Best alloy wheels for 1000



Uawadall

Well-Known Member
Jun 14, 2015
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Still not sold on carbon wheels. I'm looking to upgrade Kysyrium Elites and am looking at both carbon and alloy option.I'm considering reynold assault carbon wheels, 40mm is the most aero I want to go (skinny guys like me don't do well in crosswinds). I'm a little worried about inferior braking and durability of Carbon Wheels. I've crashed in the Kysriums and a shop owner milled out a big dent, they still work great and nearly true(off by a little). I know a carbon wheel would have been trash in that instance.

What is your take on carbon wheels?

What would you say are good value alloy wheels in the 1000 range?

Edit: Currently running rim brakes on both bikes, i've hear disk and carbon wheels are the way to go.
 
Mavic Cosmic 50MM carbon/alloy. Around $950-$1100.
https://us.ciclimattio.com/s/mavic/cosmic-pro-carbon-clincher-wheel-set-2019/?id=21045&m=33037

Aside from the braking issue of a full carbon rim...and it's really a non-issue if we're talking about a top shelf carbon rim...the big deal is crappy roads still destroy wheels of alloy or carbon. Unless your one of Zwift's genuine 50 Kilogram riders. Then you can run those 30 MM, 1200 gram climber's wheels without worry.

Pick your replacement plan and cost carefully. In other words, if you want everyday training wheels you can go with cheap carbon off brands (Prime, etc.) and count on killing them eventually. You won't cry much when buying replacements. An alloy/carbon rim that has good braking characteristics, decent durability, decent aero and if you kill it you won't cry too much.

For racing on, I recommend mid-line carbon wheels if you can swing them and nothing but tubulars. You'll be able to run any tire pressure and clamp the bejeezus out of your caliper brakes and overheating won't be as much of an issue...since blowing $3K on Zipps is out of the budget window.

Me likes!

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/..._dc|pcrid|253668879799|pkw||pmt||prd|617342US
 
Balance your weight, road conditions, riding skill and intended uses. You'll pick a winner.
 
Still not sold on carbon wheels. I'm looking to upgrade Kysyrium Elites and am looking at both carbon and alloy option.I'm considering reynold assault carbon wheels, 40mm is the most aero I want to go (skinny guys like me don't do well in crosswinds). I'm a little worried about inferior braking and durability of Carbon Wheels. I've crashed in the Kysriums and a shop owner milled out a big dent, they still work great and nearly true(off by a little). I know a carbon wheel would have been trash in that instance.

What is your take on carbon wheels?

What would you say are good value alloy wheels in the 1000 range?

Edit: Currently running rim brakes on both bikes, i've hear disk and carbon wheels are the way to go.
I just bought a set of carbon wheels to try so I don't have any opinion on them as yet.

But I will say that Fulcrum Racing 3 wheels are very good. They seem to have no effect from crosswinds and they roll very well. I give them my recommendation. And remember that many of the carbon and light aluminum wheels have weight limits which I don't like. While this is usually around 240 lbs that is misleading since you can far exceed that weight on a good bump. I weigh 185 lbs for most of the year and so I bought cyclocross wheels for the added strength.
 
Balance your weight, road conditions, riding skill and intended uses. You'll pick a winner.

Makes sense, I think people use their good wheels too often and then get surprised when they get destroyed. Weight shouldn't be much of an issue, I've weighed 165 for the past decade. I bought a new set of Mavic Kysiriums I found cheap (395 from a new bike takeoff) and they should tide me over for the rest of the year. I'll have a little more time to think about wheel choice for next year and maybe catch something on sale.
 
I just bought a set of carbon wheels to try so I don't have any opinion on them as yet.

But I will say that Fulcrum Racing 3 wheels are very good. They seem to have no effect from crosswinds and they roll very well.

From what I have heard, keeping below 50 mm is good for if crosswinds are a worry.
 
1630 grams for 40 MM aluminum 'wide' rims that handle Clydesdales? How do they get them so light? My shimaNO RS330 (just 30 MM profile) wheelset is over 2000 grams. My 'narrow' carbon 50's are heavier. Something isn't adding up.

In the shimaNO line, I like the Ultegra level RS500 wheels. Light enough and strong. Not so aero, but for $299 they're a good all around wheel.

In the Mavic line, the cheapo Aksiums are golden and pretty damned stout and again are light enough. Ksyriums at almost every level are worthy wheels. Not the aero Kings, but you can get them light enough to race almost any event on them.
 
Those wheels look decent Froze, rare to see alloy with any depth due to weight issues. Wonder how they were able to keep them relatively light.

