How many wheelsets do you have? and what's the best all rounder?

gn3dr · 02-10-2021 11:23pm #1

Just wondering

I've got back into cycling in the last 2 yrs after a long lay off. When I was last racing in the 80's and 90's the typical was a set of heavy duty training wheels and a set of nice light racing wheels.

Just wondering what the standard is now? (all rim brake focused of course)

In the last few years my winter wheels were either Shimano WHR550 (did the job but the nipples down at the hub are a pain in the hole if you need to true them) or a set of Mavic Cosmos (in eighties blue)

For summer I had a set of Mavic Ksyrium SSC SL until recently (until the rear rim pulled a spoke thread through the rim - very pissed about this because I can't find a replacement rim and i really liked these) So this year I bought a second hand set of Mavic Cosmic Carbons (the alu rim carbon fairing ones - heavy - but they look good)

I also still have a practically unused set of American Classic CR420's with a TA Specialities aluminium cassette (9 speed still so unusable on my bikes which are 10 speed now) These used to be my good wheels back in the days when I was focused on weight weenies stuff. I'm looking at them now thinking these are too light for winter use but I'm not racing any more so why do I need them?

It seems to me like a lot of people are just running a single set of carbon wheels these days? Is this the case? Is the advent of disc brakes making it possible to just use one set of wheels all year round?

Back in the day I thought the Ksyrium SL as the best compromise between weight and durability.Is this still the case? What is the ideal wheel now for Irish roads (rim braked)

magicbastarder · 03-10-2021 8:10am

I just have zondas on the summer bike and aksiums on the winter bike. I picked up a cheap pair of secondhand aksiums which are hanging on the wall in the garage cos I thought a friend needed a set, but that's it for the road bikes.

koutoubia · 03-10-2021 9:14am

1 set of Bora Ultra 50's Tubular

1 set of generic chinese rims 60mm deep narrow brake track on powerway hubs recently rebuit.

1 set of Alu rims from a maker called Remerx (Czeck company I think)customed built and laced by lukaz in Apex cycles to a set of Novatec silver hubs.

1 set of tubless BTLOS rims 60mm deep wide brake track tubless rims laced to DT Swiss 350s hubs. These havent arrived yet but had a set on DT Swiss 240 hubs and sold them to a club mate. Regretted the sale very quickly afterwards so ordered a new set.

And my all round favourite ,and imo fastest, Edco 30mm rims laced to their own hubs. Really love these wheels but need Campagnolo red brake pads for decent braking.

Think thats it....

gn3dr · 03-10-2021 9:21am

Aksiums seem to be pretty popular.

I have to go off and Google most of your wheels Koutoubia to see what they are...😁

I have built my own wheels in the past ..might have a look at doing something like that as a project.

secman · 03-10-2021 10:16am

1. Metron vision 40's carbon wheelset

2. Zipp 302 40's carbon wheelset

3. Campag Zonda's alu wheelset

4. Fucrum racing 3 alu wheelset

5. Fulcrum quatro wheelset

1 and 2 on summer bikes

3 and 4 on 1 winter bike rotated

5 brand new and to be used on 2nd winter bike to be yet sourced having moved one on.

iwillhtfu · 03-10-2021 10:23am

Have quite a few but among them favourites are mavic ksyrium slrs and the campag shamal mille. both I'd say are ideal race wheels. The ksyriums probably better for the lighter riders as they've some carbon spokes on the rear.

Have full carbon aero wheels and zipp 404s I still prefer the above.

Macy0161 · 04-10-2021 8:33pm

Just the stock ones that came with the bikes! On the list for next year, despite some reservations about investing in rim braked wheels.

Seth Brundle · 05-10-2021 8:46am

For my road bike, I've three sets with a fourth due soon. All alu rim brake:

Mavic Ksyrium which came with the bike (will sell on sooon)

Mavic Ksyrium Elite (bought on here a few months ago and will sell on soon)

Miche Reflex (bought for winter commuting)

Due any day now - Scribe Pace

ednwireland · 05-10-2021 9:24am

fulcrum racing 6 DB -stock wheels on the Disc

bontrager aeolus pro 5 -just taken them off and put the stock wheel on for the winter.

zonda on the rim brake bike

theres a shimano rs10 set and ksyrium sl set (rim brake) which are pretty worn out that i dont use

gaffmaster · 05-10-2021 9:25am

Modern wheelsets will have a wider rim to accommodate bigger volume tyres - though I'm sure you're already aware of that. That's likely the main difference between what you already own and what's out there now.

