low-medium level wheels for all round use...again

seve65

Below is my 'shortlist' for replacement wheels for all-round cycling (sportif, commuting, strava kom chasing, riding bad irish roads, probably not racing but who knows). I am probably going to go for the cheaper entry level end of the scale with the custom built mavic open pro with 105 hub, and dt swiss comp double butted spokes and a high spoke count. Current wheels are very much entry level alex 28 pro, although I have found them to be fine, except rear rim is worn and the pauls are going on the tiagra hub; havnt trued them in 2 years having blasted into dozens of pot-holes and came off a few times, so thats not too shabby.

Any strong opinions out there ? (as if I hadnt gone over this a thousand times already !). I am not convinced 'fast' wheels are going to make much of a difference to my cycling, but of course I want some, and really want something that is robust, equally well I dont want lead weights !

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Hed Ardennes - really want these as they really seem to fit the bill, but too expensive
Fulcrum racing 7 cx - could be reasonable all round cheap entry level wheel but too noisy, and maybe I should be going one notch up from these wheels
Mavic Open Pro or CXP33 with 105 hub
Reynolds Shadow - quite like the look of these but some reviews say they are noisy as well
Ambrosio Excellight
Mavic Ksyrium Equipe
Shimano Ultegra 6700
Pro-lite Bracciano (not convinced about the high tension spokes)Easton EA70

gman2k

The 105 hubs are not well regarded by wheelbuilders.
Ambrosio Zenith are though - Harry Rowland
I'd go for 36 rear, 36 front may be overkill, but will give a stronger wheel for the sake of 4 spokes over the 32.
Nothing wrong with Open Pro rims!

Seaswimmer

gman2k wrote: »

The 105 hubs are not well regarded by wheelbuilders.
Ambrosio Zenith are though - Harry Rowland
I'd go for 36 rear, 36 front may be overkill, but will give a stronger wheel for the sake of 4 spokes over the 32.
Nothing wrong with Open Pro rims!

Not sure whats wrong with 105 hubs!!

I got a pair built up by Parker International. Open Pro rims with 36 spokes front and rear. I use them daily over Dublin roads and they are perfectly true after about 8000KM. I have had no problem with the 105's.

I went for silver rims as they were cheaper...

Donie75

I got a set of 36 hole Open Pro's built on Ultegra Hubs and they are bulletproof. Andy in Stagg Cycles in Lucan built them. He even asked me to bring them back after around 100km to retension and retrue them once they had bedded in. Andy was very good to deal with and his prices are very good.
I'm fairly lardy and put in plenty of power climbing and they are very strong.

Lumen

I have HED Ardennes. They are adequately light (though not as advertised) and definitely hold the bottom bracket off the ground like wheels should do, but don't feel particularly life-changing and seem to need the skewers quite tight.

They are also definitely at the "seriously, you spent that much on alloy wheels?" end of the spectrum. Completely crazy money.

seve65

Lumen wrote: »

I have HED Ardennes. They are adequately light (though not as advertised) and definitely hold the bottom bracket off the ground like wheels should do, but don't feel particularly life-changing and seem to need the skewers quite tight.

They are also definitely at the "seriously, you spent that much on alloy wheels?" end of the spectrum. Completely crazy money.

oh thanks for that, its good to hear a sensible perspective.

seve65

Seaswimmer wrote: »

Not sure whats wrong with 105 hubs!!

I got a pair built up by Parker International. Open Pro rims with 36 spokes front and rear. I use them daily over Dublin roads and they are perfectly true after about 8000KM. I have had no problem with the 105's.

I went for silver rims as they were cheaper...

exactly what I was thinking of with parket intl. But I have changed my mind so often, but my hand will be forced soon as the current rear deteriates

seve65

seve65 wrote: »

exactly ...but my hand will be forced soon as the current rear deteriates

cleaned the bike this morning, thought the handling on the rear felt a bit iffy....rear rim has a dirty great big split in it. After months of dithering, i guess i will have to run with the open-pro. 105 hub is good enough for me (no diff to ultegra really). Dura-ace; chris king; royce hub are too expensive. Would go with royce if I could justify it.

seve65

hilarious, after months of research went for the mavic open pros, put the order in end of dec, out of stock til mid jan, now told mid-march !

anyway having paid the spodoolicks already. a tiny bit impetuously i have now gone for something I had ruled out, DT Swiss 415 with 105. I think given the rough roads I find I might get a cheaper set of wheels as well and save the 415 for sportives and the like. Will give them a whirl and see anyway, when they come...

greenmat

Donie75 wrote: »

I got a set of 36 hole Open Pro's built on Ultegra Hubs and they are bulletproof. Andy in Stagg Cycles in Lucan built them. He even asked me to bring them back after around 100km to retension and retrue them once they had bedded in. Andy was very good to deal with and his prices are very good.
I'm fairly lardy and put in plenty of power climbing and they are very strong.

