Inexpensive tubular wheels -- help me choose.
Moderator: robbosmans
I will treat myself with a high-profile wheelset for my road bike. A pair of Shimano C35s or C50s is tempting - they would roll without trouble for many years to come, but in an unfortunate event of a nasty crash they would be very costly to replace.
Life's too short to roll on cheap wheels, so the set will be used in training throughout the season in flat yet windy Scandinavia alongside a pair of training clinchers for those 200K rides. I am no stranger to building up my own wheels if that would give me good value and would prefer something that still is UCI legal for the occasional club race(read - no ebay rims).
What would you recommend?
Life's too short to roll on cheap wheels, so the set will be used in training throughout the season in flat yet windy Scandinavia alongside a pair of training clinchers for those 200K rides. I am no stranger to building up my own wheels if that would give me good value and would prefer something that still is UCI legal for the occasional club race(read - no ebay rims).
What would you recommend?
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There seem to be options gallore with some lightish aluminum wheel options out there.
Let me summarize what I'm wanting, I'm going to use these wheels as my primary race wheels. I've raced anything from Zipp 808s to 900 gram carbon tubulars and everything in between. I have an array of wheels at my disposal from the shop I work at and from teammates who loan me wheels on occasion. However, I'd like a set of wheels for myself when nothing is available. So, a aluminum race wheelset needs to fill a few requirements. Light, stiff, durable, and cheap are really my only requirements. I know whats out there and I have the hubs narrowed down the the Ultralight Front Hub (32 hole 80 gram jobber) or the Superlight wide front hub (SLF85W) and the SL211 rear hub. CX Ray, Revolutions, or Laser spokes. Now onto the rims. This is where my dilemna comes into play. I've ridden alloy tubulars before and love them. I had some Velocity Escape rims, they were pretty good and light for the most part. Mavic Reflex might be another viable option seeing as Velocity no longer makes the Escape. KinLin makes an alright looking rim as well. The BHS TB415W is kind of out of the question as is the Major Tom. Simply too wide for road racing. I've also raced and put some miles on a set of Giant Tubeless wheels with some IRC tubeless tires. They blew me away. I'm open to that idea as well but really only Stans makes the only option that looks good to me. They just sound a little flimsy. I don't really know of any other rims out there that honestly look good to me. Then you have wide clincher rims. DT Swiss, H Plus Son, Velocity, HED, BHS. There are a ton of options and I have little to no experience with any of them.
If anyone can give me a little insight or experiences with anything mentioned above that would be extremely helpful.
Let me summarize what I'm wanting, I'm going to use these wheels as my primary race wheels. I've raced anything from Zipp 808s to 900 gram carbon tubulars and everything in between. I have an array of wheels at my disposal from the shop I work at and from teammates who loan me wheels on occasion. However, I'd like a set of wheels for myself when nothing is available. So, a aluminum race wheelset needs to fill a few requirements. Light, stiff, durable, and cheap are really my only requirements. I know whats out there and I have the hubs narrowed down the the Ultralight Front Hub (32 hole 80 gram jobber) or the Superlight wide front hub (SLF85W) and the SL211 rear hub. CX Ray, Revolutions, or Laser spokes. Now onto the rims. This is where my dilemna comes into play. I've ridden alloy tubulars before and love them. I had some Velocity Escape rims, they were pretty good and light for the most part. Mavic Reflex might be another viable option seeing as Velocity no longer makes the Escape. KinLin makes an alright looking rim as well. The BHS TB415W is kind of out of the question as is the Major Tom. Simply too wide for road racing. I've also raced and put some miles on a set of Giant Tubeless wheels with some IRC tubeless tires. They blew me away. I'm open to that idea as well but really only Stans makes the only option that looks good to me. They just sound a little flimsy. I don't really know of any other rims out there that honestly look good to me. Then you have wide clincher rims. DT Swiss, H Plus Son, Velocity, HED, BHS. There are a ton of options and I have little to no experience with any of them.
If anyone can give me a little insight or experiences with anything mentioned above that would be extremely helpful.
green jacket, gold jacket...who gives a sh*t
- btompkins0112
- Posts: 2635
- Joined: Fri Feb 11, 2011 3:04 am
- Location: Mississippi
My thought would be HED Belgium if you can get your hands on them. The question is, when you say light, how light are you expecting??
Mosaic RS-1
http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=138478
Cielo by Chris King Cross Racer
http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=134376
http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=138478
Cielo by Chris King Cross Racer
http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=134376
- btompkins0112
- Posts: 2635
- Joined: Fri Feb 11, 2011 3:04 am
- Location: Mississippi
I have a wheelset with the same hubs, CxRay spokes laced 24/28 to Kinlin XR19w rims. The wheelset weighs right at 1320 grams.
Mosaic RS-1
http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=138478
Cielo by Chris King Cross Racer
http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=134376
http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=138478
Cielo by Chris King Cross Racer
http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=134376
can you comment about the ride quality? cornering, stiffness, comfortablilty, etc.
Thanks for your feedback, it sounds pretty good actually. The HED Belgiums in a tubular looks awesome and I do have access to some.
Thanks for your feedback, it sounds pretty good actually. The HED Belgiums in a tubular looks awesome and I do have access to some.
green jacket, gold jacket...who gives a sh*t
- btompkins0112
- Posts: 2635
- Joined: Fri Feb 11, 2011 3:04 am
- Location: Mississippi
I have only had them for a few weeks, but they have ridden well thus far. They are plenty stiff for my riding style, and I haven't had any issues.
Mosaic RS-1
http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=138478
Cielo by Chris King Cross Racer
http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=134376
http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=138478
Cielo by Chris King Cross Racer
http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=134376
-
- Posts: 284
- Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2011 12:43 am
- Location: Los Angeles, CA
I've had good experience with Boyd wheels. They make three different options in the aluminum wheels.
http://www.boydcycling.com/alloy-wheels/
http://www.boydcycling.com/alloy-wheels/
-
- Posts: 118
- Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2011 4:28 am
- Location: Berkeley, CA
109er wrote:The BHS TB415W is kind of out of the question as is the Major Tom. Simply too wide for road racing..
I am successfully running the TB415w with 25mm tires on the road. The 25mm tires fit well I think. The wheels are 1296g. They tick the light-ish, stiff, durable and cheap boxes for me. I have lighter carbon tubs that I use for most of my races, but I wouldn't hesitate to race on these, particularly on some of the bumpier NorCal races like Copperopolis.
- bikerjulio
- Posts: 1900
- Joined: Fri Dec 11, 2009 10:38 pm
- Location: Welland, Ontario
there was a recent discussion of available alloy tubular options here http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=113&t=118331
There's sometimes a buggy.
How many drivers does a buggy have?
One.
So let's just say I'm drivin' this buggy...
and if you fix your attitude you can ride along with me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GekiIMh4ZkM
How many drivers does a buggy have?
One.
So let's just say I'm drivin' this buggy...
and if you fix your attitude you can ride along with me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GekiIMh4ZkM
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