Wheels - what to look for?

[BenMelb]

I have some shimanno R500 i think, on my bike currently and i have upgraded my tyres to gp4000 for rides on the road, however i also ride on some bike paths and some are a bit rough

I thought i would leave my old tyres on my R500 wheels for these paths and on the Turbo
and buy a second set for use on the road and hobby races with my gp4000

however when i looked at 'better' wheels i found out rather quickly i have no idea, why they are better or what i am aiming to get out of this second set.

I dont want to spend heaps! but if they will only be the same level as my current wheels then i wont bother with my 2 wheels option.

I was looking at the mavic wheels as they seem so popular and i thought it would be a good start to get a idea of what i was up against.

i looked at -
mavic Cosmic Elite £240
mavic cosmos £158
Ksyrium Elite 2 £282

these are just straigh from probikekit

Are you aiming for light weight, profile and strenght?

I am only 65Kg so a light rider - bike is just a OCR1 however i would like to carry these wheels with me if i upgrade my bike to a tcr comp. or similar.

thanks for any help or ideas

[Eastway82]

Decent wheels and tyres will probably make more difference than anything else to the way your bike feels and handles. Sounds like you don't need to worry too much about pure aerodynamics or ulrimate stiffness, but should be looking for something light but durable and with good ride quality (some wheels - like my radial spoked FSA RD-400s - are so stiff they transmit every little bit of vibration to the bars which is literally a pain). If you've got the cash, I'd say go for the Krysiums. Try www.cyclingbargains.com for a better price - under £260 and their postage rates are very cheap too (£3.95 flat rate for UK orders).

[bikecoach]

I have some shimanno R500 i think, on my bike currently and i have upgraded my tyres to gp4000 for rides on the road, however i also ride on some bike paths and some are a bit rough

I thought i would leave my old tyres on my R500 wheels for these paths and on the Turbo
and buy a second set for use on the road and hobby races with my gp4000

however when i looked at 'better' wheels i found out rather quickly i have no idea, why they are better or what i am aiming to get out of this second set.

I dont want to spend heaps! but if they will only be the same level as my current wheels then i wont bother with my 2 wheels option.

I was looking at the mavic wheels as they seem so popular and i thought it would be a good start to get a idea of what i was up against.

i looked at -
mavic Cosmic Elite £240
mavic cosmos £158
Ksyrium Elite 2 £282

these are just straigh from probikekit

Are you aiming for light weight, profile and strenght?

I am only 65Kg so a light rider - bike is just a OCR1 however i would like to carry these wheels with me if i upgrade my bike to a tcr comp. or similar.

thanks for any help or ideas
At 65kg you are fairly lightweight so the Ksyriums could be a good option. They are reasonably lightweight and have nice aero spokes. I have raced on the elites in the past and found they were a very nice wheel to ride.

[Phill P]

Try and get some Neuvations. Name doesn't sound the best, but they are reportidly very solid, and extremely well priced. Great weight (spec for the price) aero, and from what I've seen on another listers website they have good bearings too.

[bobbyOCR]

Neuvations do have Enduro bearings which are used by a huge percentage of the bicycle industry, plus they are abec 5 so they roll well. I love my custom built DT wheels with plenty of spokes, very light rim, best quality hubs and all a hair under 1600g. May not seem light but the rim and nipples are lighter than mavic's, and that is where it matters most.

[BenMelb]

Are these Neuvations avalible in the UK, i have done some google searches with not much luck, i have however found some nice reviews

[ScienceIsCool]

Excellent questions! What makes a good wheel? What makes a better wheel?

Some performance parameters that I thought of were: weight, lateral stiffness, torsional stiffness, moment of inertia, bearing quality, and aerodynamics. On my website, I tried to measure some of those characteristics and then put them in perspective according to how important they really are.

One thing that I thin is important, but can't quite figure out how to quantify is durability... Suggestions?

John Swanson
www.bikephysics.com (http://www.bikephysics.com)

I have some shimanno R500 i think, on my bike currently and i have upgraded my tyres to gp4000 for rides on the road, however i also ride on some bike paths and some are a bit rough

I thought i would leave my old tyres on my R500 wheels for these paths and on the Turbo
and buy a second set for use on the road and hobby races with my gp4000

however when i looked at 'better' wheels i found out rather quickly i have no idea, why they are better or what i am aiming to get out of this second set.

I dont want to spend heaps! but if they will only be the same level as my current wheels then i wont bother with my 2 wheels option.

I was looking at the mavic wheels as they seem so popular and i thought it would be a good start to get a idea of what i was up against.

i looked at -
mavic Cosmic Elite £240
mavic cosmos £158
Ksyrium Elite 2 £282

these are just straigh from probikekit

Are you aiming for light weight, profile and strenght?

I am only 65Kg so a light rider - bike is just a OCR1 however i would like to carry these wheels with me if i upgrade my bike to a tcr comp. or similar.

thanks for any help or ideas

[buckybux]

Excellent questions! What makes a good wheel? What makes a better wheel?

Some performance parameters that I thought of were: weight, lateral stiffness, torsional stiffness, moment of inertia, bearing quality, and aerodynamics. On my website, I tried to measure some of those characteristics and then put them in perspective according to how important they really are.

One thing that I thin is important, but can't quite figure out how to quantify is durability... Suggestions?

John Swanson
www.bikephysics.com (http://www.bikephysics.com)Also, on the bearing quality, it is not just the quality but the durability. Durability seems to be a function of rider weight, type of riding and quality of the surface. The sacrifice is weight/money for the durability, with the trick being finding the best value. Unfortunately, entering into the equation the durability makes the decision significantly more complex and different for each rider.

You could just set up three or four riding styles (weight, type & quality) to compare.