Buying a new wheelset

Is there something wrong with your wheels?

Hi Chuckabutty,

Thanks for replying on the thread.

Yes, both wheels are now buckled and I actually bought the bike preowned and have had the same wheels since I got the bike 7 + years ago. The majority of the spokes have been replaced over time due to rust and wear and to be honest the price of repairing spokes each time isn’t cheap (especially in London UK).

I know wheels can be expensive, and the cheapest are far from the best. Wheels certainly can be a problem. I bought a cruiser from a bike shop and found that the brakes on the front wheel kept suddenly grabbing and letting go. I put new rim brakes on it, with replaceable pads. That worked for a while. The bike shop advised cleaning the rim with alcohol and/or 400 grade sandpaper. That worked for a day. Finally, I told them to get me some better quality rims, but their mechanic said I would have the same problem with those. Still, I insisted they get the rims. They came with stainless steel spokes. No more problems after that. Bike mechanics may be professionals but they're not always right.

I bought a brand new Schwinn 5th Avenue from an online dealer, knowing because it was so cheap that it would need work. I noticed, while riding the bike, if I looked down at the front wheel I could see the spokes on the left side but not on the right. The wheel was dished, in other words, put together badly at the factory. That's when I decided to buy a truing stand and a spoke tension gauge. The total cost was less than a new set of wheels. I knew nothing about spoke tension, but learned, online. Success! The front wheel was now true and set properly. I'm not suggesting you should do that unless you are adventuresome and prepared to do more harm than good.

The better quality wheels I got for my cruiser cost me around $165, which works out to £125. Not cheap but you gotta have them! Just one caution when you order them. Be sure you have a cassette which fits on a freehub, and not a freewheel. They look the same but are not interchangeable. The freewheel screws straight onto the hub, whereas a cassette slides onto a splined freehub.

I think what I'd do, in your situation, would be to take the back wheel off and take it to a bike shop, and get them to order you a pair of wheels, preferably with stainless spokes.

It's a vintage bike so try to find some vintage rims, they sell those all the time as brand new unused on Ebay. Here's a set of Campy rims brand new https://www.ebay.com/itm/CAMPAGNOLO-SYDNEY-2000-SWT-CLINCHER-RIMS-36H-ALUMINIUM-700C-VINTAGE-BIKE-BICYCLE/302215526326?hash=item465d72f7b6:g:uzIAAOSwNnRYlj-s

Amelia Smith said:

If you want to buy some low-priced products, I can recommend a website for you (Dealsgo), you can go and see, the quality can be

Your post qualifies as spam.

-Ash- said:

Hey guys,

I have been trying to do a bit of research myself, but I'm honestly still pretty confused and a bit of an idiot!

I want to buy a new budget (£100-200) wheelset for my bike, but I'm unsure what would work with my bike frame (Ronson Atomic X, Reynolds 531), 7 speed cassette and Bontrager race lite 700 x 23 tires. The wheelset currently on the bike state 'Campagnolo Record'. For context I mainly use the bike for commuting back and forth to work in the city (24 km total a day x 5 days a week).

Any advice would be absolutely brilliant. Thank all!

NICE BIKE ...

[INDENT]BUT, the frame's rear spacing is only 126mm ...

AND, most of the contemporary wheelsets will have rear wheels spaced for 130mm rear dropout spacing ...

So, you have three options ...

Learn to rebuild the wheels, yourself, where you de-tension & re-tension all of the spokes & then re-true the wheels ...

OR, respace your rear dropouts to 130mm so that they will accommodate an off-the-peg wheelset & sell the old wheels for about £100 +/- on eBay ...

OR, remove the 4mm (?) spacer from a Shimano (accept NO SUBSTITUTES) Road hub on an off-the-peg wheelset to make it fit into a 126mm rear droput AND shorten the axle by 4mm AND THEN re-dish the wheel.
[/INDENT]
The rear dropouts on a STEEL FRAMES can be re-spaced on an ad hoc basis each time you insert a rear wheel designed for a 130mm frame ... the shifting probably will not be as good and there will be greater wear on the rear derailleur's pulleys ...

[INDENT][INDENT]Ideally, you will re-space the rear frame's dropouts to 130mm (it's easier to do than many people think) for the "new" wheelset:

[INDENT]To re-space a steel frame, first remove the rear wheel & measure the space between dropouts so you will a reference ...

While standing behind the bike -- WITH one hand on each dropout & your hands near your chest -- exert whatever you feel is about 5 lbs of force outward.

Measure the change.

[INDENT]It won't be that much if anything!
[/INDENT]
REPEAT until the space between the rear dropouts is 130mm.

[INDENT][INDENT]If you spread each side simultaneously then you should not need to worry about centering. If you do one side at a time, then you will may have to do a lot of tweaking to get the dropouts evenly centered.
[/INDENT][/INDENT]
You now need to square the rear derailleur's hanger ...

[INDENT]I sandwich the droputs with some scraps of plywood & tweak the droputs with about 3 lbs. of force (steel is softer than most people realize) to make them parallel to the bike's center plane.

Assess & tweak ... ensure that the derailleur hanger is vertical, too!
[/INDENT]
Part 1 takes about 5 minutes-or-less ... Part 2 takes a few more minutes.
[/INDENT][/INDENT]
The cog spacing on an 8-speed Shimano/SRAM Cassette is essentially equivalent to that found on a 7-seed Freewheel, so that's the best option ...

[INDENT]BTW, You will probably need to adjust your rear derailleur's high-low stops after you get almost any replacement wheel.

[/INDENT][/INDENT]

[INDENT][INDENT][INDENT][/INDENT][/INDENT][/INDENT]

Buckled or just in need of truing?

Video on spreading your rear dropouts:

Wheelmaster sells 126 MM wheels and old style stuff for cheap on Amazon. Here's a rear wheel for $34 plus $4 shipping. https://www.amazon.com/Wheel-Rear-1-1-Silver-126mm/dp/B000AO3GEI

Well, looks like you have a pre owned bike, and it's been riding with the same wheels for about 8 years or more. Honestly, that's what I call good wheels. But if they're buckling you must change them, otherwise you're not just damaging the bike, you're exposing yourself to an accident. I wouldn't recommend you to buy online, because more often than not, pieces end up not fitting properly. What I always do, is take my bike to the store, so they can verify is the right piece.

Make life easy and don't do any of the fancy stuff, there is no need...unless you want to switch to a cassette instead of a freewheel but why? The bike is a vintage bike and is worth more if you stay vintage with it. You have all Campy stuff so I would stay with Campy and go with the Campy wheels I mentioned before unless it came with Mavic wheels originally and those also are found on E-bay. The hubs can be rebuilt easily and cheaply if needed, and you can get Campy freewheels on E-Bay if needed but those aren't so cheap, alternately if a cog is worn you can replace just a cog but cog by cog the freewheel gets less expensive the more cogs you replace.