Are better wheels really a step up ?

[derrick]

^^This. You don't need to go £400-500, have a look at say Fulcrum Racing 5s. You will notice an improvement over your stock wheels.

Fulcrum 5s are a cheap not very good wheel, will be no improvement over the standard wheels the op has all ready. The 3s would be a slight improvement, but i don't like Fulcrums, Nothing actually wrong with them, it' just there are a lot of better wheels out there,

 

[Heltor Chasca]

Oh I'm not bothered about looks, and tbh, putting some swanky Carbon rims on would make me look like an 'all the gear and no idea' kind of cyclist, and I'm keen to avoid that.
But, on the basis that I need to buy either a new Rear Wheel for my Turbo tyre at least,(£100-120?) i'm just trying to establish whether an extra £250+ (£400 Total) would show me an improved ride on the road with new Wheels entirely, - & using the current Axis for the Turbo.

A friend is admaant that his new wheels made his GIant 'much better', but then I guess anyone who's done the upgrade is always keen to justify the upfgrade to themselves anyway !

I am absolutely with you on this. I don’t like showing off, but worse still, I don’t like to follow the ‘all idea, no idea’ crowd who have each and every latest gimmick that ‘might’ save you 1W. I sailed to a very high level (2 world champs) and ‘all the gear no idea’ was very prevalent. None of them were in the top end of the fleet.

That said I am a rubbish cyclist who has very little disposable so I need to be wary. I ride far, rather than fast so I like reliability and strength. I upgraded the stock wheels on my Spa Cycles Elan to a set of Archetype H Plus Son for a negligible fee. Rather than the stock wheels which were covered in bright, stripy decals, these are very subtle, minimal, and to me, more stylish. 36H too so should survive our goat track roads.

 

[Blue Hills]

My 157 Botswana Pula’s worth: As with any hobby, your choice will never ‘make a profit’. Additionally, you can’t argue, that it’s nice to have wheels that LOOK nice.

Dogs run faster, tongues out, towards more expensive wheels I think.

Addition to my post above about the cambridge engineering prof. He was particularly doubtful/critical/scathing about low spoke count wheels with "innovative" lacing patterns.

 

[Vantage]

Dogs run faster, tongues out, towards more expensive wheels I think.

Addition to my post above about the cambridge engineering prof. He was particularly doubtful/critical/scathing about low spoke count wheels with "innovative" lacing patterns.

As posted somewhere else..."More gears than spokes".
It seems a stupid way of doing things.

 

[Blue Hills]

As posted somewhere else..."More gears than spokes".
It seems a stupid way of doing things.

Agree - I narrowly avoided getting a Dahon Speed Pro with a front wheel "featuring" about 8 spokes. A close shave.

edit.

I think it may have been this:

http://foldingbike.biz/epages/7665e...37-afac2266f927/Products/DAHKINPROPANTFROBL14

Why oh why oh why?

I won't go into the Pantour Suspension hub - just to say that that wheel with that hub and that spoke arrangement must surely take the biscuit for the all time barmy wheel/made in hell idea. The Cambridge prof pointed out that the first pictorial representatation of a wheel is in the British museum 2.500BC I think. The folks who built that would have rolled over laughing at that Dahon Speed Pro wheel.

No criticism of ch white who are excellent to deal with and helped me out with some of my Dahon's other wobbliness - like an original rear wheel that was always busting spokes. Keep things simple folks and OP.

 

[derrick]

Nothing wrong with low spoke count if you are a lightweight, you have to get the wheels that suit you, most decent wheels will have a weight limit on them. Have always used low count Mavic wheels, never had a problem.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

I'm struggling to understand the rationale of buying a NEW wheel of any price if all you want to do is bolt it on to a trainer! In fact, I don't even see the point of bolting a decent BIKE on to a trainer come to think of it. After all, the bike doesn't actually GO anywhere when used on a trainer, so it doesn't matter a toss if the frame is made of gas pipe or the wheels did come off a cheap Halfords Apollo bike. Think of a trainer/bike combo as a piece of gym equipment, because that is all it is.

 

[JhnBssll]

Be careful replacing wheels on specialized road bikes with discs. It will probably have their SCS rear hub alignment which means a standard fitment rear disc wheel isn't a direct replacement. If it is SCS you'll need a new gear hanger to correct the geometry as the cassette is about 2.5mm offset. I know this because I replaced the axis 2.0's on my Roubaix last year

 

[rivers]

I've just recently upgraded my wheelset. I had shimano rs010s on my Sublime and swapped them out for a set of DT Swiss R23s. Not top of the line, but a decent mid-range set of wheels. The RS010s replaced the axis classics on my specialized. I immediated noticed the difference in the quality of ride the Sublime. And to a lesser extent on the Specialized.

 

[zak3737]

I'm struggling to understand the rationale of buying a NEW wheel of any price if all you want to do is bolt it on to a trainer! In fact, I don't even see the point of bolting a decent BIKE on to a trainer come to think of it. After all, the bike doesn't actually GO anywhere when used on a trainer, so it doesn't matter a toss if the frame is made of gas pipe or the wheels did come off a cheap Halfords Apollo bike. Think of a trainer/bike combo as a piece of gym equipment, because that is all it is.

You havent read my post really .........

I have one Bike......
I have one Rear Wheel....
I have one Trainer......

So clearly unless I want to prat around changing the tyre from Road to Trainer every time i either 1 Ride on the Road, or 2. Ride on the trainer.....
I need another rear wheel to put the Trainer tyre on !

OR - as I asked, was it worth keeping it on the Axis 4.0, and replace my Road Wheelset for something better.

Or perhaps you can tell me how I can use the Trainer without a Back wheel on ?

 

[zak3737]

Be careful replacing wheels on specialized road bikes with discs. It will probably have their SCS rear hub alignment which means a standard fitment rear disc wheel isn't a direct replacement. If it is SCS you'll need a new gear hanger to correct the geometry as the cassette is about 2.5mm offset. I know this because I replaced the axis 2.0's on my Roubaix last year

Thx for that, i'll be careful.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

perhaps you can tell me how I can use the Trainer without a Back wheel on ?

Any suitably sized wheel will do for a trainer, you don't need to spend a load of cash on a new one. For that matter, you could buy a complete cheap secondhand bike and use that on the trainer, then you wouldn't need to faff about swapping wheels and taking your bike on and off the trainer.

 

[MrGrumpy]

Fulcrum 5s are a cheap not very good wheel, will be no improvement over the standard wheels the op has all ready. The 3s would be a slight improvement, but i don't like Fulcrums, Nothing actually wrong with them, it' just there are a lot of better wheels out there,

two freehubs in the past 6 months on my Fulcrum racing 77 cx sport wheels and I`m done with them. Looking for another set off disc wheels. Granted they have done a fair bit of mileage circa 4k miles, but still........

 

[si_c]

two freehubs in the past 6 months on my Fulcrum racing 77 cx sport wheels and I`m done with them. Looking for another set off disc wheels. Granted they have done a fair bit of mileage circa 4k miles, but still........

Freehub on my current commuter wheel (Shimano RS505) has done well over that, still buttery smooth and silent.

 

[zak3737]

Any suitably sized wheel will do for a trainer, you don't need to spend a load of cash on a new one. For that matter, you could buy a complete cheap secondhand bike and use that on the trainer, then you wouldn't need to faff about swapping wheels and taking your bike on and off the trainer.

Are you trolling ? New wheel is circa £100-120, - exactly what could I buy for less than £100 that would do the job, as you say ? And be the same fit a I'm used to ?