Carbon wheelset

CantGetNoSleep

Got a bonus in work so decided to treat myself to a carbon aero wheelset.

Looking at the Hunt Aero Carbon wide at 899 GBP. Have an alloy pair of Hunts and happy with them

Anything similar I should be looking at in the same or lower price range? (disc, clincher or tubeless)

Whyner

Bonus next month for me and have plans for these 50mm with DT Swiss 350s

https://www.wheelsmith.co.uk/product-page/aero-38-50-60

Worth considering , excellent reviews

You should also consider handbuilt by Robin in Expert Cycles. I haven't gotten round to contacting them yet. I'd be interested to see how they compare and obviously much handier for any services/repairs

https://www.expertcycles.ie/custom-wheel-builds/

flatface

I’ve been coveting these light bicycle wheels. Great value and wide as hell.

- https://www.lightbicycle.com/700C-V-shape-56mm-depth-hand-built-carbon-road-wheels---30mm-wide-and-tubeless-compatible.html

Big thread on them on weight weenies

https://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=152443

tuxy

I know this test is highly controversial and there is no way to confirm or deny the findings but hunt do very poorly on it.

https://www.hambini.com/testing-to-find-the-fastest-bicycle-wheels/

tuxy

Also have you considered starting your own wheel company? £899 might be enough capital to do so.

flatface

tuxy wrote: »

I know this test is highly controversial and there is no way to confirm or deny the findings but hunt do very poorly on it

Light bicycle wheels perform well on that chart and are far cheaper than their neighbours.

flatface

tuxy wrote: »

Also have you considered starting your own wheel company? £899 might be enough capital to do so.

This is genius! I love the interconnects reference. I have read a load of hifi bollox before and agree they are the pinnacle of creative writing

Kaisr Sose

flatface wrote: »

This is genius! I love the interconnects reference. I have read a load of hifi bollox before and agree they are the pinnacle of creative writing

Very good indeed. Never could understand why people would spend 100's on hi fi connects. It'd total bull that you notice the difference.

Then carbon wheels came along. Also the Nove bike which Durian Rider had a big spat with their brand ambassador Phil Gaimon over claims it was (allegedly) just an open mould $500 Chinese frame from Light Carbon which they were re-selling for $1,000's.

I guess the marketing whizzeryworks if you can get people to believe the blurb.

tuxy

Kaisr Sose wrote: »

Then carbon wheels came along. Also the Nove bike which Durian Rider had a big spat with their brand ambassador Phil Gaimon over claims it was (allegedly) just an open mould $500 Chinese frame from Light Carbon which they were re-selling for $1,000's.

No allegedly about it. Before that spat there were two Chinese sellers I was considering buying that frame from but once that kicked off the frames were removed.

Kaisr Sose

tuxy wrote: »

No allegedly about it. Before that spat there were two Chinese sellers I was considering buying that frame from but once that kicked off the frames were removed.

Allegedly included to protect me! You can still buy that 'spat' frame from Lightcarbon.

tuxy

Kaisr Sose wrote: »

Allegedly included to protect me! You can still buy that 'spat' frame from Lightcarbon.

You can buy the one that durianrider baought at the time which is different.
They removed the one that's the exact same as one of the frames Nove sell.

Edit: actully I think they have put it back up for sale . LCR007-V?

tuxy

Getting back to the OPs question.
If going cheap then I think buying direct from china might be the best option. Farsports or Light-bicycle. I have a set from farsports that I'm very happy with and I know people with sets from Light-bicycle who are also happy.
Although shipping from China is a mess right now, stupid virus

If going main brand you would need a larger budget.

What happened to all the second hand rim brake carbon wheels that people expected to be for sale cheap since disc brake is now popular?

harringtonp

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

Got a bonus in work so decided to treat myself to a carbon aero wheelset.

Looking at the Hunt Aero Carbon wide at 899 GBP. Have an alloy pair of Hunts and happy with them

Anything similar I should be looking at in the same or lower price range? (disc, clincher or tubeless)

Hunt have a huge advertising campaign but are far from the cheapest. You'll get at least the same quality at a cheaper price through wheel builders. Check out

https://www.spokesmanwheels.co.uk/current-stock/

for starters

triggermortis

https://www.kinetic-one.co.uk/400-off--2019--kinetic-one-k1-50fw-ultimate-carbon-wheelset-7721-p.asp

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/prime-rr-50-v2-carbon-clincher-wheelset/rp-prod166641

do these tick any boxes?