Campybob, I've been using Ksyrium Elite's and Shimano Rs010's. The front wheel braking surface seems to be fading, most likely due to a crash repair leaving a part of it slightly bald. On downhills, the braking has been noticeably weaker. The new pair came today. A little upgraditis has me looking at the next level up for next season.

Even the 100 dollar Rs10's are decent, I use the on my second bike. A little heavy, but sturdy and fine for most days.

The reynolds assault seems like an option. They're full carbon, would make for a good special occasion/speed day wheel set.

https://mybikeshop.com/products/2018-reynolds-assault-carbon-clincher-wheel-set.html
 
I like the old RS10's. I have a pair of RS24's and other than being a little heavy, they're good wheels. Slow to spin up would be my only criticism.

Aksium's and the lower end Ksyrium's are genuine bargains IMO. Light. Strong. Rebuildable.
 
Still not sold on carbon wheels...What is your take on carbon wheels?
My personal feeling is that they're not worth the cost unless you're racing and even then, it's questionable if you're doing events like criteriums where crashes are common and wheel damage is likely. The same is true if your local roads are really bad. It's one thing if a sponsor gives you wheels but it's quite another when you're shelling out your own cash.

What would you say are good value alloy wheels in the 1000 range?
Why do you think you need to spend that much?

You can build lighter, but still durable wheels for less than half that. The wheels I've been riding for the past few years are 1285 grams and cost me ~$250 to build (I weigh 170#, BTW). They'd still be under $300 to build today. Even if you have to add $100 or so to have someone build them for you, it's a much better deal than off-the-shelf options. Additionally, by using standard components, you can get them serviced at any bike shop. With many "boutique" wheels, you are locked into components that are only available through the manufacturer, making repairs costly and time-consuming.

If you want more durable wheels, they're not any more expensive, just a bit heavier. You can easily stay under 1500 grams; my cyclocross wheels are 1480gr. including rim tape and 27mm deep rims.

For the $1000 you're thinking of spending, you could get two sets of wheels built and have a spare pair on hand. I always have spare wheels for my bikes and wouldn't think of being without them, even though I've very rarely needed them. Most often, I put different tires on my spares for different conditions.

All that said, what you gain with carbon rims is better aerodynamics for a given weight; that's it. Whether that's a major factor that's worth increase in price is up to you to decide. For me, I'll take light weight for climbing, plus ease of service, over aerodynamics and my aluminum wheels meet those requirements. I can always draft other riders if I'm in a group (making aerodynamics largely moot) and if I'm out riding on my own, I don't care about aerodynamics as I'd rather get the slightly harder workout.

Edit: Currently running rim brakes on both bikes, i've hear disk and carbon wheels are the way to go.
My current cross/gravel bike came with carbon rims and disc brakes (I bought it used, so I didn't pay a premium for the wheels). I only use the carbon rim wheels for road riding and run wheels with aluminum rims and tubeless tires most of the time. I agree that disc brakes really help to optimize the advantages of carbon rims.

I just spent a week riding a Trek Domane with carbon rims and rim brakes. While the brakes worked fine, they did take considerably more hand pressure than the aluminum rims I typically ride and weren't especially confidence-inspiring. Perhaps they didn't have the optimum brake pads, but I really don't know.
 
Why do you think you need to spend that much?

You can build lighter, but still durable wheels for less than half that. The wheels I've been riding for the past few years are 1285 grams and cost me ~$250 to build (I weigh 170#, BTW). They'd still be under $300 to build today. Even if you have to add $100 or so to have someone build them for you, it's a much better deal than off-the-shelf options. Additionally, by using standard components, you can get them serviced at any bike shop. With many "boutique" wheels, you are locked into components that are only available through the manufacturer, making repairs costly and time-consuming.

If you want more durable wheels, they're not any more expensive, just a bit heavier. You can easily stay under 1500 grams; my cyclocross wheels are 1480gr. including rim tape and 27mm deep rims.

For the $1000 you're thinking of spending, you could get two sets of wheels built and have a spare pair on hand. I always have spare wheels for my bikes and wouldn't think of being without them, even though I've very rarely needed them. Most often, I put different tires on my spares for different conditions.

Wheel building is a foreign concept to me. I've heard of this before, but have never seen it in practice. Guess is something i'll have to read up on. In terms of pricing for off the shelf stuff, I say 1000 due to the fact my Ksyriums were 600. I figure, wheels may be slightly better at that price.

I'm not a weight weenie or equipment excuse maker, trying out new wheels is just an enjoyable part of riding. I have a little time to think about wheel options or If I really want to fork over the money at all. Just got another pair of Ksyrium Elites for 400 and now have decent wheels on both bikes.
 
Wheel building is a foreign concept to me. I've heard of this before, but have never seen it in practice. Guess is something i'll have to read up on. In terms of pricing for off the shelf stuff, I say 1000 due to the fact my Ksyriums were 600. I figure, wheels may be slightly better at that price.

