New Wheels Reviews Please!

+ 1 for the Zondas. Stiff and fairly light, very strong but you can't replace the rims for less than the cost of a whole new wheelset!

If you want something lighter but a little less stiff try shimano rs80 c24. (shimano/SRAM compatible only)

15 stone 10 and use fulcrum 7's and mavic kysriums.

Both are perfect true after 3 years use, they were factory built. You don't need handbuilt, it is nice but its not necessary. I was wary of going below 32spoke but I really haven't had any issues and i'm a 6ft 5 lump pushing it quite hard.

I'm 16 1/2 stone and I commute into London every day on crappy roads - 50K round trip. I went through the same dilemma a few months ago. I'm not an expert but I went for some Fulcrum Racing 5 wheels. I got them from JE James - very good deal - I think it was £120 for the pair. So far i'm very pleased with them. Previously i had some bog standard bontrager wheels that were very good. I had some richey wheels a while back and didn't rate them at all - kept having to get them trued.

Get a pair of hand built wheels. Get them made locally. If anything goes wrong, unlikely, the wheel builder will have spares etc and should be able to repair in a day or so. Plus they'll loan you one until its repaired.

Go for the Elites (my first bike came with these) they look good and might weigh a few grams less. But if anything serious goes wrong - in my experience it will - then you'll have to hoke out receipts, assuming they're still under warranty, return them back to the shop ( or on-line retailer) wait around a few weeks, maybe a month, until you're reunited with your wheels again. If they're out of warranty it's going to cost a fair bit of money and a lot of time. You'll start hearing the phrase "cheaper to get a new wheel" a lot.

Ambrosio Excellence/Excellight rims on Zenith hubs. I can highly recommend.

hopefully it's not upsetting but Fulcrum 5's are not cup and cone, they use 6001 bearings. Everything above them in Fulcrums range is

£180 - that's a very good price, better than several big online retailers.

And a LBS that dissuades customers from buying popular factory wheels... must be a sound team!

Build your own. Dt swiss rr465 rims, the correct spokes and shimano 105 hubs and rim tape will come in at about £200. They won't be light or low spoke count, but you can build them whatever pattern and colour you want (limited by availability of parts).

Leaves you with £100 for a truing stand, plus a little for the spoke key and tension meter that I would highly recommend if building for yourself.

Advice on the internet is of variable quality, but sheldon brown gives all the advice you need.

I just finished building a 2x front, 3x rear with the above mentioned parts. If I built again I'd go 2x Driveside rear but otherwise I've build a set of wheels I'm pleased with.

I've just got a pair of Hope Hoops - Mavic Open Pro on Hope Pro III hubs - very happy with them. Hand built (although most 'factory built' wheels are handbuilt unless they're on very low end bikes). Roll well, the rim and spokes are easily replaced should any mis haps occur and Hope have very good customer service.

Should get them for a wee bit over £300, include rim strips and spare spokes but not skewers.

I was actually planning on building my own with Pro III's and H+Son TB14 rims but left it too late and needed them for a holiday - the major advantage of that would have been i could have chosen silver hubs, rims and spokes instead of black.

"My experience of rebuilding a Mavic Ksyrium rear wheel is so bad that I have promised myself never to takle the job again (so don't even ask)."

From http://paolocoppo.drupalgardens.com/content/rebuilding-wheel

You really can't beat a pair of handbuilts! Most LBSs can build you up a set for about your budget and they will last you more miles than you can ride! (Probably!)

I recommend Zondas if you want factory built at around £300

H plus sons archetype rims. Hope pro3 hubs and cxray spokes for about £500, but DT swiss hubs are good and a bit cheaper (340s?) I prefer them to the factory built wheels I have of a similar price. they are reliable and spares are standard parts. I have been banging out the miles on these wheels and they are pretty bombproof. They have a wide rim profile which is nice too. I think I went for 28 spokes front and rear maybe less on the front, but they have taken some big hits and you would struggle to see any imperfections without a truing stand.

I love my Fulcrum Racing 5 CX wheels (around £200) which I've been using over the winter -incredibly strong and with quiet durable hubs built for cyclocross conditions - what more do you want for British roads? I did not notice much difference with my Mavic Ksyrium SR wheels which are 4 times the price!

Kyserium elites are my choice after running some Alex rims then Shimano R500s
Not had a problem yet and tthey have had some big hits recently and are still true

If it helps I'm 12 stone

You got a budget in mind?

The more I read about them the more I'd like some handbuilt hoops, and if you're not chasing light weight they needn't cost much.

Otherwise Shimano 6700 is good value for a factory wheelset, and available at a lot less than RRP.

Reviews on this site at http://road.cc/review-archive?tid=10730

But to be faster you need to get fitter.

What about mavic cxp 33,s with 32 spokes front 36 spokes rear i got a pair hand built for jst over £200 from lbs, so if spoke breaks or wot ever, no pushing jst open brakes, ride hme as usual, and cheap to replace, i use these on long rides ,with no problem.,ask your lbs

I have Kysrium Elites - one year on they still run true. Light and strong - can't praise them enough.

I recently bought the 2013 campagnolo zhondas. Made my felt a totally different bike. Cant recommend them highly enough. Got them from vanilla bikes, took two days to come. £279 delivered.