CantGetNoSleep

Thanks all for the suggestions - will look into the Chinese brands, wheel builders or definitely the Prime's from CRC in disc.

Quick question - these are replacing a set of QR Mavic Aksiums (which I will sell) on a CAAD12 and I also have a Synapse using a pair of alu Hunt's which I quite like but they are thru axle.

Do I need to make a decision now which bike they will stay on or how easy are adapters to use? Haven't decided yet which of those is my good bike tbh

Deano12345

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

Thanks all for the suggestions - will look into the Chinese brands, wheel builders or definitely the Prime's from CRC in disc.

Quick question - these are replacing a set of QR Mavic Aksiums (which I will sell) on a CAAD12 and I also have a Synapse using a pair of alu Hunt's which I quite like but they are thru axle.

Do I need to make a decision now which bike they will stay on or how easy are adapters to use? Haven't decided yet which of those is my good bike tbh

I’ve a set of Primes and they come with all the adapters you need for either QR,12mm or 15m TA in the box. The majority of wheels will be supplied with them

I’ve also got a set of Novatec hub carbon wheels. Got the hub swapped by Lucasz in Apex Cycles (highly recommended if you’re getting someone to build a set btw!) from QR to TA, so at worst you’d have to get to get the hub swapped over. The majority of hubs will be a swappable design though.

Basically the adapters are just end caps, they generally press in. Swapping them is a 30 second job tops. The rear would involve swapping an axle but that’s a fairly quick job too!

harringtonp

From a reliability perspective spoke type is my number one consideration. I'm a big fan of sapim cxray as they are light, aero and strong if a bit on the expensive side.

There are other good spokes out there but ones that break easy enough too so I'd do some research into whatever spokes come with your chosen wheelset.

fat bloke

tuxy wrote: »

Also have you considered starting your own wheel company? £899 might be enough capital to do so.

Aw man. That's fcukin hilarious! :D

harringtonp

fat bloke wrote: »

Aw man. That's fcukin hilarious! :D

Particularly good around the 10 min mark

Pinch Flat

Kaisr Sose wrote: »

Very good indeed. Never could understand why people would spend 100's on hi fi connects. It'd total bull that you notice the difference.

Then carbon wheels came along. Also the Nove bike which Durian Rider had a big spat with their brand ambassador Phil Gaimon over claims it was (allegedly) just an open mould $500 Chinese frame from Light Carbon which they were re-selling for $1,000's.

I guess the marketing whizzeryworks if you can get people to believe the blurb.

100s? Think thousands, .https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/283464348715
:eek:
Fools and their money.....

fat bloke

Base2race have a fancy display of new Cadex wheels. Are they made by Giant or something I think? But aimed very much at the higher end of the market. Utterly silly prices - 3 grand for a set.

https://shop.base2race.ie/collections/wheels-1/products/cadex-42-tubless-wheels

Kaisr Sose

Pinch Flat wrote: »

100s? Think thousands, .https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/283464348715
:eek:
Fools and their money.....

Makes a set of wheels for the same price 'sound' wonderfully cheap

CantGetNoSleep

Wow just watched the YouTube - think I'll go direct from China

harringtonp

I gather wheel builders order rims from the Far East and then build solid wheels around them (assuming they are true to their profession) for a comparatively small extra margin. If you trust the builder you presumably get a solid wheel.

With China you never know who builds your wheel but I guess that's the chance you take. A club mate of mine ordered a nice looking set of Carbon rims and they ran well but he has had problems with spokes popping and is fed up with them now.

North of 32

Does anyone have experience with the Bontrager Aeolus Pro 5 TLR wheelset? At approx 1200€ they're roundabout OP's price range. I've been thinking about getting a pair.