I have a set of Campagnolo Zondas that have thousands of kms on them, and still run true - zero maintenance other than a decent clean now and again. I use them all year round on my rim brake bike, and they're starting to wear a bit too much at the rim. I'll likely replace them with the same again, or the Fulcrum equivalent.

lissard · 05-10-2021 9:56am

Three sets of wheels for me:

Shimano RS11 (came with the bike - good for winter)

Mavic Ksyrium Elite (best all rounder)

Mavic Cosmic Pro Carbon (picked up 2nd hand here - use for racing)

comete · 05-10-2021 10:09am

Two wheelsets for me:

hope rs4/open pro for winter

hunt carbon 36/50 for racing/summer

fat bloke · 05-10-2021 10:15am

I'm fully rim-braked. I have a habit of buying nice wheels and nice things and then leaving them in the attic and putting all my mile on cheap wheels.

I'm a big fan of the older Mavic wheels though, before they went all hippy experimental with their tubeless crap. I went on a bit of a spree last year, hoovering up some sets of regular clincher, tried and tested, tubed wheelsets before they all disappeared off the shelves. Currently I've a set of Mavic SLR exaliths that I bought in 2012 and they're still going strong. True as an arrow, straight as a die, light as a feather. Then I've 2 pairs of the cosmic version of the same wheel, bought second hand. I've a set of posh, shallow rim, super light FFWD carbon clinchers that only see good weather. Oh and I've a set of fulcrum racing zero nites as well, bought brand new and haven't been used at all yet!

Come to think of it I've set of aksiums still in their wrappers as well, which I must put into winter service now actually.

Chips Lovell · 05-10-2021 10:17am

I've a fair few at the moment. Have kind of started stockpiling lest the choice of rim-braked wheels start to shrink.

Campagnolo Khamsin - Winter training
Zondas - All round riding
Shamal Mille - Fair weather cycling and hilly races
Bora Ultra - Racing
FFWD rear disc and Easton EC90 55m front - Time Trials
Mavic Ellipse - Track

Best all-rounder? Zondas without a doubt. Good enough to race on and sturdy enough to get you through a heavy winter.

The Boras and Shamals are pointless, indulgent spaffing of money, since I'm only doing club races and a handful of open races at the moment. But the upside of that is that they should last me a good while.

gn3dr · 05-10-2021 7:50pm

Nice collections of wheels there. Zondas do seem to pick up a good bit of praise from what I read online. Have seem them referred to as the gold standard.

I'm still on 23 mm tyres so the narrow old school stuff suits me. I'm not convinced yet by the fat tyre stuff. My winter bike is a Ti Chinese custom build and I modelled it on a TCR geometry with the short chain stays so there is feck all clearance between the tyre and the seat tube - so 23mm tyres is all that will work there anyway. Plusbigger rims = more weight.

Seth Brundle if you are selling the Ksyriums drop me a PM. I might be interested if not crazy money. Or if anyone has a rear Ksyrium SL rim I'd like to try repair mine so would be interested (I think the Ksyrium Elite is the same rim). I really liked the Ksyrium's for weight and strength (until one broke!)

Those Scribe wheel you have coming look interesting. I had read some reviews of those and their lower model 365 - all seem positive. Good to see it's an Irish company too although I presume the wheels are not made here.

The Cosmic carbons I bought this year look and sound good but they are a bit hairy on the front when descending at speed in a high cross wind - definitely have to hold on on windy days.

I might go looking at Zondas as well given the feedback. - I see they are reduced to €407 in Chain Reaction

ARX · 06-10-2021 10:39am

Any opinions on these? 42 mm rim depth, heavy enough but then so am I.

https://www.wiggle.co.uk/pro-lite-bracciano-dark-label-a42w-aero-road-wheelset

Large bottle small glass · 06-10-2021 10:50am

For road bike I just have one wheelset now, a pair of hplus son rims with a 7800 hub on rear and a Miche hub on front.

Bought 2nd hand in 2014 in near new condition and have been used since,

New rim put on rear about 12 months ago but front is still original. Over 40k km on wheelset. New rim bought for the front which will go on when I find tensiometer

Have always used with gp4000 28mm tyres.

