Opinions and experience with wheels

If you are willing to go a little over your price or wait for an offer, RS80 wheels are a great deal, I have seen them at 270 before in the sales and they are effectively ultegra hubs and Dura ace rims, the weight should be fine on them as well. See them here http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=76735

However adding on tyres on top would put that well out of your budget.

R501's are a good budget wheelset but you could get far better in this price range

Easton EA50's are another to consider with a relatively light weight for the price and easy to source spares for them.

Tyre wise, GP4000s' are great all year round with decent pucture protection, good rolling speed and good grip in all conditions but for just the summer schwalbe ultremos could be better but then again, that does rely on a good summer appearing.

Cheapest place to get Contis is from here:http://www.bike-discount.de/shop/k373/a4826/grand-prix-4000-s-23-622-mm-black.html
but you have to pay 5-10 euros postage and suffer with supporting the german economy instead of our own.

Mavic open pros with hope hubs.

Seriously robust wheels, my bike was destroyed in a car crash last week. Wheels survived and are true, not one spoke broken!

For that price I'd agree with others and say that you are better off going for handbuilt. I like factory wheels myself but you really need to up to the next price level to get something really good (Fulcrum 3s, Zondas, Ksyriums).

On the other hand, if you shop around you can get zondas for under £300. You might be a bit over budget once you add tyres etc, but at that price they are a bargain.

Instead of the Open Pro's you could also have Velocity A23 as well. If you has silver Spaim Race spokes and Miche hubs on black rims expect the OP build to cost around the £230 mark and a velocity A23 wheelset using the same parts to cost £12 more.

Both rims are decent. The 4 seasons is another good tyre choice. To get tyres as well yo will have to stick with the Open Pro rims. If your budget was higher than DT Swiss RR465 or H Plus Archetype rims would be excellent options.

Miche hubs are every bit as good a the Hope pro2 and possibly the Pro3 and are alot cheaper. A 32F/32R spoke count wolf be good for you.

No they are not expensive. In the build queue is a set of Velocity A23 rim with Campagnolo record hubs cost just over £400. These will weigh 1635g for a 32 spoke wheelset using the best hubs money can buy. You can get alot with hanbuilts and lots of spokes does not mean heavy. At the other end of the spectrum you have my weight weenie vanity wheelset at 1362g and that a 28 spoke front and rear wheelset. Everything is doable but most builders choose a different route than heavy rims and low straight pull spoke count.

Your zondas are 1630g if you are lucky. Not seem that good now? Bargain? Hah. You'll barely notice weight difference contrary to popular belief depending on what you have now. One of the best pair of wheels i had were shimano wh 500, somet like that and they were aroumd 1.9kg and under £100. There's so much out there it is difficult to recommend a single set as there really are no bad wheelsets to avoid so go with your heart and enjoy your new purchase. The planet x's in theory are fantastic but way too much hassle to get stable and reliable. The velocitys on miches, although a superb recommendation aren't a summer show offy set Handbuilts easier and cheaper to repair, built more solidly usually, manufactured....people dont seem to have problems with anyway. If you base your decision on looks I think you'll be happier and enjoy your cycling more. For summer the gp4000s tyres were a good shout.

Lots of peeps seem to be buying zondas so im sure someone could prove me wrong, Im confident im not far off. Negligible performance difference will be all in the head not on the road, define heavy and light? Id say 1.7ks a whhelset is light

The OP is right to flag up his concerns over durability vis-a-vis his current 15st weight.

Many factory builds offer relatively low spoke counts which could be an issue - particularly on today's pothole infested roads. Also some pose problems if spokes do break, in that replacements are difficult to source and repair costs are high.

My experience goes back a couple of years when I swapped my Mavic CXP22's for a set of Shimano RS80's. These were initially a revelation but after a few weeks I began to notice a fair bit of flexing on the front wheel while climbing out of the saddle. At that time I weighed around the 14st mark.

Eventually I bit the bullet and had Ugo build me a set around Mavic Open Pro rims with Novatec hubs and DT spokes. 28F/32R. The total cost was well under the OP's budget and for that I got a stiff and responsive wheelset that was also robust and easy to repair if I did suffer breakages. They may not be as light as the RS80's but they do a better job for me.

For example the OP could spec something like these:-

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... t-12-45725

going back a few post. The A23/Campag record wheelset at 1635g is one example of wheels I build. It is a 32 spoke wheelset with medium weight rims it will never be that light but that is not the customers first concern. For less money alot less I can have built (I use these too) 1362g (~£270) wheelset but this light weight set is not riding in winter filth as the rims will wear out too quickly. 1300g is also possible but will be for light riders ~(80kg) asheavier riders will may encounter spoke issues after a few thousand miles. Lighter can be built too but I rarley do this.

If weight is the only goal then handbuilt can be built to meet that need. If someone want a relaible all weather wheelset it will weigh more typically 1500-1650g depending on the riders requirements. Often wheelset I build come in anywhere between 1400g-1800g how light will entirely depend on the rider and intended use.

I would not get too caught up in how light a wheelset is, it make some difference but not alot. Do the maths I have and a difference of 80g make no difference at all.

Also conider that while Camapag Zonda maybe 1550g and the Campag A23/record wheelset will be 80g heavier, the moment of interia of my wheelset will be lower as rim is lighter. So my wheels will spin up a bit quicker even though they a a tad heavier, there is more to this than headline weight if you want to be picky.

As for neeb comment I have done the maths and say on a 10% gradient with a 80kg rider me climbing at 10mph my power requirements on a 9kg bike will be ~274W. On a 7kg bike my power requirement would be 268W. Not really that much difference at all. Please do not get into the weight obession trap thinking it will improve your performance it won't the weight changes have to be big to create a big change in power requirements on a hill (and even bigger ont the flats). Please do not assume I ride heavy bikes either. My MTB is 20lbs and my main dry weather road bike is 7.57kg and is not light enough! Making it lighter though will not make any faster.

The previous poster also mentioned that his low spoke count wheels are still fine and this is good but your riding style may be kind to the spoke. Spoke fail through fatigue and the fewer of them you have the more quickly this will happen, it may take however for a 15 stone rider 10,000 miles or more, maybe alot less though it depends on the rider.

I used to teach Physics so I can talk bike physics alot, it also helps me decide if something is really worth while.

thecycleclinic wrote:

t I have done the maths and say on a 10% gradient with a 80kg rider me climbing at 10mph my power requirements on a 9kg bike will be ~274W. On a 7kg bike my power requirement would be 268W.

If you climb a 10% slope longer than your driveway at 10 mph I give you 10 pounds...
Also, your maths are wrong... I am a 73 Kg rider and it takes me 280 Watts to climb a 6% slope at that speed... after which I am fuxxed!!!!

Some people seem to associate light weight being the sign of a quality wheelset. The two are not necessarily directly proportionate.

I much prefer a solid stiff set of wheels with good hubs over some light weight noodles at 13.5 stone.

That I have some fairly light hand builts (1440g on Record rear hub / Extralite front) that are stiff as fook is a bonus
They ride beautifully. Got them from http://www.wheelsmith.co.uk

If you want factory then at your weight I'd go for Mavic Ksyrium Elites, as they are stiff too.