Best all round wheelset

[superdx]

I've been looking at the 2016 Fulcrum Quattro Carbon clinchers as an all-around wheelset, especially on the bike which I take on trips. It's got an aero profile, good braking surface and it's not too heavy (~1550g ). The previous generation Quattro's were bombproof and really easy to spin up. Was really happy with them until I fell into a pot hole and scratched the breaking surface bad. Ever since then I haven't been as happy with the replacements: Ksyrium SLR (aero as a brick and slow to spin up + REALLY STIFF to the point of being uncomfortable), Ultegra 6700 (bomb proof but not aero) or C24 clinchers (not aero enough).

C35 tubulars were going to be my next option but clinchers are easier to repair especially in a foreign country.

[sawyer]

I think it's irresponsible to use wheels that require replacing the entire wheel if you damage a rim. With great wheels, you can wear out the rims after 10s of thousands of miles and rebuild them.

In what sense irresponsible?

[DavidMLee]

FFWD F4R with DT240s.

Light, stiff, and rolls like heaven.

[bigfatty]

campagnolo zondas or fulcrum racing 3

[de zwarten]

As poster above, Zonda or R3.

Look no further. If you would make a graph about Performance gain vs. price increase, the Zonda/R3 owns the sweet spot by a country mile.

[ianSWBB]

Always a difficult topic, as there are so many options nowadays

Lightweight gipfelsturm, meilenstein, fernweg are the best if no budget constraints - an option there for all types of road riding!

Once you start putting budget constraint into the equation, then ENVEs are the top starting point - 2.2 for climbing -3.4 for allrounder - new ENVE carbon hubs drop the weight a bit

For value for money, the Fast Forward range are good - again, it is easy to mix and match F2/F4/F6/F9 depending on what you're doing - the DT Swiss hub variants are a better than the generic FFWD hubs

Good luck, let us know what you get and how they work out for you

[wheelsONfire]

Ax Lightness Stream 38, Tune hubs. 1010 grams a pair, weight of rims 290 grams.

[ergott]

In what sense irresponsible?

Wear out brake track or damage it hitting something, throw out wheel.

Not cool.

Wear out brake track or damage it hitting something, order replacement rim and rebuilt.

Cool.

It's a feature not limited to custom wheels. Hubs can have a far longer lifespan than one rim.

[zappafile123]

If you're gonig for tubs, scrap the shallow/ mid-section options and go for something in the 50-60mm range. The the aero benefit (with certain wheelsets) strongly outweighs the minimal weight penalty. Unless you live somewhere where the winds regularly exceed 50km/h, the handling issues are negligible to non existent.

Now for mt 2c on brands/models:

Do not buy Mavics for 2 reasons. The hubs are legitimately bad. Full stop. Second, they use outdated v-shaped rim profiles for their deeper sectioned rims which *are* an issue in moderate cross winds.

The best all-round wheelsets Ive owned are Fulcrum Racing Speed XLRs/Campy Bora's. There are wheelsets that are lighter and or stiffer. However, they hubs are fatnastic. You dont realise how important a nice set of hubs are till you ride something great. The slight downside is that, even with the wider 2015 rims (Boras) they are noticeably less aero than the competition.

Zipp 303/404: So far the general story is quality rims with poor quality hubs. They are fast wheels and can be had cheaply secondhand.

I havent ridden the wheelsets listed blow, but this is the gist I get:

Enve 4.5/7.6: they remedy the problem with Zipps - very high quality, if slightly heavy rims, with good hubs e.g. Tune or CK

Reynolds Aero46/58: allegedly on par with Enve, use DT 240hubs which are solid but not exceptional

Lightweight: very light, very stiff, terrible handling, not repairable. The newer 60mm blunt nose wheels might be a bit better in crosswinds.

Easton EC90 aero 55: apparently very fast, however hubs are an unknown quantity with a brand history a poor quality hubs

Hed Stinger 5/6: Fantastic value for money, just as fast as anyone else, decent, but not exceptional hubs. Excellent serviceability.

Ax lightness: oooo looks interesting! Similar potential for customization to Enve

[kgt]

I havent ridden the wheelsets listed blow [...] Lightweight: very light, very stiff, terrible handling, not repairable.

Terrible handling? You say you have not ridden them so whoever told you that is simply wrong.

[zappafile123]

I havent ridden the wheelsets listed blow [...] Lightweight: very light, very stiff, terrible handling, not repairable.

Terrible handling? You say you have not ridden them so whoever told you that is simply wrong.

