Wheelset Question



ddallam

New Member
Oct 4, 2003
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I'm building a new bike. Can anyone recommend a wheelset for me? I weigh 225 and ride a 62cm frame. I'm looking for a fast and strong and light set that I can use for occasional racing and frequent training. Campy 10-speed. Prefer tubulars, but the options there are more limited, so will go with clinchers if needed. I'm not budget constrained. Thanks in advance for your advice.
 
ddallam said:
I'm building a new bike. Can anyone recommend a wheelset for me? I weigh 225 and ride a 62cm frame. I'm looking for a fast and strong and light set that I can use for occasional racing and frequent training. Campy 10-speed. Prefer tubulars, but the options there are more limited, so will go with clinchers if needed. I'm not budget constrained. Thanks in advance for your advice.
Take a look at Campy Neutrons. I have a set of the Proton's and I'm about your size. The Neutrons are an upgrade from the Proton's. They have bladed spokes and a titanium pawl carrier. Protons use aluminum and double butted spokes. Very stiff.
 
I haven't seen too many Campag wheelsets so can't comment on those, but would happily reccomend Mavic Ksyrium SL or Equipe having seen so few problems on so many wheels, or Bontrager X-Lite having done a lot of miles on a pair. You'll have to go to the ***-Lite to get a tubular though. A colleague chose these for the last couple of seasons racing.

Maybe controversially, I'd suggest bucking the trend and getting a pair of hand built traditional wheels built. For what I feel is a small performance gain (if any) the reliability and ease of repair of a bunch of easily available spokes is tough to beat. The choice of number, gauge and style of spoke makes tuning a wheel to your riding style much easier. The prices work out really well too.

Campy hubs are sweet running, well built, reliable, rebuildable and of course sexy. Mavic rims seem to win on reliability, but don't have a choice of tubular rim (choose the Reflex or the Reflex). With clinchers though you have an aero option with the CXP33 or stick with the classic Open Pro

If you break 1 of 32 spokes on a long training ride you can ride home pretty normally as your wheel should stay pretty true. Break 1 of 16 and you should be getting nervous.
 
ddallam said:
I'm building a new bike. Can anyone recommend a wheelset for me? I weigh 225 and ride a 62cm frame. I'm looking for a fast and strong and light set that I can use for occasional racing and frequent training. Campy 10-speed. Prefer tubulars, but the options there are more limited, so will go with clinchers if needed. I'm not budget constrained. Thanks in advance for your advice.
Go with Campy hubs = Chorus or Record.
I suggest Sapim Laser 14/17 spokes for front and left rear + Sapim Race 14/15 DB spokes for Right Rear.
If you want a little more Aero and a little lighter and can afford the substantial up pricing: go with Sapim CX-Ray spokes in front.
For Tubular Rims I suggest Velocity Escape. However, I really think you can do better with Velocity Aerohead front and Aerohead OC rear.. and Velocity Veloplugs + Avocet Fasgrip Tires with quality tubes.
 
filator said:
I haven't seen too many Campag wheelsets so can't comment on those, but would happily reccomend Mavic Ksyrium SL or Equipe having seen so few problems on so many wheels, or Bontrager X-Lite having done a lot of miles on a pair. You'll have to go to the ***-Lite to get a tubular though. A colleague chose these for the last couple of seasons racing.

Maybe controversially, I'd suggest bucking the trend and getting a pair of hand built traditional wheels built. For what I feel is a small performance gain (if any) the reliability and ease of repair of a bunch of easily available spokes is tough to beat. The choice of number, gauge and style of spoke makes tuning a wheel to your riding style much easier. The prices work out really well too.

Campy hubs are sweet running, well built, reliable, rebuildable and of course sexy. Mavic rims seem to win on reliability, but don't have a choice of tubular rim (choose the Reflex or the Reflex). With clinchers though you have an aero option with the CXP33 or stick with the classic Open Pro

If you break 1 of 32 spokes on a long training ride you can ride home pretty normally as your wheel should stay pretty true. Break 1 of 16 and you should be getting nervous.
Did you happen to notice the pics of Tom Boonen's World Championship bike in cyclingnews.com? Standard tubular rims with 36 spokes. It seems he's much more concerned with stiffness and durability than he is over weight or aerodynamics.
 
PeterF said:
Did you happen to notice the pics of Tom Boonen's World Championship bike in cyclingnews.com? Standard tubular rims with 36 spokes. It seems he's much more concerned with stiffness and durability than he is over weight or aerodynamics.
As a side tangent, he's also still using alloy cranks instead of carbon. Of course such small differences in stiffness probably won't be noticed by us mere mortals.
 
artmichalek said:
As a side tangent, he's also still using alloy cranks instead of carbon. Of course such small differences in stiffness probably won't be noticed by us mere mortals.
Cipo and Backstedt were using allow Record cranks and old school square spindle bb's this season as well. It makes you realize how much senseless bling there is out there for us weekend club cyclists to throw money at, just to impress our friends at the coffee shop.