Seth Brundle · 07-10-2021 7:13am

Seth Brundle if you are selling the Ksyriums drop me a PM. I might be interested if not crazy money. Or if anyone has a rear Ksyrium SL rim I'd like to try repair mine so would be interested (I think the Ksyrium Elite is the same rim). I really liked the Ksyrium's for weight and strength (until one broke!)

Damaged my front Elite last night against a kerb 😭

nicksnikita · 07-10-2021 7:06pm

Another vote for the Zondas. I run them year-round for racing and training. Although I'd have Mavic Ksyrium Elites on a par with them.

brownian · 08-10-2021 4:33pm

To develop a point made above - if you've a collection of rim-brake wheels, it's hard to buy a new bike that's disk-braked, even if you think discs are better. I"m trapped in rim-land by the nice wheels I don't want to discard (or worse, sell cheap on boards).

So - AL33s with tune hubs. Great wheel, fast and light, but I wrecked the rear this winter, and they don't make them any more. Might replace with Duke RR30 on the back. Are they actually any faster than 22mm rims? Really, I don't know...and I don't really believe so, which is why I've now only got shallow-rim wheels...

Extralite cyberhubs with some sort of German super-narrow rim, that I bought purely on the basis of weight, years ago (1200g or something close). Years later, they sound a teeny bit rough if you listen super-close, but otherwise good as new. Only thing is, the rims won't take more than 25mm.
BikeBeat UberFlieger Pros - as cool as the name - woven carbon fibre, Tune Mig/Mag hubs. Light, fast, look really cool. But I sold them on here, as the breeze on the front wheel worried me on fast descents, and I wanted to buy...
Duke Road Runner 22s with Carbon-Ti hubs (in the post from WheelTec.nl as we speak), which will be nearly as light as the extralites, but will take any size of tyre...so if I do get another rim-brake road bike (this time with bigger tyre clearance) I'll have good wheels for it. In the meantime, these'll be my routine ride.
Hunt Aeros (the 22mm or so one). Loud, but very solid and reliable. On my wife's bike now, and she loves them.
Swisside Hadrons (the 22mm or ones). Slick looking, got them cheapish, but didn't love them enough to keep them, and sold them on.

Best of them? They've all been great, to be fair. I've also had Neutron Ultras and Shamals, but the custom wheels are that bit more attractive, IMHO. And need not be crazy money. I am hoping the Duke RRs will be the best so far, and I can stop buying more wheels...at least until I get a disc-brake bike.

gn3dr · 08-10-2021 6:03pm

Must have a browse of wheeltec.nl later. Haven't heard of them.

Wheels are like bikes I suppose in that there are some crazy priced ones out there.

Idleater · 08-10-2021 6:12pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117994252#Comment_117994252

I've a set of extralites but with Stan's wide rims. They make 23s like 25 and 25 like 27. I've replaced the rear bearings and converted to 11 speed but they are a super wheel. I also have a set of Easton ea90 sl, but they are not as sl as the extralites.

Other than that my commute wheels are open pro hand built.

dragratchet · 10-10-2021 6:19pm

Fast Forward F60's
Fulcrum Speed 55 Disc
Mavic Cosmics
Fulcrum racing 4.
Cheapo cannondale cx disc wheelset

DaveyDave · 13-10-2021 9:48am

I have 3 wheelsets across two bikes. Campag Zonda rim brake version on the road bike and Fulcrum Racing 4 disc on the road ebike. Plus whatever awful Alexrims that came on the ebike. I wanted Zonda disc wheels for my ebike but Canyon have a 15mm front thru axle on their Endurace ON but 12mm on all their other bikes so they didn't fit, hence the Fulcrums.

Can't fault Zonda wheels. They've taken some serious abuse over the years. I've hit some wrist shattering unexpected potholes at speed and never slow down for speedbumps, combined with being 110kg they're a seriously solid wheel.

brownian · 19-10-2021 10:50am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117994660#Comment_117994660

Was it a big job to replace the bearings? I'm tempted, as my extralites do make a little bit of noise I'm not wild about...

Idleater · 19-10-2021 1:08pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118041107#Comment_118041107

I don't believe so, I didn't actually do that job myself, i left the whole wheel with my local wheel builder as it had to be redished for 11speed and he did it at the same time. I'm pretty sure the bearings are a standard size. You can always email extralite themselves, they've been pretty helpful when I contacted them before. They'd tell you what is involved anyway, the instructions for the 11speed upgrade was to go to a mechanic.

How many wheelsets do you have? and what's the best all rounder?

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