I'm not a weight weenie or equipment excuse maker, trying out new wheels is just an enjoyable part of riding. I have a little time to think about wheel options or If I really want to fork over the money at all. Just got another pair of Ksyrium Elites for 400 and now have decent wheels on both bikes.
Well, the lower end Mavic wheels are fine for what you're talking about. Do not bother to even look at wheel building since the rims alone now generally cost more than a wheelset from a competent builder who is fully automated.

I'm pretty good at wheel building but the small number of spokes makes it very time consuming to properly tension the wheels while keeping them straight. Modern rims are very stiff and if the spokes aren't properly tensioned it can still appear to be properly built. The first bump you hit, the wheel goes out of alignment. And with the wide rims in use you only need a small amount of misalignment and the rims drag on the brakes and it ain't a good day.
 
Well, the lower end Mavic wheels are fine for what you're talking about. Do not bother to even look at wheel building since the rims alone now generally cost more than a wheelset from a competent builder who is fully automated.

I'm pretty good at wheel building but the small number of spokes makes it very time consuming to properly tension the wheels while keeping them straight. Modern rims are very stiff and if the spokes aren't properly tensioned it can still appear to be properly built. The first bump you hit, the wheel goes out of alignment. And with the wide rims in use you only need a small amount of misalignment and the rims drag on the brakes and it ain't a good day.
I did close to a metric century yesterday in strong and gusty winds. The shallower Fulcrum wheels were pretty tricky. They were probably no better than my 50 mm deep Campy wheels once you get used to them. So Campybob probably has a good recommendation.
 
From what I have heard, keeping below 50 mm is good for if crosswinds are a worry.
After using some good 50 mm aero carbon wheels I have found cross winds to be nothing more of a problem than a normal wheel. That is completely different from my experience with the Campy aluminum "aero" wheels which have more of a long triangle section than the long "oval" cross sections of the carbon wheels. I bought one Clincher set for $250 from a Chinese Ebay source and they are really good wheels. I bought two Tubeless sets for $350.

There was a manufacturing error in the rim of the first set and I should have returned the wheelset immediately but rather tried to work it out with the seller. Be careful because they are likely to refer to a wheelset as "rims" when they mean wheels. And my resolution with them was that they would send a new "rim". Well it was a rim and it is extremely difficult to build a carbon wheel because the nipple bed is uneven - unlike an aluminum rim. So while I can spoke an aluminum wheel from start to finish in about and hour, I have two days into this carbon wheel and at least another two days of work to come.

I bought the second set from another source and they are fine but I haven't gotten the new tires to put them together yet so I haven't given any feedback and I still have the wheelbox to return them if there's any problems. But after the quality of the clinchers I don't expect any.

These wheels are very cheap because they are being made to order by "ma and pa" wheel building operations and they can't really afford to return any money on these so if I have any problems I will return them and request another set. What they will do is strip any problem rim off and install a new one since they are experienced with these sorts of rims. Then they can return the faulty rim to the manufacturer of the rim.

See my entry under "Wheel Warnings" concerning Kyserium Elites.
 
Kyserium? LMAO!!!! I simply can't comment anymore about that, I think it speaks for itself! LOL!!!
 
Kyserium? LMAO!!!! I simply can't comment anymore about that, I think it speaks for itself! LOL!!!
Why don't you actually tell the whole world what you know about Mavic Kyseriums and where you learned it? Your comments don't appear to even realize that Mavic is the largest seller of wheels in the world. But you seem to know more than they do. Or do you really think that anyone is going to take your comments seriously?
 
Why don't you actually tell the whole world what you know about Mavic Kyseriums and where you learned it? Your comments don't appear to even realize that Mavic is the largest seller of wheels in the world. But you seem to know more than they do. Or do you really think that anyone is going to take your comments seriously?

LOL! My god man you're comments are so stupidly offbase! LOL!!!! As always, Tommy boy failing to comprehend...or spell!! LMAO!!!!!
 
LOL! My god man you're comments are so stupidly offbase! LOL!!!! As always, Tommy boy failing to comprehend...or spell!! LMAO!!!!!
So you don't have any answers - just the same tiresome name calling. What an education you must have.
 
So you don't have any answers - just the same tiresome name calling. What an education you must have.
You still haven't identified what you did yet, this is why you're so stupid, I'm having so much fun waiting for you to discover what you did, not once either, but several times. I'm not going to give you any hints either because you'll just come up with one your lame excuses. I think those that read your posts about those Mavic wheels know what I'm talking about. And this is how we all know you don't have clue what you're talking about, it's due to posts like this Mavic one you did.
 

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