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Wheelsets – the basics?!

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  • December 15, 2013 at 8:00 am #20354
    budget mamil

    I’m coming from a position of complete ignorance here, so please be patient…

    About a year ago I bought a Btwin Road 3 from Decathlon and I have had a wonderful time using it (when family commitments have allowed). I hadn’t owned a ‘proper’ bike for about 20 years so I’m very much behind with the technological developments and was amazed at how much better a ride it was than the old 531 machine my cousin helped me build as a teenager. When I first bought it various people-in-the-know said it was a great value bike but that I’d want new wheels for it. So I’m looking into that now…

    The problem is, I have no idea how the current wheels are letting me down or what to look for in new ones – I simply have no experiences of other wheels/bikes to compare them to! I obviously don’t want to spend lots of money on such a cheap bike, but I believe a good pair of wheels would enhance the ride.

    Please can you give me some advice on good low budget wheelsets, but also explain what sort of improvements I might expect from upgrading?

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  • December 17, 2013 at 5:05 am #765989
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    Shep73

    .

    edster99 wrote:
    Left field suggestion. Buy and run tubulars. The rims are lighter, the tyres are lighter, they roll much better, they puncture less than clinchers, and aren’t any more expensive.

    Most people are terrified of them because they think that changing them is difficult or impossible. I can tell you they are really not any harder to change out on the road.

    You don’t get snakebite punctures – there is no rim to pinch on.
    Modern tubulars have very good puncture resistance – as they call it ‘360 degree protection’.

    You can get loads of info on YouTube. It’s what I run for winter and summer : I bought some second hand wheels for £60, and a pair of Vittoria Evo Paves for £70. A spare Vittoria rally for £15 as a spare to take with me. Winter wheels sorted!


    Not ran tubs but I can say running tubeless on my mtb was one of the best things i did. Surprising what weight you can save and how it effects the steering. And yes I am scared of tubs but that’s all going by what others tell me. Although I had exactly the same about UST set ups.

    December 17, 2013 at 12:32 am #765987
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    edster99

    Left field suggestion. Buy
    Left field suggestion. Buy and run tubulars. The rims are lighter, the tyres are lighter, they roll much better, they puncture less than clinchers, and aren’t any more expensive.

    Most people are terrified of them because they think that changing them is difficult or impossible. I can tell you they are really not any harder to change out on the road.

    You don’t get snakebite punctures – there is no rim to pinch on.
    Modern tubulars have very good puncture resistance – as they call it ‘360 degree protection’.

    You can get loads of info on YouTube. It’s what I run for winter and summer : I bought some second hand wheels for £60, and a pair of Vittoria Evo Paves for £70. A spare Vittoria rally for £15 as a spare to take with me. Winter wheels sorted!

    December 16, 2013 at 10:51 pm #765985
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    racingcondor

    On cheap weight savings I’d
    On cheap weight savings I’d also add that light tubes are around 60g meaning you can save almost 100g for £12 and light tubes fit in small saddle bags more easily…

    December 16, 2013 at 10:48 pm #765983
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    racingcondor

    Wheel weight is typically
    Wheel weight is typically rims, hubs, spokes and nipples (i.e. excludes QR’s and rim tape).

    Occasionally you’ll also find some manufacturer conveniently forget that the freehub should be included but that sort of thing gets spotted very quickly…

    December 16, 2013 at 10:39 pm #765981
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    Swami Dave

    While we’re on it, what
    While we’re on it, what constitutes ‘wheel weight’? I’m assuming it’s just rims, hubs and spokes and excludes tape, tyres, tubes, QRs, etc. Yes?

    December 16, 2013 at 8:28 pm #765979
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    Nixster

    +1 for s/h Aksiums at £100.
    +1 for s/h Aksiums at £100.

    I upgraded no-names to those and noticed a significant difference on my bike then went to RS80s and noticed a smaller and more expensive difference.

    But before wheels sort tyres. I took nearly 400g off the weight of my bike by swapping out the original wire bead tyres for less than £50 and guess what, they still fit on the new wheels….

    December 16, 2013 at 7:27 pm #765977
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    Shep73

    .

    Simon E wrote:
    Shep73 wrote:
    Reading magazines will help you spend more than you need to.

    FTFY 😉 Most magazines serve their advertisers’ needs better than they do that of their readers.

    +1 to jason.timothy.jones’ post, which I’d say is the most relevant. Don’t spend money when you don’t need to. GP 4 Season is widely recommended as a great tyre.

    I would add that, on top of cleaning and occasional bearing adjustment, decent brake pads (that don’t scrub & sandpaper the rims) will extend any wheel’s life.

    My RS10s were an improvement on the AlexDA22s, though not by a spectacular margin. RS80s (£320) are nicer again but again not life-changing. The claims made by some people on other forums read like purchase justification to me.