Here's a link to the website: https://www.trekbikes.com/ie/en_IE/ie/en_IE/equipment/cycling-components/bike-wheels/road-bike-wheels/bontrager-aeolus-pro-5-tlr-road-wheel/p/22641/

tuxy

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

Wow just watched the YouTube - think I'll go direct from China

Loads of people very happy with wheels from farsports or light-bicycle.
With the mainstream brands you are paying for better customer support, or at least you would hope to get better customer support.
If you have problems soon after getting the direct from China wheel they will probably jsut send you new Rims/spokes or hub and you will be expected to get it rebuilt yourself.

harringtonp wrote: »

With China you never know who builds your wheel but I guess that's the chance you take. A club mate of mine ordered a nice looking set of Carbon rims and they ran well but he has had problems with spokes popping and is fed up with them now.

I had a set of fulcrum racing 5 where the rear wheel kept breaking a spoke, I had to get it repaired 3 - 4 times very soon after I got it. I was 75kg at the time and took good care of them.
I had to repair them at my own cost, I had no way to prove I wasn't hitting potholes or something stupid like that.
Eventially after the last repair it just held and I've done thousands of KM on them now.

You can get unlucky no matter what brand you go with. I imagine this would have worked out better for me if I had baought them in a shop and not online.

Quigs Snr

Comeback is minimal from China. Some stores are better than others, but expect slow resolution, if at all.

Nonetheless I can highly recommend Farsports. Had a couple of sets and sold them on as good as the day I bought them (and for the same money). Couple of A1's in the club have ridden them in races etc... decent performance for the money.

Generally unless it's Zipp, Enve, Reynolds, Mavic, Roval etc.. I would be as likely to buy the Chinese wheels, because most of the rest, especially hunt, Flo, all these fella's.. mostly open moulds that can be gotten cheaper elsewhere. And their badges do not carry enough prestige or resale value for me to pay that premium. It might be worth it to you to pay double for the possibility of better after sales support. If so and you can afford it, have at it.

CantGetNoSleep

North of 32 wrote: »

Does anyone have experience with the Bontrager Aeolus Pro 5 TLR wheelset? At approx 1200€ they're roundabout OP's price range. I've been thinking about getting a pair.

Here's a link to the website: https://www.trekbikes.com/ie/en_IE/ie/en_IE/equipment/cycling-components/bike-wheels/road-bike-wheels/bontrager-aeolus-pro-5-tlr-road-wheel/p/22641/

There's actually a set of them for sale close to me, taken off a new bike

harringtonp

tuxy wrote: »

You can get unlucky no matter what brand you go with. I imagine this would have worked out better for me if I had baought them in a shop and not online.

This is very true. In my case I had a Krysium rim crack years ago and sent it back to CRC for free where they rebuilt it and sent it back.

I also bought 2 sets of superstar component wheels some years back which come with a lifetime truing guarantee. One of the sets kept popping spokes and I kept sending it back (had to pay postage there, about 20EUR). Eventually the rebuilt the wheels for free with cheaper but heavier spokes and I've been riding on them trouble free ever since.

With the Far East and wheel builders you're on your own when it comes to repairs. With susperstar I suspect they had rookies at times building wheels. While most wheel builders won't cover repairs at their expense you can at least expect a good build to start with.

CantGetNoSleep

Thanks for all the recommendations -

I've likely made up my mind to go for 50mm carbon rims, DT Swiss 240 and Sapim CX Ray. Comes to 759 EUR from Farsports or 1050 from a wheel builder close to me in Belgium. Will likely go for the wheel builder as when you add VAT you are within 100 EUR or so.

The other option is I see a lot of wheelsets taken off new bikes. E.g. close to me I see a new Syncros Capital 1.0 50 disc or a Bontrager Aeolus Pro 5 disc, but I don't know if these would be any better than the spec above.

CantGetNoSleep

And in the end - I went for a DT Swiss Arc 1400 Dicut Db 62mm Disc

Someone near to me has ordered a Canyon Aeroad and wanted to claw a bit of money back so I've bought his wheels. A bit bigger than what I wanted but cost me 850€ so couldn't turn it down! Not sure how warranty will work if they came off a new bike, but I think they will be more reliable or easier to sort if anything goes wrong than Farstports would have been.

Now just have to wait for delivery - mad that when I posted this getting stuff from China was delayed, now stuff coming in from Germany is the problem.