Endurance) and never had a problem getting them on or off (without levers) by the side of the road. That said, it is definitely easier on wider rims!
They're reasonably light (1600-1650g, depending on which model you're looking at) but not super light. I would put them firmly into the mid-range category - a definite improvement over stock wheels, but there are better wheels out there. All depends on how much you're prepared to pay!0 -
shiznit76 wrote:
The 6800 rims are primarily designed to be used with tubeless tyres. So the rims have tighter tollerances to prevent them from popping off easily. Clinchers also can be used. Because they are harder to get on. There's probably no chance of those popping off if you did puncture and lost air suddenly (a good thing). Some tyres are made slightly bigger/smaller than others. New tyres that havn't stretched will be harder to mount. I had a pair of Ultegra 6800 wheels. I could get my Veloflex tyres on, with a decent plastic tyre lever. With the right technique. It was doable. but it takes longer than usual, your knuckles will be whiter, and its not something you'd really want to do in the dark, in the rain. Just have your swear words ready
I only rode the 6800's briefly but if i rate the wheels. They are very decent. Braking surface is excellent. Nothing to fault in terms of the materials. Up close the rims and hubs are nicely finished aesthetically. Only let down by the plastic(??) cover on the rear axle. They are well built and plenty stiff. I'm 75kg and didnt feel any flex (my older RS81's used to flex abit). Ride wise they didn't doing anything bad to report at all, they just got the job done. They didnt feel amazingly light (mine at 1650g without skewers) but neither felt heavy. I rode them back to back with some Zonda's, and the Zonda's overall felt zippier and stiffer. But only by a hare's whisker. 6800 wheels are good For £200, you can't really go wrong. I would considering buying them again.0 -
I've been running them with Michelin Pro4 Endurance 23s and had no problem fitting them. I fairly recently swapped over the Pro4 Endurance 25s and did the intitial fitting with no problem. Back in August I was riding the Cirque de Troumouse (Pyrenees) and halfway up I punctured. I managed to get the tyre off but in doing so my tyre lever slipped ending up with my thumb badly cut on one of the spokes. Despite that I was still able to get the tyre back on without resorting to levers despite a very bloody thumb.
I like the wheels, they've stood up to crappy Surrey/Hampshire potholes and stayed true.“You may think that; I couldn’t possibly comment!”
Wilier Cento Uno SR/Wilier Mortirolo/Specialized Roubaix Comp/Kona Hei Hei/Calibre Bossnut0
