Carbon wheels – what should I look for?

Mind you
That is a bit like going in to the Liverpool club shop selecting a top with Stevie Gerrard’s number on it, and asking the bloke with the lettering machine if you could have the name LAMPARD stuck on there.

That said, I did hear of a freehub by Evolution that fitted a Shimano wheel and was Campag cassete compatible – Byercycles were supposed to sell it, but just checked their site (v.quickly) and couldn’t find it – so maybe it’s a myth.

Did find this though http://www.bizrate.com/bicycles_equipment/oid882249029.html

Apparently “Every single component is realised to excel” so it must be good

Second the Dura Ace
I bought some for the Etape this year, lovely wheels roll really nicely (?) light and stiff as you like.
Not as pimpy as some of the deep rim carbon but thoroughly worth the money

get a disc
if you want to blow some money on doing your local 10 faster, then get a rear disc – that actually will make you faster in most conditions. deep section carbon rims look great but their aerodynamic advantage over normal wheels is pretty minimal. plus, discs look (and sound) really cool.

if you just want to generally go faster without training then light weight is what you need, and the lightest wheels in your price range won’t necessarily be carbon. have a look on weight weenies for some candidates and see if they look cool enough for ya 🙂

Do you really need carbon?

 Sounds to me like what you are after is light wheels, which doesn’t necessarily mean going the carbon route. A really good set of handbuilts might just do the job just as well and be a lot easier to look after.

For climbing you don’t need to go the aero route either, going up you’re not really going to be going fast enough to get an aero advantage, in fact the extra material may be a hindrance both because of the extra weight, but also because it is going to catch any gusts of wind hitting you from the side.

I’m no expert on wheels, but if you do choose to go the carbon route I was impressed by the latest Dura Ace hoops from Shimano, light and stiff, and you should never have any trouble getting spares or having them serviced. If you want to go the Italian route don’t think you’d go wrong with a set of Fulcrums and those Gipiemmes at the show looked pretty good too.