Sorry, meant poor handling in crosswinds. You have a point that I shouldnt be taken too seriously if I havent ridden them, but a cursory look round at reviews of LW standards reveals that what I said is a summary supported by *most*.

Also when I say aero benefit, I mean something tangible, not theoretical. Theres nothing like the feeling and sound of set of deep wheels. They rock in a way that shallow wheels just... cant.

[RyanH]

My Reynolds 32s are often my go to wheel. They're shallow enough that cross winds don't catch the wheel, they're fairly light at 1080g and fairly stiff (at least more than Zipp 202 and ENVE 25).

The only thing I wish they improved on was to make the nipples external so that if I ever needed to true the wheel, I wouldn't have to take a tubular off.

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

[davidalone]

Best all round Carbon wheel- Campag Bora/Fulcrum Racing Speed . stiff, light, excellent hubs. reasonably aero, good braking responsive, and also easily repairable. a little expensive, though

Best Bang for buck carbon wheel if you can't spring for the Boras - Reynolds Assault- Cheap, easily available. good rim with a so-so hub.

Best all round rim, all types- campagnolo zonda/shamal OR something in that range. reasonably aero, reliable, good hubs, and cheap.

Contrary to belief, mavic hubs are not bad. they use a bushing that requires more TLC than a bearing but lastsway longer if you are dilligent about this. understand the engineering decisions behind things before saying they are bad.

Other wheels I have ridden
Zipp 404/303s- good rims let down by suspect build quality ( spoke tension often needs to be fixed out of the box) and often too few spokes. hubs are only so-so. the hubs on the older models area actually better. if you don't mind the extra weight, going for extra spokes isnt a bad option.

HED Jets/Alps- Heavy, but a good fallback choice in any scenario. my 'old reliable'. alu braking is reliable. hubs and rim are decent, though newer version rims are better. also suffer from having too few spokes in the front wheel. Need abit of TLC to keep true. can be had relatively cheap.

Mavic Cosmic Carbones: Heavy, but bombproof and even more reliable than the Jets/Alps. a good training wheel for a TT bike or fallback option.

Shimano Dura Ace: excellent hubs and build quality and a decent rim. similar to the bora but Bora's rim is better. a decent choice but there are better choices for the money. C24 is nice but has ong term durability problems, especially if you are a heavier rider. RS80 might be a better option.

Bontrager Aeolus ( pre-R5 version)- rim is not very good, hubs are so so. there are better choices. the newer versions are very nice, although I didn't get to ride them enough to get a firm impression.

FFWD: very similar to reynolds, but reynolds rim is overall better. hubs are on par with the reynolds. can usually be found as a rim only option and built with own hubs so not a bad choice in this respect. can be found for very cheap.

Easton EC90 - a good rim for it's time but now outdated. hubs are crap. have not tried the new 55s.

Lightweights- super light. super expensive. not very aero and get blown about by winds. also build quality is not very good and cant be trued. not worth the money for me. I would ride them if given to me, but wouldn't spend silly money on them because IMO not practical for everyday use.

[kgt]

Corima 47 and Bora one are the best wheels for the money IMO and IME.

Lightweights- super light. super expensive. not very aero and get blown about by winds. also build quality is not very good and cant be trued. not worth the money for me. I would ride them if given to me, but wouldn't spend silly money on them because IMO not practical for everyday use.

-not very aero:
Certainly not the most aero but not bad either. Any comparative test you have in mind?
-get blown by the winds:
again, not the best in crosswinds but every high profile wheel will suffer more or less.
-build quality is not very good:
That's not true at all.
-cant be trued:
just because they do not need to.
-wouldn't spend silly money on them:
I agree but you can find them slightly used for 1500-1800 euros.

[bm0p700f]

Ergot writes sense. This reasoning is exactly why I build wheels.

Wide deep rims don't get affect by cross winds much at all.

When I look at most branded sets of wheels I cannot see anything that cannot be matched or done better in some way by a wheel builder. The exception is lightweights but they are not normal wheels.

Last week a built myself a set of 38mm deep carbon tubular wheels with hope ti glide hubs. The hubs are of the extremely reliable kind and weigh 1240g. Beat that shimano. Hubs by the way are 435g for the pair spoke count is 18f/24R. This is why like ergot I struggle with the factory options.

Campagnolo though at least use proper hubs that can be renewed indefinitely and build a wheel that is reliable. Shame spare rims are not easy to come by and to rebuild one well that would be pointlessly expensive.