Tyre/Wheelset combo

[AndStilliRise]

May have been asked before, however could anyone tell me which wheelset and tyres will provide the biggest gains please?

I am looking for an upgrade and a decent wheelset is the way to go, apparently.

I have a pinna GANRS with Di2 Ultegra if that helps.

[Dannbodge]

What wheels do you currently have?
What sort of riding do you normally do?
What is your budget?

Tyre wise, you can't go wrong with S-works Turbos, Pirelli P-Zero Velo or GP4000s

[z4RRSchris]

the nice bike has zipp 404's and Michelin Power Competition
the race bike has chinese 60mms with the same section as 404's with Michelin Power Competition
i have a set of 202's with Grand Prix Supersonic which are light as fk

all the other wheels, hunts, c24's etc have gatorskins or 4000s on.

[Bobley]

That appears to be a pretty top end bike with Fulcrum 5s as standard.

The worlds your oyster really.

I'm not a fan of really expensive wheels. I just cant see where the money goes. The're the same shape, bearing, spokes as many hand built wheels but they have big brand labels on.

Personally I like to build my own wheels nowadays so I'd use some sort of carbon wide U shaped rim. The depth would be designed to suit the application (climber, sprinter/crit or TT...) lace them up with decent Sapim spokes and just use some sort of cheap Novatec hub with some nice ceramic bearings swapped in. They'd cost me about £400. My lad has been racing his 35mm U shaped jobbies for 2 years now. They've not let him down, weigh about 1350g and cost me £400 all in.

Hunt will now sell you the same wheel for £880 and many people rave about them so perhaps have a look there?

You could stick with the Fulcrum theme though and get some Fulcrum Racing Zero Carbon wheels. They look loverly, again, very light strong wheels. My only experience with Fulcrums is a set of Racing 3s we've had for 4 years now. I've needed to re-rim them once (shouldn't have used them for CX) but the parts were available from the LBS so no agro. Friends on Mavics have to throw there's away as all the spokes/nipples/rims welded themselves together.

[13aines]

I just bought second hand 1480g Cosine 32 mm wheels for £130. This was a 700g saving over my standard Giant SR2 wheels on my (low end) Giant Contend 2. Not carbon, but very light and feel stiff enough to me, but i'm no Bradley Wiggins!

Edit: Looking at your bike online I suspect your budget for wheels can stretch much further

Edited by 13aines on Tuesday 13th February 14:33

[counterofbeans]

Lightweight Meilensteins.

Should get you comfortably under 4 hours for Ride London.

[okgo]

counterofbeans said:

Lightweight Meilensteins.

Should get you comfortably under 4 hours for Ride London.

[AndStilliRise]

Thank you for all the suggestions. The carbon zero look great!

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobile/fulcrum-...

But these look good as well.
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobile/campagno...

There seems so much choice and the worry is spending loads and not getting it right.

Edited by AndStilliRise on Tuesday 13th February 16:12

[z4RRSchris]

AndStilliRise said:

Thank you for all the suggestions. The carbon zero look great!

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobile/fulcrum-...

nah. you need some deep ones. look more gucci

[stongle]

counterofbeans said:

Lightweight Meilensteins.

Should get you comfortably under 4 hours for Ride London.

Doubt It, there at least 15 decent coffee shops on the route to pose outside off. And really, you'd want to be on Fernwegs. 7k, fill ya boots.

[13aines]

Serious question, why spend a fortune on carbon wheels when lighter or equivalent weight aluminium wheels are available for much less money? Simply aero gains and additional stiffness?

[okgo]

Marketing.

[stongle]

They look better.

[yellowjack]

AndStilliRise said:

...but these look good as well.
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobile/campagno...

CRC item description said:

"Ultra-lightweight decals eliminate the need for heavy adhesives and painting, reducing the overall weight by nearly 15g"

Marginal gains?



Looks like 'okgo' was right...

okgo said:

Marketing.

[Dr Imran T]

okgo said:

Marketing.

Indeed, most of the marketing blurb is utter tripe. Shame it's such a hugely powerful tool in 'duping' many people to buy things they don't really need.

[okgo]

I managed to go under 4 hours for RIDE LONDON!!!!1111111 on stty Reynolds last year, and my breakaway companion managed it on stty Flo wheels. Its almost like its very little to do with the bike and more about the thing on it....

[Jimbo.]

okgo said:

Marketing.

Don’t forget the coffee shop kudos that comes with a set of “breathtaking” wheels.

To quote The Inbetweeners, you’ll be drowning in sopping wet clunge before you’ve hit the blueberry notes of your first espresso...

[z4RRSchris]

okgo said:

I managed to go under 4 hours for RIDE LONDON!!!!1111111 on stty Reynolds last year, and my breakaway companion managed it on stty Flo wheels. Its almost like its very little to do with the bike and more about the thing on it....

but his flos are a 90mm rear and 60mm front and look well gucci.

hashtag bowmantillidie

[JEA1K]

Dr Imran T said:

Indeed, most of the marketing blurb is utter tripe. Shame it's such a hugely powerful tool in 'duping' many people to buy things they don't really need.

But then the majority of overweight middle aged men who buy them are ripe for the taking ;-)

The difference between cheap wheels and expensive wheels ... well, the performance differences are negligible ... taking a larger dump before you ride will make a bigger weight gains.

The cost is about 4x that of cheaper wheels. But I would say the main differential is the quality of hubs ... when I talk about quality, how they roll is a load of gash, I'm talking quality of components so bearings last more than 6 months and the freehub doesn't explode at anything over 200w. But then they're not that expensive to fix when they do go wrong ...

So if you want 'cheap', go to Farsport etc, if you want decent, go for the larger brands with good warranties like Fulcrum, Vision or Reynolds ... and if you want to spunk some serious wedge, then go for it, just don't be disappointed when you expect the wheels to totally transform your performance ;-)

[AndStilliRise]

And this is the point of cycling, how do you know it is the bike, the components, the training or the rider? I just seems like such a lottery with all the various combinations that you can not ever know completely and it just becomes frustrating.

I also run marathons which is more based on the runner's capabilities than anything else.

Thank you for all your replies but now I am even more confused than before! Although the Bora ultras look like the winner's I just can not bring myself to spend £2k on a wheelset.