    Completely agree but it does help reading them to pick up the technology and understand more about it’s effects. I didn’t have a clue about road riding but reading one magazine in particular has helped along with my road cycling mates and this website.

    December 16, 2013 at 4:30 pm #765975
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    Simon E

    Shep73 wrote:Reading

    Shep73 wrote:
    Reading magazines will help you spend more than you need to.

    FTFY 😉 Most magazines serve their advertisers’ needs better than they do that of their readers.

    +1 to jason.timothy.jones’ post, which I’d say is the most relevant. Don’t spend money when you don’t need to. GP 4 Season is widely recommended as a great tyre.

    I would add that, on top of cleaning and occasional bearing adjustment, decent brake pads (that don’t scrub & sandpaper the rims) will extend any wheel’s life.

    My RS10s were an improvement on the AlexDA22s, though not by a spectacular margin. RS80s (£320) are nicer again but again not life-changing. The claims made by some people on other forums read like purchase justification to me.

    December 16, 2013 at 4:30 pm #765973
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    roly

    i also bought a triban 3 and
    i also bought a triban 3 and used it lots until it was nicked. i upgraded my wheels to mavic open pros on tiagra hubs. around £150. bought on the basis of a really good chat with my LBS. i don’t think it has to be those specific wheels, but something reliable in that price range. basically it made me realise the bearings are fairly rubbish on the stock triban 3 wheels. it made a lot of difference. so it’s not just aero and weight. but with wheels, as the bike is cheap i would recommend it is the best bang for your buck. the rest of the kit on that bike will sustain you for a long time. just my personal experience.

    December 16, 2013 at 2:23 pm #765971
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    budget mamil

    You guys are really helpful
    You guys are really helpful (especially jason.timothy.jones – I’ll get on that forum asap)!

    I’ve got a new set of tyres coming for Christmas (4 seasons – I got fed up of falling off going up hill because of my back wheel spinning!) so I’ll see how I do with them. And there’s a LBS 5 min walk from my house so I’ll get them to take a look at my wheels too.

    Thanks! 🙂

    December 16, 2013 at 12:52 pm #765969
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    joemmo

    +1 for tyres – cheapest
    +1 for tyres – cheapest effective upgrade you can make.

    December 16, 2013 at 10:12 am #765967
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    Charles_Hunter

    Bear in mind you will need to
    Bear in mind you will need to take your cassette off your current wheels and swap it to your new ones, and fit the appropriate spacer if needed. You could take old and new wheel to a lbs and ask them to sort it for you for some cash would be the easiest way. You may have to fiddle with the rear dérailleur to get the gear changes spot on (YouTube will help).

    A secondhand set of aksium wheels from eBay or gumtree or wherever would be a decent upgrade, most likely £100 or there abouts. do a quick search on aksiums and your weight to make sure they are ok for your weight. Or a set of wheels built around open pro rims from eBay.

    Tyres are also a good upgrade, but then you start upgrading everything!

    December 16, 2013 at 8:59 am #765965
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    allez neg

    I’ve upgraded the oe wheels
    I’ve upgraded the oe wheels in a couple of my bikes (road and mtb) and not regretted it – usually you’ll get a weight saving and better reliability, and weight saved on wheels is normally something you’d notice.

    If you’re riding hilly terrain then the logical thing would be to save weight. When I worked in a bike shop we used M-Part wheels from Madison a fair bit – shimano hubs, mavic or DT rims and a good standard of build all for a good price. Worth a look.

    I guess the first thing to do is assess what you have on your bike – you could weigh the wheels (the front one anyway as you’d not need to mess about removing cogs) and see what the hubs feel like – are they a recognised brand, do the bearings feel smooth? Are the rims ok on your wheels, can you feel a bump where the rim is joined?

    You’d not need to spend megabucks to get an improvement on basic oe wheels and obviously if you do end up getting a better bike in the future you may be able to use them on that too.

    December 16, 2013 at 8:54 am #765963
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    jason.timothy.jones

    I have the Triban 3, and
    I have the Triban 3, and unlike most other people, still have the original wheels on. They are not that heavy in comparison to other wheels in the same price bracket, but it did find they needed a bit of love to get them rolling properly as the cones were to tight, and there was basically no grease in them from new.

    If your handy with tools, this is really easy to sort out, if not take them to a LBS and have them serviced.

    There is a triban forum http://triban3owners.freeforums.net/ that is full of useful advice, but for some reason everyone seems to have changed there wheels to RS10 or RS30’s which is fine if you have the money to spend, but in my opinion, as I have said, there is nothing wrong with the stock wheels once they are dialed in properly.

    As far as weight is concerned, as I remember they are just a tad over 2kg, and to get any real significant savings on weight you will be spending more that the cost of your bike…for each wheel, and you may save 300-400gm, so about the same as 1/2 a bottle of water.

    December 16, 2013 at 7:11 am #765961
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    budget mamil

    Thanks guys, this is very
    Thanks guys, this is very helpful.

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