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Wheel advice please

I have £400 I want to spend on new wheels. The wheels will probably have to double up as training and race wheels - any ideas?? I have been told Fulcrum Racing 3 are a good choice

Comments

  • I had some Fulcrums, believe they are 5's which came with my Specialized SL3 road bike. I don't know your weight but I found they flexed a lot when putting in efforts on climbs with a lot of rubbing on the brakes which if opened up more to avoid the issue were as good as useless. Like a lot of bikes in this price range I found the wheels supplied very disapointing. At the time was around the 85kg mark, I have lost a good bit more weight but have not tried them out again. Nor do I know how much stiffer the 3's are.

    I have upgraded to Dura Ace C24's which you might find last years model for around £500, the non tubeless version, which are absoloutly fantastic wheels train on them with no problems on 25mm Gatorskins, and put on some race tires for special occasions, and they are easy to service. I know this is more than you stated in the post but they are only a little dearer than fulcrum 3's, and have yet to find anything other than top rate reviews for them. I originaly purchased them as a bridge before getting something really extravagant around the £1500 mark, they are that good I will not be bothering now.
  • bathtubbathtub Posts: 280
    Some brilliant Mavic deals on Planet X web site

    http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/news/pr ... -wheelsets
  • fire trifire tri Posts: 173
    was gonna say planet x myself, their own wheels are good, plus you can get some deep section wheels to use for racing and just use the wheels that came with your bike!!!

    I'd say depends what kinda events you do
  • ZacniciZacnici Posts: 1,385
    +1 for PX but out of stock at the moment http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/WPP ... set---700c

    As this is triathlon I do have to push the envelope and suggest that if you can squeeze to £499 you could get these (I have them ) http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/WPP ... ace-wheels
  • bunongbunong Posts: 49
    Thanks guys,

    I currently ride on Giants own wheels which came with the bike. The guy in my local bike shop turned his nose up at them - which pissed me off as every time he touches my bike something else goes wrong...

    Anyway should I spend £400 or £500 the age old problem... I would love to spend £1000 but that’s not going to happen. I may be able to squeeze to the PX carbon wheels, my only concern is that a mate bought a new PX bike with PX wheels and had to send the front wheel back as its hub was running as smoothly as his lawnmower - any feedback on build quality??

    By the way data behind my wheel choice is for Mr Average: I'm 82Kgish, rarely cycle on hills - I live near Cambridge and on race day do 25M in about 1:08 - 1:10ish. I'm looking for that elusive 8 - 10mins
  • In answering how much should you spend that is for you to decide. The age old cycling adage is spend the money on weight loss on rotating parts as that makes the biggest difference to speed so get the very best wheels you can 'comfortably' afford. Their rim weight and therfore their ability to accelerate is the key factor and often carbon rims in the lower price brackets for their type are not that light compared to a good quality aluminium option. I would also say the ability to service the wheel should also be a key consideration.
  • ZacniciZacnici Posts: 1,385
    The PX R50s I have are nice and light, 1296gms,rims weigh 350gms each, hand built, seem to rotate for ever, had them just over a year, did 2 Outlaws, Vitruvian and a dozen sprints, max rider weight 90kg. Soak up bumps nicely

    You could also look at getting some hand built wheels, e.g.
    http://www.wheelsmith.co.uk/wheelprices.htm
  • Planet x are fine for me

    Btw -I'd bin your bike shop - he sounds like a right twat
  • nivaghnivagh Posts: 595
    All the PX wheelsets are on offer at the moment - 50/50, 50/82, 82/101 all on at £399
  • jcs356jcs356 Posts: 37
    Don't discount second hand wheels - on the basis that £400 will get you approx an £800 RRP wheelset second hand that opens up a whole load of other options. Except for Zipp, that is.

    Oh, and my 2 penneth on PX - I agree they are cheap, but they are also on the heavy side, so unless you're riding pan-flat courses you may want to consider something lighter.
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