new wheels decision

[retroride]

Hi guys. I'm in the market for new wheels. What can I expect to get for $500. Is it worth going second-hand ? I currently ride on mavic cxp22. Has anyone had any luck with the Chinese carbon sets. If so got any links?

[AUbicycles]

Chinese carbon wheelsets are difficult. If you do have issues they can be hard to resolve.
You will likely get the best deal from online retailers - or even better brands that sell direct to customer (i.e. no middleman).

With secondhand you can get a great deal, but don't get the security of warranty and knowing the history and (current) quality of the wheel. It would be preferable, in this case, to buy from someone you know, the advantage being that you are not a stranger so they care for your well being so you are more likely to get a reliable second hand wheelset.

Pro-Lite Oz are an advertiser on this site and have a range of wheels which are recognised as being good value, a number of the forum members have pro-lite. Swiss Side are overseas and are a past advertiser and are a 'skip the middleman' brand with good reviews and value. I ride the Francs however these would be above your budget.

[softy]

Wheels are a common seller on gumtree.

I have sold a few, normally one third is typical of a new price.
Check brake tracks and spoke tension, cracks, plus trueness. Quite often you can pick up triathlons wheels in good nick as they save them for racing only and have hardly been used
If you are after 11speed it may be more difficult.

Good luck.

[Tim]

Shimano RS 81.
Excellent quality, durability, reliability and performance.

[softy]

At 500AUD, I would suggest going for a high end ally wheel.

It is not quite enough to get into a good carbon wheel, even secondhand.

I would look for fulcrum zeros, or the mavic top end ones, not sure of the specs. Someone will chime in. These wheels are beautifully made and popular. Retail is normally over 1k, so secondhand 500, should drop you into this market.

[tk38]

Fulcrum and shimano are fine secondhand wheels. Mavic has really peeved me in the past. They have this bushing in the freehub body that is poorly designed and wears quickly. If ridden in the rain, it won't last long at all.
Look it up, mavic freehub bushing.

[retroride]

Thanks for the detailed responses. I'm not much of a gear guy so have no idea about models/brands of quality wheels. It a bit daunting when looking on gumtree. Not sure whats a good deal. Some great info to start the search though. I did do a bit of research on the Chinese carbon wheels and a number of people recommend carbon speed cycle. Anyone delt with these guys?

[softy]

I am not really a fan of buying copy wheels.

I haven't owned any, but to me composites are not a simple thing. In a wheel they need to deal with brake surface tempreture and varying stresses from the road and riding. I have also read that the hub can be of poor quality and fail. There is a few articles on the net, how there mod them to make them better. I hate to state the obvious; you get what you pay for.

Carbon wheels can be a little over-rated if clinchers. They quite often (the cheaper ones) aren't that much lighter, sometimes quite heavy, so all you are relying on is a improved aero, which is bugger all until you are up into the high thirties / forties.

To me, if riding carbon, they have to be light, otherwise, what is the point riding a light weight composite. Tubulars rims are winners in this area, as they are aero and light.

Light wheels are awesome they just spin up so nicely.

I would do more research, do comparision weights vs cost and quality. Top end alluminium wheels are pretty great, don't dismiss them so quickly against carbon.

[Duck!]

Carbon wheels can be a little over-rated if clinchers. They quite often (the cheaper ones) aren't that much lighter, sometimes quite heavy, so all you are relying on is a improved aero, which is bugger all until you are up into the high thirties / forties.

To me, if riding carbon, they have to be light, otherwise, what is the point riding light weight composite.

Comfort. Due to the composite construction carbon wheels offer a blend of stiffness & smoothness no other material can produce. The carbon itself provides stiffness against low frequency stressed such as pedalling forces, while the resin binder, being essentially plastic and therefore somewhat rubbery, quite effectively absorbs high frequency road vibration better than any alloy rim.

[battler2]

order a set of campy zonda's on wiggle 2-way fit for $512 delivered to your doorstep. you can run tubeless and never* fix a flat roadside again and have better ride quality for a reasonable price.

best hurry, as they're nearly out of stock!

