WW blasphemy - heavy training wheelset recommendation

[alexmcm09]

In possibly the least WW post of all time, can anyone recommend a heavy set of training wheels?

I'm looking for something that is sub £400, relatively heavy and strong. The idea is to smash out some early season climbing on the wheels to strengthen the legs for summer.

I'd like an easily servicible hub (I recently fell in love with how easy DT Swiss hubs are to service) as they'll likely see some wet weather too.

A wide-ish rim is preferable too so I can run 28mm tires (wider tires = more weight)

Anything off the shelf that people would recommend? Or am I better off getting my LBS to lace up a pair of 32/36 spoke wheels for me?

[bobones]

DT Swiss R460 rims on Shimano 105 hubs 32/32 should be wide and heavy enough @ around 2kg and 18mm internal. The 105 hubs are cup and cone so all you need to do is clean and regrease. These wouldn't cost anywhere near £400. DT 350 hubs are also within your budget but they might be a bit too light!

[corky]

Am thinking the new c17 version of fulcrum racing 3........

[pdlpsher1]

Hed Belgium Plus with their 20.8mm internal and 25mm external dimensions. The best alloy rim out there. They go up to a 32 hole drilling and also in a disk version as well.


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[peted76]

Any of the above wheels with a heavier set of wide tyres on. You'll get an extra 200grams or more from tyres alone.

There's probably a lot of people far more educated than I on this sort of thing, but I'd knock the heavy wheel idea on the head and just train for power on climbs (e.g. find a hill and climb it in a hard gear, then go and do it again in a harder gear, and again in a harder gear, alternating between sitting and standing). This is standard climbing training stuff for power, remember that you don't need to do 'much' of this and easy spin home thereafter.

Or just do some weight training.

[Digger90]

Why spend up to £400 on a set of heavy wheels?

I use Campagnolo Khamsin's which cost me £120 for the set, with winter puncture protected tyres. Pretty indestructible, have ridden Paris-Roubaix, teh Tour of Flanders and season after season of winter rides in cr@ppy Sussex lanes, mud, gravel, etc.

Bearings are cheap and easy to replace.

Fulcrum's do the same.

[NiFTY]

Agree. Why not just push harder on the climb. 400g difference is never going to turn a 20 minute climb into a 5 minute climb so you'll be training for the same time interval anyway.

[morganb]

Thornproof tubes, it will make a bigger difference in effort than ultra light climbing wheels and 2.5kg boat anchors.

[fromtrektocolnago]

always heard that custom wheel builder is the best option here.

[XCProMD]

Campag Khamsin. Tough as old boots.


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[alexmcm09]

Sorry, should have been clearer from the start.

Living in the UK, I've had enough of beating up my nice alloy wheels in the wet weather. So I'm looking for a set of wet weather training wheels, figured if they are also somewhat heavy that it would help with climbing come summer. Two birds, one stone sort of thing.

I do at least one solid hills session a week (solid for London at least) and I've worked with a PT to develop a program that helps my explosiveness. So I understand the benefits of extra strength training. I'm just looking for an extra 5% gain while also avoiding unnecessary wear on my nice wheels.

[joejack951]

With your budget you can likely buy an entry level road bike complete and save on wear and tear on your entire bike. You'll add far more resistance than you could possibly add with just wheels and tires, too.

[bremerradkurier]

If you can do the build yourself, BDOP's Kinlin XC279 kit would be a great deal for USD 240 shipped.

http://www.bdopcycling.com/DIY%20Alloy% ... it%20I.asp

[bobones]

I'm in the UK too, and do a fair amount of wet weather riding. There are 2 schools of thought with winter wheels: either buy cheap and cheerful like Shimano R501, RS11, Mavic Aksium, Prime Peloton (Wiggle) and toss them away when the rims are shot. These will weigh in at 1700-1900g and cost around £90-150. Otherwise go the handbuilt route with cheapish rims and serviceable hubs where you can keep the hubs and spokes though several iterations of rim replacements. The handbuilt options will generally have more spokes, and so be a bit sturdier than the cheap factory jobs, and you can spec them with nice hubs if you want to.

I don't think the cheap Shimano wheels have particularly wide rims, but the Aksium and Prime Peloton have 17mm internal width, which is not bad.

After trashing a couple of sets of Aksiums in less than 5000 miles each, I now prefer the handbuilt option. I got my first set of cheap handbuilds (Ambrosio Evolution on 105) from by the legendary Alistair Gow (Big Al from Wheelcraft in the Campsies), and after having a go at re-rimming them myself, I now build my own winter wheels. It's not all that hard at all, so maybe this is something to consider?

I don't think it makes sense to spend a lot of money on rims if you're going to wear through the brake track within a couple of winters so I would rule out the £140 HED Belgiums, lovely though they are. My preferred cheap rim is currently the DT Swiss R460, which have an internal width of 18mm and they're not at all bad to look at. You can get a pair of these for less than £60 delivered, but there are plenty of other options out there.

Being a cheapskate, I tend to look to hubs at the lower end of the price range, such as Shimano 105 or whatever Novatec rebrand Planet X are punting. Shimano hubs are very nice, but they're not light and aside from Dura Ace you can only get 32 or 36 holes. The Novatecs are a good bit lighter, but they usually come with inferior cartridge bearings that can develop roughness or play relatively quickly. Not a problem as you can easily change them out with superior SKF or NTN bearings for a very small outlay and these will last a good bit longer. Other cartridge bearing hubs such as Miche Primato or DT Swiss 350 have better sealing against the elements so will require less frequent attention. You can easily kill a set of Shimano cup and cone hubs with neglect but cartridge bearing hubs be left to rot then ride like new with replacement bearings.

My current ride is DT R460 on Planet X Selcof Olimpico (Novatec) 28/28 with ACI Alpina DB spokes that cost less than £130 to build. I'm running them tubeless with 25mm Hutchinson All Season TLR tyres and they're great, but at just under 1700g, they're probably too light for you!

With your budget, I'd be tempted to go for Ultegra (32/32 or 32/36) or DT 350s (28/32 or 24/28) with aformentioned R460 rim as these will build into a wheel that will be a pleasure to own and ride and last for many years if looked after, but I am sure your local wheelbuilder can come up with some great ideas for you.

[bilwit]

I'd knock the heavy wheel idea on the head and just train for power on climbs (e.g. find a hill and climb it in a hard gear, then go and do it again in a harder gear, and again in a harder gear, alternating between sitting and standing). This is standard climbing training stuff for power, remember that you don't need to do 'much' of this and easy spin home thereafter.

Or just do some weight training.

No need to put an expensive wheelset through abuse when the weight and speed doesn't matter in training, all that matters is the power/intesity you're putting out. Even pros still train on boat anchor alloy rims.