I am preparing for the coming rainy months, and after that we have a period of snow, water, salty road. All pretty hard on the wheels.

I am looking to find a set of training wheels for this time of the year. I am mostly concerned about durability, they can be heavy and not super stiff.

My options are to build a set of 105 hubs and decent rims, or to buy a cheap factory built set on sale. A factory set would be around 100 euro, but if they will last throughout the winter, I guess that would be ok.

Like these http://www.bike-discount.de/shop/k632/a ... ilver.html

For a durable build over rough roads and for riding in nasty weather which puts grit on the rims to grind them away I can think of nothing better than the Rigida Chrina with its 1.85mm thick braking surface. The rims are heavy at 520g each but I have run them in my training wheels and with 105 hubs the total weight would be 2.020kg which is not to bad with sapim race spokes and brass nipples.

That what I would recomend anyway. They served me well through autumn, winter, spring and winter (sorry I meant summer). They are now going on my wifes new bike and I will be building something new and a bit WW.

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www.thecycleclinic.co.uk

Consider the HED Belgium rims. For crap weather, the wider rims support the wider tires much better. The Vitt CG tires with a wider rim is a great foul weather setup...

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That's right, I said it!

Most cheap wheels are not built that well. Consider them a pre-assembled wheel kit and re-tension them yourself. They will last a lot longer that way.

Mavic Aksium? 6 years and still going.

Open Pro/factory hubs in 32/32.....insert Reflex runs if tubular strikes your fancy.

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2012 Fuji Altamira SE - 6.42kg

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105 hubs are awesome. Cup-and-cone bearings are easy to service, and mine have gone through many wet winters with no need for it. Put some reasonably priced Sun rims on there and ride away. Not light, but durable, serviceable, and cheap & easy to replace the rims when you wear them out. It's a better deal in the long run than most cheapo factory wheelsets.

I personally hate Mavic rims because the bead seat runs smaller and tires are harder to change.

105 hubs and velocity fusions or a23 for the wider rim. Again, cheap rim replacements.

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I'm running Hed Belgiums 28F/28R ,2x/3x, CX-Ray, DT nips, Hope PRO IIIs. They work great as my everyday wheels however I will be using more of a box rim wheelset that I built up a few months back. H+Son TB14 rims, 32f/32r, 3x/3x, DT Comps, Alchemy hubs. I've heard a few great things with the TB14 rims in that price range and it is also 23mm wide external width, 17.6mm internal.

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2012 Izalco Pro 2.0*Re-Grouped*

Fulcrum Racing 7s

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Bike Pure

I have found the low-end Shimano wheels to be a super solid performer (R500 in my case). Ok they are heavy, but I've given them a hard time for years, including salt, gravel and loaded riding -- they have been tough. Also you get the entire set for the price of a single HED Belgium rim. Can't do no wrong for under 100 Euro.

The only consideration is if you'd like to build a set "for eternity", e.g. which also comes out in nasty summer conditions, in which case I'd go with handbuilts and a more serviceable hub.

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Bikes: Raceur, Beateur

How about tires?

Do you go clincher or tubular?

I`ve been on Schwalbe Durano Plus 25mm the last couple of years, no flats, but they`re so heavy and ride like truck.

Other options on tires, puncture resistance is most important. No fun dealing with a flat, when it is freezing

Fulcrum 7's a second vote. Cheap and bombproof and actually nice wheels

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Cervelo S3 2011. Blinged 6.718 Kg

Kingston, about the wheels, I had some good success with various Duranos back then (occasional rare flats, though), but nowadays I'm totally sold on the Conti 4 Season 28mm for the winter. Of course it doesn't ride as well as a race tyre, but it's ok and 0 flats is a strong argument. The 4 Season has also been very resistant to cuts for me -- we get gravel spread on the roads in winter, in addition to salt.

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Bikes: Raceur, Beateur