[alex.glenorchy]

Hi All,

I recently got my first carbon bike after riding a £300 aluminium job for a few years. Absolutely love it – night and day difference! It’s a nice bike but had been told it came with “budget wheels”. I had heard this was often done with bikes so have been considering upgrading them. But I’m not sure if in my price considerations it’s worth it?
 

The bike is rim brake, currently sitting on a pair of Fulcrum Racing 4s. After doing more internet reading it appears these are actually quite good value for money? If I was to replace them I was considering something like racing zeros I found for £650. Or pacenti Forza custom built with hope hubs at around £500. Having done some more reading about the internet (and other people’s similar questions) it seems some people suggest to leave it unless you upgrade to deep carbon wheels. Thing is I don’t want to spend that kind of money on wheels.

 

So to conclude – is upgrading to high end aluminium wheels (for similar prices mentioned, found a Eurus set for £500 as well), going to make an appreciable difference on the bike? Would you do it yourself?

 

Many thanks!

Topic

[matthewn5]

I certainly noticed the

I certainly noticed the improvement swapping between Fulcrum Racing 5 (winter) and Fulcrum Racing 3s (summer), so why not buy a second hand pair of 3s to use for ‘best’ and keep the 4s for winter? Shouldn’t cost more than £200 if you’re patient – even for the more recent ones with the wider (c17) rims.

[Orbeaman]

What tyres are on the wheels?

What tyres are on the wheels? Do tell.  I would look at that first. 

Better wheels are nice, but you might be halfway there. I paid to upgrade mine with my Orbea, but that was a factory option and the difference in price. 

[srchar]

When I swapped out some worn

When I swapped out some worn Zondas for Calimas, I noticed the downgrade. It follows that an upgrade would be similarly noticeable.

[Chris Hayes]

….don’t know about deep

….don’t know about deep section carbon wheels, especially cheap ones.  You might be better with a decent set of alloy wheels than cheap carbon wheels, many of which are way ove 1500g and have poor rim braking surfaces.   

I have a couple of pairs of sub 1500g alloy wheel sets (Mavic Open Pro UST and Kinlin 22s on decent hubs – Chris King and DT Swiss 240s both tubeless – and a set of Shamals …. I had to spend GBP 1800 to get better what are arguably better  carbon wheels. 

[alex.glenorchy]

Hi All,

Hi All,

Another update – I’ve decided to leave the wheel upgrade. 
 

Thank you to everyone who took the time to comment. 

[Simon E]

I’d agree with joeegg. Ignore

I’d agree with joeegg. Ignore the marketing bull, just enjoy riding your bike.

Fulcrum 4s are not cheap OEM wheels. They’re actually rather better than most wheels supplied with new bikes below £2k or so.

I don’t know what tyres you have but some fast rolling tyres such as GP5000s, Schwalbe Pro One or similar might be worth considering for a little more speed and suppleness.

[mdavidford]

hawkinspeter wrote:

Duncann wrote:

alex.glenorchy wrote:

I recently did a 37 mile ride, 2100ft elevation change, 18mph average.

Switching to metric distances and speeds is one of the best free upgrades you can have as a cyclist.

Though keep the climbing measurements in feet.

I thought climbing measurements were given in Everests these days?

[LetsBePartOfTheSolution]

And your body weight in tons

And your body weight in tons

[hawkinspeter]

Duncann wrote:

alex.glenorchy wrote:

I recently did a 37 mile ride, 2100ft elevation change, 18mph average.

Switching to metric distances and speeds is one of the best free upgrades you can have as a cyclist.

Though keep the climbing measurements in feet.

[Dnnnnnn]

alex.glenorchy wrote:

alex.glenorchy wrote:

I recently did a 37 mile ride, 2100ft elevation change, 18mph average.

Switching to metric distances and speeds is one of the best free upgrades you can have as a cyclist.

[bobbinogs]

One thing to be aware of is
One thing to be aware of is how the wind can affect a lighter rider with deep section wheels. The modern profiles are a big improvement on the old V profiles but they can still be an issue on a gusty day. I am 65kg and have found that 40mm (Fulcrum Quattro) is a good sweetspot but even they can suffer with a front wheel wobble when passing a hedge gap in a strong cross wind. Last time it happened I was going about 45mph downhill, caused a little heart flutter to be sure!
Another thing to consider about carbon is that it doesn’t really make sense in midwinter, chewing up the rim with muck and crap with no discernible benefit. Swapping wheels is a good option then but don’t be tempted to keep the same pads on as embedded alu rim flakes will shred the carbon rims next time round.

[joeegg]

I think the question is what
I think the question is what are you wanting to gain ? A few seconds off your Strava times,more comfortable ride,wheel stiffness ? If you’ve ever done group rides then you’ll see that the person first to the top of the hill is probably not on the high end wheels. I would run the wheels you have and enjoy the bike while not getting too hung up on Strava times.

[alex.glenorchy]

Hi All,

Hi All,

Thanks for the comments. I’m going to try FlyingPenguin’s recommendation to get an idea of cost for deeper carbon rims. And then consider whether this is something I actually want to spend my money on at the moment.

[Nick T]

You’ll only notice any

You’ll only notice any substantial benefit by going deeper and carbon. Be aware that you’ll need to change your brake pads, and depending on the rim you choose your braking distances may be lengthened somewhat. I’ve got ~10 year old Bora wheels that are… lethargic when it comes to slowing down. They since profiled the brake track with little bumps and the new Bora wheels brake better than my alloy rims do

[Joe Totale]

I’m with the others, Fulcrum

I’m with the others, Fulcrum Racing 4’s are pretty decent alloy wheels and a different set of alloy wheels would make at most a very small improvement which will be barely noticeable. 

I would however say that a depeer set of carbon wheels which is also lighter would make a noticable difference, especially when riding at high speeds. I’d advise getting them from a good wheelbuilder such as Wheelsmith, Cycle Clinic or DCR Wheels whose base level carbon wheels are really not much more expensive then the alloy wheels you’ve listed. A wheelbuilder will also give you a much better warranty than off the shelf wheels which could save you money in the long term.

Light Bicycle from China are also another option and they have a very good reputation, I know of several people with Light Bicycle wheels who love them and the company are nothing like the dodgy eBay sellers we’ve all seen about. However, if there were any issues then you would have to send them back to China which is certainly offputting for me. 

[Author]

Replies