Factory or self build winter wheels?

[HughG]

I need to sort out some winter wheels fairly quickly to keep the tougher miles off my R-Sys. I usually have some spare wheels kicking about but having destroyed the r500s on the bike I keep in town the spares are now on that!

I'm in the fortunate position of being able to build a wheel myself and I was intending to build a pair of 32h Open Pros with decent hubs (ultegra, dura ace or perhaps hope pro3).

Alternatively I could just go and buy some factory wheels, perhaps Fulcrum Racing 5s which would probably be a bit cheaper initially, but whereas the others I could keep going indefinitely these would eventually die.

Any thoughts?

[matt-ITR]

So long as you pick a wheel with good spares availability I can't see an issue with a factory wheelset.
Mavic wheels used to be a nightmare for spares, but I am not sure if that is still the case. I have used Askiums for training and they seem pretty bombproof and also rather heavy.

Unless you are running discs, then the braking surface is most likely going to wear our before the hubs/bearings. Where as most people the cost of a rebuild is prohibitive, as you are able to do it yourself you do have that to your advantage.

[G321]

Self builds with H Plus son archetype rims with Miche primato hubs. parts would cost under £200 and you would have some wheels that would last a few years

[fromage]

If you ride alot in the rain/mud/grit etc I would steer clear of H-Plus son archtype rims, they are pretty soft & the brake tracks are pretty thin too. I managed to wear a set out in just 6 months. I would just go for Fulcrum Racing 5 LG's, I had an older set of Fulcrum rims and the brake tracks never seemed to wear in the 2 years of daily use I subjected them to.

[HughG]

Thanks for the replies. Going for something with simple round spokes that I can re-rim when necessary sounds logical. I have also heard that the archetype rims are soft hence opting for the Open Pro.

I will speak to Fulcrum and see what their spares availability and pricing is like.

[G321]

fromage said:

If you ride alot in the rain/mud/grit etc I would steer clear of H-Plus son archtype rims, they are pretty soft & the brake tracks are pretty thin too. I managed to wear a set out in just 6 months. I would just go for Fulcrum Racing 5 LG's, I had an older set of Fulcrum rims and the brake tracks never seemed to wear in the 2 years of daily use I subjected them to.

How many miles did you do to wear the rims out in 6 months?! I've done 2000 miles on mine this year and they've been great. From what I've heard they're easier to build than the open pro also

[gazza285]

HughG said:

Thanks for the replies. Going for something with simple round spokes that I can re-rim when necessary sounds logical. I have also heard that the archetype rims are soft hence opting for the Open Pro.

I will speak to Fulcrum and see what their spares availability and pricing is like.

Fulcrum rims are expensive and hard to find. I have two pairs for my 'cross bike, and won't be getting any more. I've built up some Open Pro on Hope Pro III, the rims might not be popular on here, but they are light and wear well, and I know that replacements are readily available for not much money.

[thiscocks]

I have some Mavic CXP22 rims on my winter bike- seem pretty tough and also pretty cheap at about £25 a rim. Always prefer hand built for winter bike wheels as its so much easier and cheaper for spokes plus can be built with 32 of them so less likely to break one.

[matt-ITR]

Open pro rims are pretty narrow. If you are using wider tyres, 25 or 28mm I'd go for a wider rim. Open pros will still work, but a wider rim gives the tyre more support and a better shape.

[okgo]

Fulcrum 7 LG - bargain and take fairly common spokes - 100 quid, they're basically a throwaway item at that price.

[gazza285]

matt-ITR said:

Open pro rims are pretty narrow. If you are using wider tyres, 25 or 28mm I'd go for a wider rim. Open pros will still work, but a wider rim gives the tyre more support and a better shape.

Mavic make touring rims as well;).

I've got 700 X 33 tyres on my Open Pros, running 35psi...

[Kawasicki]

is it unusual that I have never broken a spoke?

[gazza285]

Kawasicki said:

is it unusual that I have never broken a spoke?

Not at all, I've broken two, and that was caused by a dropped chain ripping into them, closely followed by the rear derailleur.

[HughG]

Kawasicki said:

is it unusual that I have never broken a spoke?

I've pulled a spoke through a rim, snapped rusty old spokes (4 in one go!), and snapped 2, one pulling away, and one hitting a pot hole. I'm no featherweight though!

Sounds like self build and see if I can find something a bit wider than the open pro is the way to go. Thanks all

[nammynake]

okgo said:

Fulcrum 7 LG - bargain and take fairly common spokes - 100 quid, they're basically a throwaway item at that price.

This. Or Aksiums with their sealed bearings.

[Some Gump]

for winter beaters, why not just buy gumtree / ebay factory wheels people are ditching whilst they upgrade?

This month on work website / local gumtree - R500 with tyres, never ridden 40 quid for pair. RS10's 200 miles 30 quid for the pair
That's just the ones I looked at because I need some rim tape for my front, and the tyre is 3.5k old - cheapy tyre and tape will be 20 quid easy, why not full brand new pair with wheels for 30/40?

Mad to get Fulcrum 7's at a ton IMO, the CEX6.5 is factory on loads of bikes, is a mix of Fulcrum 7 and 5 as an OEM job, and often 65 quid a pair on fleabay, again often with OE tyres (Schwalbe Luganos etc), tubes and tape chucked in...

[Matt_N]

G321 said:

Self builds with H Plus son archetype rims with Miche primato hubs. parts would cost under £200 and you would have some wheels that would last a few years

More like £230ish if you want Sapim or decent spokes and rim tape, but yeh a great wheelset for the money.

If you need a shop to build them up though you're looking at more like £300.

I've got polished Archetypes on Miche hubs on my Master and black on DT240 with CX-Ray on my Tarmac.