Have you a ballpark figure you paid for those wheels, need a new set, want bulletproof wheels I can rely on.

seve65

I have had the DT Swiss 415 with 105 hubs, and dt swiss comp spokes for half a dozen rides now and so far so good. Weight doesnt seem that different to the alex 28 pros I had (perhaps as I had worn right through the rim the weight was a bit less than new:eek:, hubs were tiagra and spokes were dt swiss). Acceleration on the dt swiss 415 is definitely better and they are more rigid as it feels like a very hard ride now.

Conclusion so far is actually that the alex 28 werent too bad at all. But pleased with the new wheels:).

Parker international were helpful, but having researched dt swiss 415 I decided the 465 would be safer bet. They said there supplier didnt supply them. Now no sooner than I accepted the 415 (at a small discount), it is 465s they are now advertising on their site. Poo.

metamagical

Donie75 wrote: »

I got a set of 36 hole Open Pro's built on Ultegra Hubs and they are bulletproof.

+1. They're heavy, they're unglamorous, but mine have been hammered over every pothole from Dublin to Mayo and they're still straight and true.

Lumen, I'm getting another set built with HED Belgian rims on DT swiss 240s as a hopefully higher performance version of "the wheel that can survive my terrible bike handling skills on Irish roads", so I'm a little concerned that you find them mediocre. What tyres are you running on them?

seve65

Just time for a quick match report on dt swiss 415 for anybody interested. About 1500k cycled, hit a wopping big pot hole today, and all is still ok with the wheels despite the impact. So that bodes well.

Lumen

metamagical wrote: »

Lumen, I'm getting another set built with HED Belgian rims on DT swiss 240s as a hopefully higher performance version of "the wheel that can survive my terrible bike handling skills on Irish roads", so I'm a little concerned that you find them mediocre. What tyres are you running on them?

GP4000S on everything.

I'm in Spain at the moment going up and down hills, and I brought some box-fresh Aksiums because there was a completely loose spoke (spinning around) on the HEDs - I'd rather have something true and reliable than save 400g or so. I also don't feel the advantage of a wider rim on the HEDs. I can use 10psi less but the handling feels weird/unusual, if anything.

I think my next wheel purchase will probably be RS80s. While I like 28/32 spoke handbuilts for their retrogrouch appeal, the lower spoke count on factory wheels is an aero advantage and an average factory wheel seems to need truing less often than an average handbuilt. If I was buying another handbuilt I'd buy from Parker - the Open Pro I got from them was very strong.

lennymc

Lumen wrote: »

I think my next wheel purchase will probably be RS80s. While I like 28/32 spoke handbuilts for their retrogrouch appeal, the lower spoke count on factory wheels is an aero advantage and an average factory wheel seems to need truing less often than an average handbuilt. If I was buying another handbuilt I'd buy from Parker - the Open Pro I got from them was very strong.

i got the rs80s recently enough after advice on here and am happy with them. they seem to roll a lot better than the previous wheels (ritchey wims with no names hubs, same tyres) and they seem a bit easier in the hills, but it could all be my imagination. At least they look better

Eamonnator

lennymc wrote: »

i got the rs80s recently enough after advice on here and am happy with them. they seem to roll a lot better than the previous wheels (ritchey wims with no names hubs, same tyres) and they seem a bit easier in the hills, but it could all be my imagination. At least they look better

Nothing at all wrong with looking good.

seve65

seve65 wrote: »

Just time for a quick match report on dt swiss 415 for anybody interested. About 1500k cycled, hit a wopping big pot hole today, and all is still ok with the wheels despite the impact. So that bodes well.

OK, update time ! Was just about to pack the bike yesterday ready for a trip to Letape and noticed that a hole in the rear rim that had developed from a very small crack around an eyelet. I was shunted off the bike a week earlier by a car from behind, but I think the crack was there before that. Rear Rim was a bit worn down as well. Done between 9-10K KM since purchase last Dec.

So cue a panic trying to secure a replacement wheel ready for today AM. Now have a mavic aksium... (20 spoke on the rear - black aero spokes) and the old DT Swiss rim on the front (32 silver no aero spokes..).

Fashionista I am now definitely not, and with a slightly daft setup to go with odd-one-out canti-brakes I already had.:o

Anyway on the Rim front, dont know if I was unlucky or another to suffer from a common eyelet complaint with some DT swiss rims.

seve65

Sent the DT Swiss 415 wheel just over a week ago to Parker International. and am now the owner of a replacement wheel, dt swiss 415 again.... Good service though from PI.

Sean02

In my opinion a priority for normal use is to get wheels that allow you replace inner tube in the dark without having to carry plasters for the blisters, That is if you intend using Continental, gatorskin type tyres. Also dont take the word of your LBS that there ok,ask for demo. Whatever you do stay away from Campagnolo wheels, Mavic seem great ,no tyre levers required.
P.S. Blisters healed up in a week......LBS said Oh yes they are difficult!!!! after the sale of course.