Wheelset Suggestions

Bike shop doesn't have a wheelbuilder that can design a wheelset specifically for you and your needs? Like a DA hubset, Velocity, DT or Mavic rims, DT spokes, number and type to be determined by your needs. It will weight the same or less, work the same or better and.....cost less. The ones you mention all have poor hubs, propriatary parts, lots of flash, cost more.

If you are looking at off-the-peg wheels, have you considered the Shimano WH-7850 wheelset?

These are all great suggestions. Tell me more about how those hubs are better, and about the WH-7850 set.

genedan said:

These are all great suggestions. Tell me more about how those hubs are better, and about the WH-7850 set.

I've got a lot of different hubs, and some are definitely better than others ... but, I'm not familiar with as many hubs as Peter is.

FWIW. In the past, the better Bontrager hubs were supplied by Hugi/(DT) ... perhaps, DT still makes them. The Easton hubs were Shimano compatible (i.e., they used the Shimano Freehub body 'interface' & presumably Shimano-supplied Freehub bodies to be mounted on the hubs) before Easton bought the wheel line from Velomax ... perhaps, some interchangeability still exists ...

Unfortunately, MAVIC has had an unnecessary flaw in their Freehub body for at least 8+ years wherein the bushing on the flange side of the Freehub is "nylon" (or, some other composite) instead of a sintered bushing OR ball bearings OR cartridge ... the plastic bushing weighs a fraction of what a "metal bushing" would weigh ... and, that must/may have been the original rationale which will only change if enough people of influence in the industry comment negatively about it (meaning it will probably never change).

Regardless, my a preference (because I've disassembled them & know how well/poorly they are made) is for Shimano, Campagnolo, and DT/Hugi hubs; but, to name a less expensive hub, I think FORMULA hubs (which I have not disassembled) seem to be a pretty good hub, too.
[INDENT]The WH-7850 obviously has a Shimano hub at its core ...

The WH-7850 rims are tubeless compatible ... THAT can definitely be good thing for some people.

The WH-7850 has 10+ years of R&D behind it (a lot of companies have a lot of R&D in their wheels, too ... so, that doesn't necessarily mean anything!), and I think that Shimano has actually learned from its mistakes rather than amplifying the flaws which had been initiated an earlier design (as seems to be the case with some of MAVIC's wheels).
[/INDENT]The advantage of a hand built wheel made with off-the-shelf components is that it can be rebuilt in the future without worrying about locating rims/spokes/whatever ...

However, MANY rim drillings are now available, so unauthorized replacements are available from some rebuilds, now ...

AND, different wheelbuilders will not always agree how a wheel should be built for a particular person/purpose -- to put it another way, not every Southpaw is Sandy Koufax.

BTW. I love Shimano ... a lot of people don't ... while they don't always get it right, I think that Shimano is the best thing to have happened to cycling equipment in the past 40 years & I think the WH-7850 wheelset appears to be one of the things which they got right.

i sometimes think about modern wheels as a headache
i long for the 32 or 36 holes choice / shimano or campagnolo compatible
that was it !

For training (and quite a bit of racing, really) you can't go wrong with some well built 28/32/36 spoke wheels. They are far easier to service, repair and rebuild than any proprietary wheel.

For "hyper-wheels" I'd usually go for a company which builds its wheels from freely available parts. An example is Fast Forward who hand build their wheels with carbon rims, steel J-bend spokes (which can be found at any bike shop), brass nipples and decent hubs (DT Swiss 240 or 190) for either shimano or campagnolo cassettes.

Reviving a not so old thread for some future readers benefit as I have experience on two of those wheelssets... genedan I imagine you've picked up wheels by this point.

I've ridden the Ksyrium Elites, both the heavier 2009 models (that are now Aksiums) and the milled out 2010's. There is a glut of those on the market and you can easily pick up a new pair for less than $400. They are stiff (too uncomfortable for some) and so accelerate with ease. Light, 1550g for a very strong wheel, and stop great in the wet (over carbon). The skewers have to be lubed regularly (yes, the skewers) or they can creak and groan like an old pirate ship. Never had a problem with the hubs once my shop smoothed them out by taking loosening up the cones(?) a bit. I'm 170lbs and ride on really bad roads in NYC including the occasioanl race at Floyd. 2 seasons in, never popped a spoke, and true as the day purchased. I know a lot of blokes on this forum crab over rotating weight not mattering but there is a palpable difference in ride feel over the heavier 1700 gram Elites which feel a bit more sluggish - may have more to do with stiffness than weight.

The Zipp 101's... heaven in an alloy wheel. The sexiest loking set of alloys ever to grace the earth(except for the red Fulcum 0's) but hey sexy is always subjective. 1525g pretty light for a wheel, very light for an alloy wheel, not so light if compared against CF but if we include the world of CF the $1300 price tag is cheap (fortunately I picked mine up closer to a grand, new, so please don't bother picking on me with the usual SRAM/HED's are cheaper - if you want those wheels, buy them yourself). Very hard getting tires both on and off (Vittoria CX's anyway) but did I mention how bloody sexy they are. A friend of mine likes to jibe me about "toroidal marketing hype" but when our bikes are leaned up together at our local park races, no one is coming over to his ride and oogling his wheels... did I mention sexy. They feel very fast, probably because I bought into said marketing hype. They do not feel as stiff as the Ksyriums, but they do feel more comfortable, and stiff enough, and more importantly I feel faster on the 101's. I've beaten them up as bad as my Elites and they have yet to go out of true. And exclusive, as far as I know I am the only fella in the Brooklyn racing scene riding them. Probabably because I'm the only fool who bought into the toroidal marketing hype... that is me and the independant lab that conducted the recent Velo news deep section wheel test where the two toroidal designs, HED and Zipp, BLEW the others out the water.

Ah yes and the old buy the parts separate and build em up yourself for a third the price. I've ridden em all (I started racing in the 80's) Ambosio's, Mavic GP4's GL330's, Open CD's. Those rode nicely too. They all weighed as much as a small child and they all went out of true, wheels built up by many different so called experts. Try having a set of 20/18 poke count wheels built up by hand and see how long they last. Cheaper - definitely, cheaper to maintain - most likely, less of a headache out in in the sticks - probably, more aero - not, lighter - probably not, the satisfaction of riding wheels you personally built - priceless. There's a good argument for handbuilts too...

All of the prospective wheelsets that you have selected are quite heavy for paying that much. It would be quite easy to get 200 grams lighter than that with more rigidity while still staying in the same price range.

-Roland @ Zen Cyclery