Wheelset choice - different profiles / widths

[st3rius]

Hi all,

I'm trying to decide between buying a set of new wheels. Budget is not high though. The choices are:

• Secondhand Fulcrum Racing XLR 50 CULT 1590g
  New Hunt Race Aero Wide 1500g

The Fulcrums are carbon/alu and have a 50mm profile and an external width of 20.5mm, whereas the Hunts are full alu (Kinlin xr31t) with a 31mm profile and an external width of 24mm.

Weight-wise they are almost identical (at least to me) so I was hoping someone could help weigh up the pros and cons of each wheelset.

I'd really like to go for something pricier / lighter, however budget doesn't allow.

Thanks!

[themidge]

Depends on what kind of riding you want to be doing and what bike you have, but personally I'd go for the Hunts. The wider rims are much better for modern tyres, especially if you want to run 25mm, 28mm, etc. It's also nice that the Hunts are new so you know you can trust them. I wouldn't worry too much about weight or aero, ride quality and reliability are paramount.

[alcatraz]

What are you looking for in a wheelset? How would you rank these?

lightweight
stiffness
speed
comfort
endurance
braking

What's your weight, avg speed, and common road quality? Do you ride in the rain?

[st3rius]

Sorry to necro an old thread - I didn't realise I hadn't replied. This is how I rank them (most important to least):

speed
stiffness
braking
lightweight
endurance
comfort

I'm 77kg, on an Allez Sprint built up to just about 8kg. I ride in central london, with the weekly jaunt to box/leith hill, windsor, brighton etc. Overall when not stuck in traffic I try to maintain about 38 - 42kmh. I did get told off at Regents Park yesterday that my riding was erratic - apparently I tend to surge.

I went ahead and got both wheelsets actually. Gotta say I really like the XLR 50s over the Hunts at the moment - even though the XLRs are a narrower rim (I run 25c GP5k on both sets) they seem to accelerate better and hold speed. The Hunts in comparison give me a cushier ride and better grip around corners, but feel slow to accelerate and quick to lose speed. I've only used the Hunts a month - might look to sell them secondhand and maybe go for a set of LightBicycle 55 or 60mm deep with 240 hubs.

[st3rius]

**double post**

[alcatraz]

Sorry for the late reply. I didn't see it.

Hambini has a wind tunnel tested list of wheels you might be interested in. Deeper is faster but some shallower wheels beat deeper wheels. Like the bontrager xxx 60 beat some 80+mm wheels. Winspace Hyper might do well too as he mentions them a lot.

Sounds like narrower wheels are your friend then. Stick to the 105% rule when choosing tire widths. If you decide upon a 25c Conti your wheels should be around 26-27mm wide at the brake track. For surging the hub geometry can make a lot of difference. That's where many big brand wheels shine like Campy/Zipp (many, but not all of them)