cyclocross racing wheels

ciarsciars

I was contemplating getting a new set of racing wheels for my cyclocross bike and using the existing ones for training. I have budget of €400 max. Any suggestion for a strong and light set of wheels, within this price range, that would be good for a cyclocross bike? Also, do many people run a tubeless clincher setup in cx?

thanks

ciarsciars

options so far:
http://www.bike-components.de/products/info/p26055_Ksyrium-Equipe-Laufradsatz-Modell-2011-.html
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=40568

Diarmuid

I've been looking at this. If you want racing specific wheels then you need to go tubular (run low pressure and still avoid punctures) And from what I've read, the tires are more important than any other part of the bike. So my conclusion was get a cheap tubular wheel and pick up a decent tub.

To get the wheel I am going to build up a Mavic Reflex on Shimano 105 hubs with DT comps spokes. You can buy all this and get the built on Starbike.com relatively cheaply. I haven't used them to build a wheel so I have no idea how good they are.

As for tires, I still haven't settled on a tub. Any ideas/recommendations?

Diarmuid

Just saw you second link there. I considered tubeless but was put off by some reviews on the web but the convenience over tubular cannot be discounted totally...... That looks like a decent price for such wheels.

Interesting write up here

The Road Tubeless system developed by Hutchinson and Shimano is not relevant to the world of cyclocross, in our opinion. Although road tubeless can allow lower pressures in road riding without the fear of pinch flats, the Hutchinson Tires’ Road Tubeless bead is still built for high pressure and designed to be very stiff so that it will not blow off the rim under the high psi’s required by road tires (at the high pressures of road tires, you never want to try to convert a conventional road tire because its bead will stretch).

ciarsciars

Hey Diarmuid,

Apologies for the delay replying. That’s a really good article about cyclocross tubeless and a really good website in general, just a pity it’s so US orientated (I don’t mean that in an anti-us way!). There are some good discussions re budget cyclocross wheelsets in websites forum, but many of which are only available in the US.

The more I read about it and look at the various options the more I agree with you, tubular is the way to go. It;s just a case of finding light, strong and cheap, i.e. the holy grail.

Have you made your order yet? I might be interested in ordering a similar set too, maybe we could share any shipping costs.
Do you know how much the wheels you are planning on ordering will weigh and cost?
Any idea what tyres you plan on getting?
Do you intend on ‘gluing‘ the tyres yourself?

I will be at the Tuesday night training if you are around.

thanks,
Ciaran

Diarmuid

I got the rims/spokes today and will pick up the hubs tomorrow. I'll probably build them up myself. Next to pick a good cheap CX tub. Not that easy.