Summer/Winter Wheelsets?

[Cyclist33]

I agree, if we are talking about the Genesis that sells for circa £1000 what is a sensible price to pay for summer wheels?

£300-350?

 

[jamin100]

I have recently acquired a "summer" set of wheels for my giant defy.

I plan on using them until the weather turns bad around September/October and then swap back to the standard defy wheels until around April/May

I'll use the same cassette and chain on both sets of wheels so that the wear is consistent across both parts. As other have said it takes probably 10 minutes to change the cassette and maybe a few more to index them properly

 

[Fab Foodie]

I have recently acquired a "summer" set of wheels for my giant defy.

I plan on using them until the weather turns bad around September/October and then swap back to the standard defy wheels until around April/May

I'll use the same cassette and chain on both sets of wheels so that the wear is consistent across both parts. As other have said it takes probably 10 minutes to change the cassette and maybe a few more to index them properly

They should index exactly without adjustment

 

[Fab Foodie]

£300-350?

Not unreasonable .... but don't forget to budget for lighter tyres too ..... they're a big part of the equation.

 

[Cyclist33]

Not unreasonable .... but don't forget to budget for lighter tyres too ..... they're a big part of the equation.

I concur. My new bike just came with conti ultra sport. Ouch!

 

[Venod]

Not a road bike but on My MTB I run 26 wheels with knobbly tyres & a set of 29er wheels (700c) with road tyres, a completely different ratio cassette on each, I never alter the chain, although it could be shortened for the 700c wheels it works fine.

 

[DCLane]

I run best / winter or training wheels on 2 of my bikes.

On the commuter bike I run a wheelset until it breaks and then another cheap set. Leeds is that potholed it's not worth getting a decent set of wheels for commuting.

Oh, and I run a winter bike as well. Or I will when it's built. The idea is that the 'best' bikes go away for the winter. I then use a basic bike all winter which is sold come the spring. Last year it was my Raleigh Team (sold via eBay) and this winter it'll be an Eastway R4.0 when I've built up the frameset.

 

[Cuchilo]

Same cassette on all wheels same chain on two bikes . The third bike doesn't really get a wheel swap but the same cassette is on that ones spares also .
The wheel swap is normally just for a short time , turbo or one ride so not for a big issue . If it is then I will deal with it when needed .
I think I have too many wheels to be honest

 

[Spoked Wheels]

Hi,

I've been given a couple of copies of Cycling Active by a friend recently and it seems that a common feature of their reviews of bikes around the £1,000-1,500 mark is to suggest that the stock wheels are heavy and would serve well as winter training sets but that an upgrade to better wheels would be in order to get the most out of the bike. This implies using more than one wheelset on the same bike, changing according to the seasons, but I don't know anyone who does this. Just wondered if many people on here run multiple wheelsets on one bike, and if so how you manage that - separate cassette and chain for each wheelset, or swapping cassette and chain over with the wheels everytime?
If separate chains is the best way to go is it easy enough to break and re-connect them with a chain tool? And is it ok to do this multiple times without causing damage to the chain?

Cheers.

I have what you might call a winter bike but that is only cause it is fitted with mudguards. The wheels are good wheels but very standard in every way. I now have a spare set of wheels for my "summer" bike which I will probably keep with wider tyres for wet days.

A friend of mine has a nice Cube bike that came fitted with Easton wheels, I never paid attention to the wheels until last week when he rang me that he had broken a spoke and if I could help. I wasn't expecting much from a stoke set of wheels, not even from a £2K bike but they are junk. I fitted a silver spoke I had in the correct size and I told him not to bother trying to find a white spoke.

So if you want to use a set of stock wheels, most of the ones I've seen, are not very good at all, cheap components and poorly built. they are fine to ride in the winter if you like.

 

[EasyPeez]

Anyway, back in the real world, I tried using two pair on one bike but soon got frustrated with having to faff around with gears and brakes as invariably the setup for one of the wheelsets was completely different to the setup for the other.

Sounds like a lot of hassle. Why would you have to faff with the gears though - if swapping a single cassette or using 2 of the same types of cassette I would have thought that bit should be seamless? Can see why the brakes might need a fiddle. I have discs so not sure if that would make the whole thing easier or trickier...?

I presume you are talking about the Genesis that has Fulcrum 5 CX wheels on it, I believe: they are strong, multi spoked wheels that are not that heavy and some would say they would be an upgrade from many stock wheels and different tyres may make the difference you are looking for.

I am talking about my Genesis but it has Racing DB CX wheels - a model down from the 5 CXs I believe. Fulcrum catalogue quotes 1840g for the pair, so they lean more towards sturdy than lightweight, but I have no problems with them, and coming from riding an old £200 MTB with knackered wheels to this they seem like gliding along on silken wings at times! I saw a guy riding a Boardman Team CX in the week with a pair of the same so I guess he considered them an upgrade on the stock wheels he got. Although I understand that I'm only inferring that and I know how dangerous this inferring lark can be!
Fulcrum 5s or 5 CXs would shave off 200g but that doesn't seem worth the outlay to me so I think I'd be looking at going higher-end.

If you have the appropriate tools switching a cassette and splitting a chain is not a big deal but if one back wheel is 10 speed and the other 11 you will have to faf with spacers

Forgive my newbie naivety but I didn't realise this was an issue - do all wheels come built in expectation of taking a certain speed cassette? And so I'd either need to check the wheels I bought were built for an 10 speed cassette or else mess with spacers? I'm guessing most new 'summer' wheels now will be set up as 11 speed?

