What wheelset do you ride and why?



Yep "Traditional" wheels are great for training. I have had mine for years now. Been through the stage of having trick wheels though. I had a Specialised Tri-spoke, a five spoke Aerospoke, and until two weeks ago I had a set of them Giant wheels by Mike Burrows. Those were pretty cool but a friend was bugging me for them and I needed some money for the Argus trip so I parted with them for R2500. Damn I will miss them. They were a bit on the heavy side but they rode great.

Would like to get a Spinergy Xaero wheelset. The ones with the PBO spokes. Nice and light. Will make for good climbing I recon. Anyone have a set? If you do what is your opinion on them?
 
I saw a pair of wheels at the Argus Expo that I'm interested in. They are Alex rims R390's. Front under 300 g and rear just over 400 g. Cost is about R3200.
Anyone know anything about Alex and his rims?

R390.gif


Alex Rims Website
 
Anyone here ride on Mavic Cosmos? I own a set and they seem mighty fast to me...but i wonder what difference it would make if i get a set of Rolf Vector Pros or the Sestrieres ( did i get the spelling correct? haha)
 
Vo2 - never heard of Alex wheels before - give us some stats if you've got 'em! Checked out the website but it doesn't offer much info. Is R3,200 just for the rims? EXPENSIVE!!!
Did you see your name mentioned in the Rolf article on cyclelab.co.za?

bomalive - wouldn't recommend buying the Rolfs. They're not being manufactured any more - would recommend the Ksyriums - the Ksyrium Elite is a great wheel at a decent price. The Cosmos are pretty good too - awesome bearings...
 
Eldron, yep, saw me name in your article. Read it yesterday after my return from Knysna. Your'e welcome, mate. All for the love of the sport.

The R3200 includes blades and hubs!
 
One thing I find weird about the UK is the price of bicycle equipment - some stuff seems cheaper here (even at R17/£)

Shimano 105 wheels are £160 (R2,720)
Mavic Cosmos about £140 R2,380)
Ksyrium SSC SL's are about £350 (R5,950)

How do those prices compare to SA?

How many spokes in the Alex wheels? Looks like 32 from the rim picture.....cartridge bearings in the hub?
 
Eldron, the rims are featured in the latest SA Cycling mag (March/April), but I'm not sure if it's exactly the same pair.

Anyway, here's the write-up:

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At the Expo these were advertised for R3000 odd. In the mag they are advertised at R4500, which includes wheelbags and quick releases.
 
I use a 36 spoke version of the old Campag Atlanta rim on my tandem. They work perfectly, no broken spokes immensely strong due to their deep section but not very light.

If it aint broken dont fix it and keep those wheels spinning

Big H
 
Im using Campy Chorus hubs laced x32 to Mavic Reflex Tubular rims.
Seem fine for training. All my rides include at least 1000-1500m of climbing though. So I would love to try some light wheels like the Zipp 303's
 
hello i was wondering if anyone had a set of Rolf vectors, and if so do you think they are a rim with alot of flex???? i seem to get alot of flex out of the front wheel
 
mavic open pro cd rims, 14/15 db ss spokes, alloy nipples laced 3x to 28 hole chris king classic hubs...front 767.9g, rear 917.1g (weighed on a lab scale)

great components, 3x makes'em strong, and any shop anywhere can replace a spoke if one breaks

1685 grams and considerably less $ than those $800 wheelsets with bladed spokes and/or requiring a special tool

I weigh 160 lbs and they feel great
 
Hey Eldron ;D

As you know I also race Vector Pros and haven't had any hassles whatsoever. I think I remember your problem being that you trained a little bit too much on yours too. ;) They are brilliant when you are going fast into a fast sprint but not so hot when sprinting from lower speeds.

I got indestructible Mavic Open Pro rears and MA40 fronts for training. Don't ask why that combination...
 
Hey Eldron  ;D

As you know I also race Vector Pros and haven't had any hassles whatsoever. I think I remember your problem being that you trained a little bit too much on yours too.  ;) They are brilliant when you are going fast into a fast sprint but not so hot when sprinting from lower speeds.

I got indestructible Mavic Open Pro rears and MA40 fronts for training. Don't ask why that combination...

Hey hey hey!

Haven't broken your Vector Pros yet? I'm disppointed - I thought you were a powerhouse..... Maybe it's cos you're a light weight now ;)

I have to put in a good work for my Mavic Classics SSC's - 12,000km and not even so much as a spoke truing - best training wheels I've ever used. Those 12,000km were on english 'B' roads and I use the word 'roads' loosely. They're more like a collection of pot holes....

Ah there is one dow side to the Mavics - I forgot to put in ceramic brake blocks - needless to say my front pads were gone in months.....
 
Haven't broken your Vector Pros yet? I'm disppointed - I thought you were a powerhouse..... Maybe it's cos you're a light weight now ;)
I think it's because I've been careful about accelerating from low speeds. So the only really full power sprinting I've done on them has been at the end of races.
 
I think it's because I've been careful about accelerating from low speeds. So the only really full power sprinting I've done on them has been at the end of races.

That's exactly how mine broke - someone jumped me for a village sign sprint - they hide those sogns pretty well over here and you don't see them til the last minute. I was rolling in a 53x16 at the time - got up to sprint and SNAP - the front wheel disintegrated - made a purty good mess of my carbon fork....
 
The front? Whoa. Been putting on weight recently or summin'? Only el' fatties do those kind of things ;D
 
'tis my new found upper body strength (that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it!!).

Might have been a faulty spoke that started it. All the spokes were broken off where the thread started for the nipple. Reckon one spoke snapped and the rest followed.....
 
Hmm, Alex I do believe. and cause I want to get big and strong (or maybe its because I'm cheap?). No seriously though, first racer so they feel pretty impressive compared with the mtb, cheap or not
 
hey all
the reason you havent seen any rolfs lately is that the designer did not do a good job with his patent and as a result shimano campy and mavic and all other wheel manufactureres could hve copied them with no patent restricting them. the nice thing bout rolf's is that they are seamless .