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Ksyrium SLR – sell or keep?

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  • September 23, 2014 at 11:00 am #22440
    CasperCCC

    I’ve got a new bike on order, and it comes specced with Ksyrium SLR WTS wheels. They retail at around a grand, which seems mental.

    Kind of want to hang onto them, because I kind of want to ride on wheels that stupidly expensive.

    On the other hand, the roads aren’t great around here, I’m not exactly a racing snake (85 kilos) and those wheels don’t have an awful lot of spokes. I quite like the idea of riding on wheels that blingy. But I’m not that keen on writing off wheels that blingy.

    Looks like I could get c.£700 for them if I stick them straight on ebay. Which would leave me a few hundred quid up if I bought a nice set of handbuilt wheels. (Thinking maybe Ambrosio Zenith hubs, Archetype rims.)

    Really torn. There’s not much point spending on a dream bike if you’re going to trade down to cheaper wheels as soon as you get it. And I can’t really be arsed with the hassle of ebaying them. And from what I’ve read, the SLR wheels are actually pretty solid – I’m not going to ping a spoke as soon as I hit a pothole. And this isn’t a practical purchase – this is me buying my dream bike. And I’m not racing, so it’s not like I’m crashing every other week – it’s just club rides, solo rides and the occasional sportive.

    On the other hand, I don’t want to spend my rides worrying that every pothole will break a spoke, and leave me having to push the bike 30 miles home. There’s a lot to be said for having an old-fashioned 32 spoke wheel. And knowing that I can fix it myself, instead of having to get some ninja wheelbuilder to mess around with carbon spoke tensions.

    So, wise people – what would you do? Stick with the bling, or go old-school and get some bombproof handbuilts?

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  • September 29, 2014 at 8:49 pm #815569
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    Colin Peyresourde

    A tool is just a tool unless
    A tool is just a tool unless you use it, then it becomes something to create artistry with. If you are scared to do so then you’ll never create those master pieces. OK, perhaps that’s a bit too lyrical, but what I mean is that such good wheels will create an epic ride. These wheels were made for hard riding, they don’t throw these on race bikes because they look pretty. No, they are made to make a ride better. If you aren’t busting these out on 100 hundred mile rides in the crappiest weather you are wasting them, because that’s when the tool becomes the artists brush. An ordinary set of wheels makes it a ‘blah’ ride, like the trades man’s brush painting a white wall. But take that epic ride and add a layer of smooothness.

    Basically, keep ’em and enjoy ’em.

    September 29, 2014 at 7:47 pm #815567
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    CasperCCC

    Thanks all for the advice.
    Thanks all for the advice. Seems the vote went the way that my guts wanted it to go. Logic was to buy a more sensible pair of wheels. But then there’s nothing logical about buying this bike anyway.

    I might compromise. Keep the wheels. And take the chance to try building myself a set of wheels that I can use as training wheels. (Once I’ve paid off the credit card. So that’d be some time in 2016…)

    Si – yep, Canyon. Should be dispatched this week. Am checking emails about every 15 seconds to see if I’ve got a dispatch note.

    September 27, 2014 at 7:08 am #815565
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    vasgko2

    As you said this is a “dream
    As you said this is a “dream bike”. Don’t sell the most important part of it.
    Buy a cheap wheelset and use them alternatively depending on conditions.

    I got there the other way around. My carbon bike came with entry-level wheels.
    Before delivery, I had already ordered an expensive pair of wheels.
    Waiting for them to arrive, I didn’t even ride it for a whole month as I didn’t want to get disappointed by it!

    I use both sets and I can tell you that had I stayed with the cheap wheelset only, I would never be satisfied with my bike…

    September 26, 2014 at 11:25 pm #815563
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    PonteD

    One of your wheels cost more
    One of your wheels cost more than my whole bike :O

    I wouldn’t even dare to take them out incase another human breathed on them! Not going to guess how much the whole bike has cost, but if these come with it, do the rest of the package justice and keep it complete.

    September 25, 2014 at 11:02 am #815561
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    Si

    Casper, congratulations on
    Casper, congratulations on the new bike, (canyon ?).
    Keep the wheels, at your weight they will be fine, but if your worried about the
    abuse they will get, then pick up some conti GP 4000 s11 in 25mm. They come up a bit on the big side, but transform the ride and give a bit more protection for the stuff you can’t avoid. They fit fine on my 2012 canyon (52) and I think they offered them as standard last year on a endurance/comfort model, but you can check with canyon first! Si.

    September 24, 2014 at 7:05 pm #815559
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    J Montaño

    Ksyrium SLRs have the Exalith
    Ksyrium SLRs have the Exalith braking surface too which is meant to really improve stopping plus a steel free hub body which has to be a good idea. Sure, you have to order in spares when you need them but surely a wheel set worth keeping?

    September 24, 2014 at 10:09 am #815557
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    glynr36

    They’ll be fine.
    Keep them,
    They’ll be fine.
    Keep them, if anything just to annoy all these hipsters bleating on about how factory wheels aren’t anygood.

    September 24, 2014 at 9:53 am #815555
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    comm88

    I’m a biggish guy at 90+kgs
    I’m a biggish guy at 90+kgs and I ride a Mavic Ksyrium Equipe road wheelset that came with my Giant TCR2 and another Mavic Ksyrium Equipe road wheelset I bought off eBay for my Trek 2200 winter hack bike. I’ve had them both for about 6 years now – and they are still super smart looking and still true.

    In all that time, I’ve ridden over 11,000 miles … on all kinds of roads and hit all kinds of potholes … and I have never had to have them trued – ever – and I have broken just one spoke in all of those miles. And I do ride them hard – so hard that I (sadly and ) actually broke a Fizik Arione saddle in half!! ARGH!!!!!

    Compared to yours, they’re both about a third of the price, but they ride beautifully and I have no complaints at all. Personally, I don’t race. I ride solo mostly and the very odd 100 mile sportive.

    My tennpennorth? Keep the wheels and ride happy.Why fag through the uncertainty of eBay and then wait to get some hand built wheels? And for what?

    You don’t race you say, so what difference will handbuilt wheels give you? A few grams weight saving, perhaps?

    The rule never changes – any bike is only ever as good as the rider that sits on the saddle. And that goes for wheels too.

    Keep em and ride happy. I do!! 🙂

    September 23, 2014 at 5:51 pm #815553
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    tomisitt

    Sell them. For £700 you can
    Sell them. For £700 you can get some seriously decent hand-builts with a more suitable spoke-count (and of better material than Zicral). Dura Ace hubs (24/28), Archetype rims and whatever spokes take your fancy. Hand made, long-lasting, rebuildable, bespoke…much more pleasing than factory-builts.

    September 23, 2014 at 12:52 pm #815551
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    OnTheRopes

    I think you know what you
    I think you know what you really want…..
    Keep the wheels, there is one thing that makes a nice bike feel special when you ride it, its a great set of wheels.
    But the real answer is to save these wheels for best. Summer club rides and Sportives. No point when your training, buy a set of cheaper wheels, something like fulcrum 5’s or 7’s to ride the rest of the time.

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