And then there is the mathematical stuff, which I can't begin to go into..!!

Oh go on...I enjoyed the grammar lesson so much, I could right go for some algebra about now...

I just swap the cassette from one wheel-set to the other. 10 min job with the right tools.

And stick with one chain using a chain breaker I assume?

different tyres may make the difference you are looking for.

Yeah, it's changing tyres that's got me started on all this - I just put on some tougher tyres for a London-Paris ride and it got me thinking that I really ought to keep these tyres on now for my commuting, but that rather than swapping tyres 3 or 4 times a week between commuting and leisure/club riding it would be ideal to have my Fulcrums with tough tyres for the dirty work and buy some high-end racing wheels and tyres for the fun stuff. Now I'm not sure if changing wheels 3 or 4 times a week is a lot more hassle than constantly changing tyres!

 

[EasyPeez]

Also, I guess I'd need to look for wheels set up to take disc brakes, and so I presume I'd have a much more limited choice than if shopping for rim-brake wheels?

Now I'm not sure if changing wheels 3 or 4 times a week is a lot more hassle than constantly changing tyres!

Would a possible solution to this be to have a cassette (of the same type) on each wheelset and a separate chain for each wheelset to avoid unbalanced wear?
That seems much easier and less time-consuming than swapping cassettes multiple times each week, epsecially if using two chains with a quick-link? But nobody else seems to be doing it or suggesting it so is this an impractical set-up for some reason I'm not aware of?
Cheers, Andy

 

[Fab Foodie]

Sounds like a lot of hassle. Why would you have to faff with the gears though - if swapping a single cassette or using 2 of the same types of cassette I would have thought that bit should be seamless? Can see why the brakes might need a fiddle. I have discs so not sure if that would make the whole thing easier or trickier...?


I am talking about my Genesis but it has Racing DB CX wheels - a model down from the 5 CXs I believe. Fulcrum catalogue quotes 1840g for the pair, so they lean more towards sturdy than lightweight, but I have no problems with them, and coming from riding an old £200 MTB with knackered wheels to this they seem like gliding along on silken wings at times! I saw a guy riding a Boardman Team CX in the week with a pair of the same so I guess he considered them an upgrade on the stock wheels he got. Although I understand that I'm only inferring that and I know how dangerous this inferring lark can be!
Fulcrum 5s or 5 CXs would shave off 200g but that doesn't seem worth the outlay to me so I think I'd be looking at going higher-end.


Forgive my newbie naivety but I didn't realise this was an issue - do all wheels come built in expectation of taking a certain speed cassette? And so I'd either need to check the wheels I bought were built for an 10 speed cassette or else mess with spacers? I'm guessing most new 'summer' wheels now will be set up as 11 speed?


Oh go on...I enjoyed the grammar lesson so much, I could right go for some algebra about now...


And stick with one chain using a chain breaker I assume?


Yeah, it's changing tyres that's got me started on all this - I just put on some tougher tyres for a London-Paris ride and it got me thinking that I really ought to keep these tyres on now for my commuting, but that rather than swapping tyres 3 or 4 times a week between commuting and leisure/club riding it would be ideal to have my Fulcrums with tough tyres for the dirty work and buy some high-end racing wheels and tyres for the fun stuff. Now I'm not sure if changing wheels 3 or 4 times a week is a lot more hassle than constantly changing tyres!

No chain breaker required.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Also, I guess I'd need to look for wheels set up to take disc brakes, and so I presume I'd have a much more limited choice than if shopping for rim-brake wheels?


Would a possible solution to this be to have a cassette (of the same type) on each wheelset and a separate chain for each wheelset to avoid unbalanced wear?
That seems much easier and less time-consuming than swapping cassettes multiple times each week, epsecially if using two chains with a quick-link? But nobody else seems to be doing it or suggesting it so is this an impractical set-up for some reason I'm not aware of?
Cheers, Andy

Why would you be swapping several times a week?

 

[EasyPeez]

Why would you be swapping several times a week?

Because I commute on the bike Mon-Fri on bad roads. So I'm wondering if there is a way I can use my winter/heavier/sturdier wheels and tyres for daily commuting and swap to the summer/lighter/racier ones for my weekend rides and weeknight evening club rides and social jaunts. That would be a lot of swapping hence me wondering if 2 cassettes and 2 chains might work. I can't see swapping a cassette and chain 3 or 4 times a week being feasible.

Sorry - I was originally thinking in terms of a seasonal swap and appreciate that as this conversation has gone on and my musings have developed I'm getting away from the thread title somewhat.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Because I commute on the bike Mon-Fri on bad roads. So I'm wondering if there is a way I can use my winter/heavier/sturdier wheels and tyres for daily commuting and swap to the summer/lighter/racier ones for my weekend rides and weeknight evening club rides and social jaunts. That would be a lot of swapping hence me wondering if 2 cassettes and 2 chains might work. I can't see swapping a cassette and chain 3 or 4 times a week being feasible.

Sorry - I was originally thinking in terms of a seasonal swap and appreciate that as this conversation has gone on and my musings have developed I'm getting away from the thread title somewhat.

No worries.
Swapping chains is far too complex.
Just take heavy wheels off bike, remove cassette and put onto light wheel-set, fit light wheels. No buggering around with chains. 10 mins, job done.
Simples.