Wheels or not to wheels ?

Vivienne23

Hi everyone bought this bike last year ,

http://www.scott-sports.com/gb/en/products/227841023/bike-contessa-speedster-25-30-l56/

Just wondering is it worth upgrading wheels ? At the moment covering about 150km per week , nothing wrong with the wheels I have at the moment just wondering could anyone shed some light on the advantages of upgrading ?

Can someone explain the advantages/disadvantages of tubular /clincher wheels ?

I really haven't a notion about these things to be honest , I just hear they make you go faster and I like the noise some wheels make , like a whirring noise ( I heard them at it on the ring of Kerry) also what kind of budget would you need ?

Are second hand wheels ok ? Or would you buy knew ?

Is it a waste of time putting carbon wheels on an aluminium frame?

Lots of questions here I know , if anyone has any info I would be very grateful ,

Viv

Inquitus

A brand new set of Carbon wheels would cost almost as much as the bike did in the first place, second hand will certainly offer better value though you need to make sure you inspect them properly.

Vivienne23

That's what I was thinking , might hold off til next year and buy a better bike !

Brian?

Vivienne23 wrote: »

That's what I was thinking , might hold off til next year and buy a better bike !

Once you get a new bike you'll need new wheels for it though, unless you spend big money. Buy some fancy wheels now and a new bike later, problem solved.

Lumen

The wheels you have are heavy, probably about 2kg. You don't need to go to carbon wheels to improve on them significantly.

These are nice:

http://jedi-sports.de/Wheelsets/Wheelsets-Road/Shimano-Ultegra-WH-6800::5089.html
http://www.bike24.com/p259501.html

CptMackey

Buy new wheels you can never have enough .
That's my excuse when I buy new wheels. Can't go wrong with any of campagnolos.

ZiabR

You say that your don't really need new wheels at the moment. The ones you have a serving you well. If it were me, I would save the money and pick up a new bike next year with an Ultegra groupset minimum and then after a few months look at upgrading the wheels on it. You would then have a bike to last you years.

kuro_man

The de facto bang-for-buck standard is Campag Zonda from swimcyclerun.com (among others)...hard to beat
Get some decent tyres too, e.g. Conti GP 4000s or Mich Pro 4's

Fian

If you are also thinking about a new bike bear in mind that if you were to choose to go for disc brakes the wheels could not just be popped onto the new bike.

Given the frequency of rain in this green isle I certainly intend to get hydraullic disc brakes on my next bike, though that probably means I will have to wait a bit longer to upgrade than I might otherwise.

My son's hybrid has hydraullic discs and I love them, really big upgrade to braking imo, even in the dry, but enormous if it is wet.

Lumen

Fian wrote: »

If you are also thinking about a new bike bear in mind that if you were to choose to go for disc brakes the wheels could not just be popped onto the new bike.

That's also the case with last-gen 10sp Shimano-compatible wheels, which don't take 11sp cassettes.

Depending on how you look at it, this is either a good reason to pick up some 10sp-only bargains or a reason to take the leap to 11sp-compatible freehubs right now.

Likely that any upgrade from that Scott Contessa is likely to be 11sp, although of course it could be Campag which won't work with Shimano-compatible wheels.

Vivienne23

Thanks for all the info lads , it really is a minefield isn't it , I have been rethinking it all and am going to hold out until I get a better bike or maybe even pick up a better bike second hand once winter comes there are surely some deals to be got ,

I must really try to get to grips with all of the different components and how they work together etc , I get very lost in all the mechanics !

G1032

I have these wheels on my bike. Just the stock ones that came with it.
I know they're cheap and heavy.

But, for someone who will never race, is it worth upgrading these at some stage? I'll have the bike probably until next b2w scheme comes around for me in November 4 years..!

What benefits will upgrading the wheels bring? Will I go faster? Will climbing get any easier?

Lumen

G1032 wrote: »

Will I go faster? Will climbing get any easier?

Very very slightly. Weight does make a difference, some of which is subjective.

Fitness is about 100x more important though.

Expensive wheels make you love your bike more and your bank balance less.