*unless your tyre gets cut >3mm

[retroride]

Just had a look at my bike and I'm running CXP 33 not the 22s that I said before. They are an older set though but from what I've read they are a solid rim. Is it worth upgrading them if I've only got 500 to spare? I really want something that you'd classify as a performance based rim.

[softy]

Carbon wheels can be a little over-rated if clinchers. They quite often (the cheaper ones) aren't that much lighter, sometimes quite heavy, so all you are relying on is a improved aero, which is bugger all until you are up into the high thirties / forties.

To me, if riding carbon, they have to be light, otherwise, what is the point riding light weight composite.

Comfort. Due to the composite construction carbon wheels offer a blend of stiffness & smoothness no other material can produce. The carbon itself provides stiffness against low frequency stressed such as pedalling forces, while the resin binder, being essentially plastic and therefore somewhat rubbery, quite effectively absorbs high frequency road vibration better than any alloy rim.

Maybe so, but I can't feel the difference on carbon bikes.

If you really want comfort go tubulars, maybe that is why I can't feel any difference, I run tubulars exclusively.

[softy]

order a set of campy zonda's on wiggle 2-way fit for $512 delivered to your doorstep. you can run tubeless and never* fix a flat roadside again and have better ride quality for a reasonable price.

best hurry, as they're nearly out of stock!

*unless your tyre gets cut >3mm

Very nice wheels, tubeless not to sure, the jury is still out, but just whack a tube in, normal clincher tyre.

[softy]

Just had a look at my bike and I'm running CXP 33 not the 22s that I said before. They are an older set though but from what I've read they are a solid rim. Is it worth upgrading them if I've only got 500 to spare? I really want something that you'd classify as a performance based rim.

People raced before carbon was invented, they had wood then aluminium. The old aluminium wheels had a higher spoke count but the rim was lighter. Now we have carbon. I personally had some of the cheaper carbon rims and in think you get better value in that price range with high end ally. The wheels we are talking about are the top pre built wheels available in this material. A wheel is just not the out rim. The hub, freehub, spokes and rim are all adding up to make a better wheel. The fulcrum zeros I had where a awesome wheel with ball and cup bearings. These give the best resistance to sideway forces. The freehub sounds beautiful and the rim is made with the best aluminum techniques. You can easily race on these wheels. I picked a set of these up in tubulars for 400 new, older model. But I was lucky. Normal around 12 to 1400. As I said, look around with a keen eye bargains are to be had!

[battler2]

Just had a look at my bike and I'm running CXP 33 not the 22s that I said before. They are an older set though but from what I've read they are a solid rim. Is it worth upgrading them if I've only got 500 to spare? I really want something that you'd classify as a performance based rim.

really depends on what it is exactly you want from new wheels (ride quality/acceleration/stiffness for climbing/aero/weight?). 500 is going to get you very good alloys but i dont think you can even get the cheapest/worst carbon for that much.

you'd need to stretch your budget quite a bit for china carbon, and light-bicycle has a decent rep from the research ive done, although both positives and negatives come from others, and these guys as well. i think they're all connected somehow, as i get emails from others i've never dealt with before, out of the blue. but as others have mentioned, there's a risk they can have brake shudder/delamination/poor warranty, but i think it's getting better. http://www.light-bicycle.com/carbon-roa ... ike-wheels" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

if you don't know much about wheels, tubeless may not be for you if you don't want the effort of getting difficult tyres on and injecting sealant in, zonda's in regular non tubeless are 100 cheaper on wiggle again, so around 400, and i'd still recommend them. there's other wheels i don't recommend and that's because value for money/quality seems far fetched to me more than anything.

other options are shimano wheels 6800 or higher, but replacement spokes are hard to source apparently. a LBS will just push on you whatever they have in stock. even start by just reading reviews on wiggle and chainreactioncycles, and see if any impress you and are on sale.

[Duck!]

If you really want comfort go tubulars, maybe that is why I can't feel any difference, I run tubulars exclusively.

All other things being equal, carbon trumps out, but carbon clinchers might lose a small edge due to the tyre interface. I've definitely felt the difference switching from alloy to carbon rims on both road and MTB carbon frames, even with suspension on both ends of the MTB.