Wheels, wheels, wheels

Get yourself a pair built by your LBS. They'll give you decent advice and will likely be better value and better built (in my experience) than factory built. I had a pair of wheels built up with Open Pro rims and 105 hubs a couple of years ago, they cost me about £250 and have never had to be trued...

I have had a few sets of Fulcrum Racing 5 wheels and they have been excellent, stayed straight throughout and great value for money at around £200. Easily good enough for entry level racing, sportives and I use them for winter training as well.

Thanks for the advice. id love my lbs to be able to build be a set but I live in Northampton, it would appear Northampton is a bermuda triangle for decent bike shops. very frustrating. fulcrums may be the way forward then!

Campy Zonda's are the way to go on your budget and superior to the Fulcrum 5. Fulcrums tend to be heavier then the stated weights also. When I first upgraded my wheels I was looking at the F5;s but the aesthetics were not so appealing. Ended up with the Shimano RS30's in white for a little bling and they have proven to be bullit proof. Some might argue that building a set is better but in my opinion factory wheels are my preferred choice. They are produced by machines to exact tolerances and delivered to your door...no fuss no muss. I ordered mine on a Monday arrived on a Wednesday and to this day stayed true.

Hope Hoops rs monos. Open pros on on hopes pro3 hubs. Great wheels and great value. Love mine.

You can always have them delivered from a wheelbuilder like Harry Rowland or others for £250 and the ones he built me are bombproof (open pros on xt hubs).

Campagnolo Zondas are excellent wheels. I've had a set for 18 months and they are brilliant, fast rolling all rounders. I cruised up Holme Moss and Snake Pass on mine at the weekend. They are well worth it (equivalent to Fulcrum R3 if you are interested). Check out the Tour Quarterly grouptest to see what good value they are for stiffness, weight and rolling resistance. I thoroughly recommend them. If you want to go handbuilt, take a ride out of the Bermuda Triangle and over to Priory Marina Cycles in Bedford and have a chat with John. He's been building wheels for over 40 years and for pro teams too.

Brilliant, thanks for all the advice! Never expected this much help! (i'm new to the site).

did anyone say pro-lite bracciano yet? no? okay. pro-lite bracciano. best sub-£300 wheelset by a country mile, in my opinion

If you're not a "big" chap, Planet X Al30s, light and aero for £150. Change left over for a set of good tyres and tubes.

wot about hand built mavic cxp33,s with a spoke count 32 front 36 rear, cost about £210 from lbs and are bomb proof,

4th vote for the zondas, you can often get them for about £270 online, and are great.

All this goes to prove is that wheels are pretty good these days if you've got £200 to £300 to burn! Happy days.

What wheels do you have at the moment? Do you race, ride sportives, ride for fitness or just for fun? How much do you weigh, are you a strong rider and are you hard on your equipment?
Depending on your answers get somebody to build you a set of wheels for you. Even if you spend a little more you can get wheels that can be a lot easier to service and get spares for. So the cost of the wheels over the it's life will be cheaper. I've broken a spokes on a Mavic wheels both times, three to four weeks later and at a cost that would make Sapim X-rays look cheap.
Factory wheel do have a place but on a budget I'd get get hand builds.

i'm with dave. well it's because of his convincing argument i bought a pair of pro lite braccianos. best decision ever. not got much to compare them with but they are stunning value. roll beautifully and no flexing with my 90kg bulk

+1 for the zondas, have been riding mine for around 15 months and they are perfectly true. V stiff too. pro lite braccianos are awesome value, however, given their lighter weight. As a 'bigger' rider I can vouch for strength and durability of zondas though - don't know if this is a factor for you or not.

Looks like that's decision made to be honest. thanks for all the help everyone!

contact velo-smith.com david fletcher. he built my carbon/royce race wheels and has build some stunning sets for my mates. i would never go back to factory builds after recieving mine

Left field option coming......

Take a look at Kinetic K2's (just google it) I've got a set and they ride really well, smooth, fairly light for a sub £250 wheel set and just "feel right" coping well with some crappy roads as well.

And another for Pro Lite Bracciano ..

I purchased a pair seconfd hand a couple of years back and they get a lot of action ... still as true as the day I brought them..

Not sure of curent pricing, likley to be there or thereabouts though..

Just got myself a set of Cole Rollen eLites which are sub £250, light, good looking and stiff. Only had them a few weeks so can't comment on their longevity

Sorry if this blows your budget by 100 quid but I just had to point out Giant P-SLR1 for £400 online reduced from £750. Some good reviews and they appear to be sensibly designed as high performing all rounders. Have no experience of them directly but Giant as a company seem to be getting a lot of praise at the moment in a really competitive part of the market.

http://road.cc/content/review/50655-giant-p-slr1-wheelset

Thanks so much for all the advice guys, i had another look at my finances, which didn't take long, and saw that unless i wait until some point in august there'd be no way i could afford to put that by. SO i have bought and fitted a set of Fulcrum Racing 5s, put about 45 miles into them earlier and they're great! Considering how impressed i am with them i'm a bit depressed i couoldnt have afforded the Campys or some bespoke wheels, they muct be incredible.

Doesnt take much to impress me anyway.

Cheers again!

Good for you going for the Racing 5s. Great wheelset. Had a pair on my BMC until I replaced them with some PX carbon tubs. The Racing 5s are now on the winter training bike and are still as true as the day they came out of the shop.