Hi everyone, long time lurker on here but i have only now got round to posting.

I am currently rebuilding my De Rosa Protos and have decided to go with super record along with a few other nice parts (3D+ etc)

However, one thing i would like some help with is which wheelset to go with please?

To give you some background, I have ridden on fulcrum zeros, 3's, 5's 7's and various mavics - ksyrium elite, ksyrium sl etc.

I now ride on campagnolo shamal ultras and would like to use these as my everyday wheels.

I have never owned a pair of carbon wheels so this is what i have been looking at recently. I have always been impressed with the build quality and longevity of the fulcrums which as everyone knows share everything with campag (one is a subsidiary of the other right?) so this started me looking at the bora ultras.

Now plenty of people on this site ride on carbon wheelsets so i thought i would ask some people who have experienced a fair few different sets.

A few details to help people give recommendations: i weigh 63kg and will be using the wheels for long Sunday rides as well as in the mountains in Europe. I would like a wheelset that can stand up to a fair amount of potholes. Oh as for budget, it's £2k.


I'll leave the tubular/clincher debate to the dedicated thread but i have never tried tubulars before so will be reading that thread avidly depending on whether people suggest me a wheelset that is tubular.

Finally, brake pads. I'll be using KCNC CB1 brakes and would like the pads to be usable with both carbon and alu rims so i don't have to keep swapping. Would i be correct in saying that swissstop yellows are the only real set that cover this?

Thanks in advance.

Boras / Racing Speeds are a good option but you should shop around carefully and wait for a good price. Racing Speeds are obviously better in terms of matching to SRAM/Shimano in the future / to anyone that might buy them off you.

404s Firecrests are a bit more aero and modern in design. Downside to Zipps is the brake pad rubbing issue (see multiple threads on this).

This is a good article on wheel stiffness and brake pad rubbing
http://www.rouesartisanales.com/article-23159755.html
Which Firecrest wheels did you ride Sawyer ?

As to the OP, you can't go wrong with Fulcrum or Campagnolo (basically the same, barring the spoking pattern)
Look into FFWDs, they are really strong wheels and pretty close to Zipps aerowise.
The wheels which give the nicest ride are LW's (in my opinion) but they are expensive and you can't replace broken spokes yourself.

FFWD are nice wheels, but I dont think it is fair to compare Zipp with FFWD aerowise. What I have seen of FFWD in aerotests are not too impressive.

Example:
http://www.cyclingpowermodels.com/ComponentAerodynamics.aspx

those numbers all come from different sources?
none of the tour mag numbers seem very good against the other test sources

Depends on the test I guess.
Comparing different data sources is kinda useless.
http://www.tour-magazin.de/services/qtr ... .html#/100" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Didn't seem to hold back Thomas De Gendt to be the fastest of the top riders in the Giro's last TT

Thanks for your help so far. I'm having a look at the FFWDs online now. I had only heard of them briefly so need to do a bit more research into them.

Still like the look of the boras and fulcrums though I have to say. Speaking of which, a set of boras is in the classifieds on here which are rather well priced. But of course i can imagine there are plenty of this to look out for when purchasing second hand carbon fibre wheels.
So perhaps new will have to be the way

OP - where are you located?

Riding Campy parts doens't mean you need to have Campy wheels.....but on the other hand it makes for a nice "package". The bearings of the bora's are sweet too.

Shopping at the right sources (U.K.) Bora Ultra 2's can cost less than Zipps and Enve, and from those same sources Bora 1's are a great deal.

I went with fast forward wheels, still have yet to ride them so can't really rate them yet but they seemed to be reasonably priced or as reasonably priced as carbon wheels come. and they offer a good cheap crash replacement scheme so i won't worry about crashing them in a race

Idk about the aero-ness of them. the tour test posted above is the only place I've seen them tested. on there they rate them better than zipp.

weight wise they aren't bad at 1300grams.
you can buy the rims separately and I've seen a post on here that had them at 370 grams each so not bad on that mark

I'm based in the UK.

What are the fundamental differences between bora ultra 1 and 2? i didn't realise they were produced in tandem and assumed that 2's had superseded 1's.

The 1's are very nicely priced here in the UK

rims are the same. difference is the hubs.

Blimey. £900 difference. That's probably more noticeable to the bank balance than the hubs?!

You give up the carbon shell, ceramic bearings, and a handful of grams that the Bora 2's have above that - but as mentioned they have the same solid rims.

Seeing how even with their steel bearings, the hubs are a step above so many others - you wouldn't be disappointed with Bora 1's.

UK prices rock.

@tommassini, I appreciate that I don't have to use campag/fulcrum with the groupset but I do just like the wheels they produce (with my experiences thus far)

If I had the money, I would go for some Lightweights to see what the hype is about. I am nowhere near good enough to see the benefit though.

However, I would simply like to make the step towards carbon tubulars as i'd like to try something a bit different to my typical alu clinchers.

Thanks for the extra info on the difference between the 2's and ones. Really swaying that way now!

sure.
2's have carbon hub body with cult bearings.
1's have alloy hubs with plain steel bearings.
basically the same wheel performance wise.

edit: woops, tommasini beat me to it.