Inexpensive tubular wheels -- help me choose.

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jockster
Posts: 80
Joined: Fri Apr 13, 2012 7:25 pm

by jockster

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?

Geoff
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Joined: Sat Dec 13, 2003 2:25 am
Location: Canada

by Geoff

I have had good luck with Hed Stinger 6's and 9's. You can use their hubs (which are ok), or build them up with Shimano hubs, etc.

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sawyer
Posts: 4485
Joined: Fri Dec 15, 2006 7:45 pm
Location: Natovi Landing

by sawyer

I have a pair of FFWD tubulars which I rate. Honestly they are up there with Zipp and Campagnolo tubs I have also.
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Stiff, Light, Aero - Pick Three!! :thumbup:

bm0p700f
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by bm0p700f

Ypu can ride through floods with miche hubs and they don't care. ambrosio montreal's on Miche hubs sounds like a good combination to me.

109er
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Location: Oklahoma City

by 109er

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.
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btompkins0112
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Location: Mississippi

by btompkins0112

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??

109er
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Location: Oklahoma City

by 109er

less than 1500 grams isnt too unreasonable.
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109er
Posts: 746
Joined: Sat Jan 05, 2008 5:08 pm
Location: Oklahoma City

by 109er

really I want to shoot for 1300-1400 grams. Any lighter than that and I'd be ecstatic.
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btompkins0112
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Location: Mississippi

by btompkins0112

I have a wheelset with the same hubs, CxRay spokes laced 24/28 to Kinlin XR19w rims. The wheelset weighs right at 1320 grams.

109er
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Location: Oklahoma City

by 109er

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.
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btompkins0112
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Location: Mississippi

by btompkins0112

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.

CerveloBert
Posts: 284
Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2011 12:43 am
Location: Los Angeles, CA

by CerveloBert

I've had good experience with Boyd wheels. They make three different options in the aluminum wheels.

http://www.boydcycling.com/alloy-wheels/

shimmeD
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Location: eNZed

by shimmeD

Lightest option is I think Velocity Escape available from Excel Sports at $60 for 28 or 32 hole.
I have Kinlin TB25 with BHS hubs and 20/24 Lasers weighing in a few grammes shy of 1340g.
Less is more.

Wookieopolis
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Location: Berkeley, CA

by Wookieopolis

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.

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bikerjulio
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by bikerjulio

there was a recent discussion of available alloy tubular options here http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=113&t=118331
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