Wheel upgrades for Cannondale Quick 4

[J1888]

The better half is against me getting a new bike on C2W, so I'm looking at upgrading my current steed which is a Cannondale Quick 4.

I thought a good place to start would be some new wheels - can anyone suggest suitable ones up to about £200 for a pair?

Current tyres are 700x32 if that helps.

Thanks

 

[bonsaibilly]

Fulcrum Racing Quattro LG.

Google them! BB

 

[Joffey]

I was thinking about upgrading my wheels but decided against it. Unless you have rubbish wheels now the only improvements you get are if you get aero wheels and they cost more than £200. Any weight savings are neglegable unless you are doing LOTS of climbing.

If you want to go faster I'd try to convince your wife to let you get a new bike.

If you just want to spend money making your bike look better with some branded wheels buy the wheels. Just get the ones you like the look of.

 

[RoubaixCube]

Would help if we knew what kind of riding you were using the bike for? commuting? weekend rides? on road? off road? etc etc.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

What is wrong with the current wheels?

 

[J1888]

Thanks for the comments - my main riding is commuting, around 6 miles each way.

Nothing 'wrong' with my wheels as such, but the bike itself feels heavy esp compared to say a CAAD8 road bike so I thought better wheels would be lighter?

I guess if the difference in weight is all in the frame then it's a pointless exercise.

 

[Joffey]

If you upgrade your wheels you might save a few hundred grams but at what cost? 200g at £200? It would be cheaper to have a big poo before you set off on a morning or lose a couple of pounds of body weight. It'll be the frame. I'm sure your bike is lovely to ride but it doesn't look like a lightweight machine. Don't waste your money on weight saving parts for it if the frame is heavy to start with.

Treat yourself, get a road bike ;-)

 

[bonsaibilly]

One difference I found when I put a wheel upgrade on my Quick was that the stock wheels (regardless of being a lot heavier) were for a hybrid and thus were very wide rimmed compared to the road bike wheels. The biggest improvement to the speed was fitting some Schwalbe Durano S road tyres but as these were 23 mm they were kind of too narrow for the wide hybrid rims. When fitted to a pair of Fulcrum road wheels the package made a lot of sense. The Quick is not a heavy bike and I got it down to around 10 kg at one point.

The wheel upgrade I did made a noticeable difference although I couldn't possibly quantify it. Weightwise I went from about 2.2kg to 1.9 on the wheelset and from 600 g per tyre down to 220 g. So a total weight saving of about 1 kg. The new wheels were "stiffer" whatever that actually means, it's a fact (in my personal riding history) that even with the old stock tyres the new wheels got me up hills a lot more easily and had this direct kind of feel whereas the stock wheels had a kind of slushy feel. Although they were more comfortable.

Ironically, nowadays road wheels are being made wider on the rim and I like to think it's because people like me put skinny tyres onto hybrid wheels and realised you got speed, grip and comfort rolled into one. BB

 

[Bimble]

I'm not sure of your experience level, so apologies if you know some of this stuff already, but if you've got 38mm tyres a cheaper alternative might be to try some narrower ones for less rolling resistance. If you're mainly commuting and you want a tough tyre, try some Specialized All Condition Armadillo ones, which come in 23mm, 25mm and 28mm widths (note: 23mm might feel a bit twitchy coming down from your current 38mm ones)

Also, make sure you put the maximum pressure into your tyres (usually somewhere between 100 - 110 psi) - it's amazing how many people roll along on under inflated tyres! You won't be able to get them this high with a hand pump, so if you haven't got one already, get yourself a good track pump.

 

[bonsaibilly]

I'm not sure of your experience level, so apologies if you know some of this stuff already, but if you've got 38mm tyres a cheaper alternative might be to try some narrower ones for less rolling resistance. If you're mainly commuting and you want a tough tyre, try some Specialized All Condition Armadillo ones, which come in 23mm, 25mm and 28mm widths (note: 23mm might feel a bit twitchy coming down from your current 38mm ones)

Also, make sure you put the maximum pressure into your tyres (usually somewhere between 100 - 110 psi) - it's amazing how many people roll along on under inflated tyres! You won't be able to get them this high with a hand pump, so if you haven't got one already, get yourself a good track pump.

"Like" - and if going down this route, find out the rim width of your current wheels (should be an ETRTO rating on the rim) as this will help determine a safe minimum tyre width. BB

 

[Yellow Saddle]

The wheel upgrade I did made a noticeable difference although I couldn't possibly quantify it.

It is easy to quantify. Have a look at your bank balance before and after. Subtract the smaller from the larger, that's the quantity.

The new wheels were "stiffer" whatever that actually means,

Stiffer than what? How did you observe that stiffness?

it's a fact (in my personal riding history) that even with the old stock tyres the new wheels got me up hills a lot more easily and had this direct kind of feel whereas the stock wheels had a kind of slushy feel. Although they were more comfortable.

[/QUOTE]

Facts require figures of some sort. What measurements did you take to prove the additional speed?

How did you distinguish between the comfort of the old wheels and new wheels if both had the same tryes on?

Slushy feel? Were the spokes loose or tyre flat perhaps?

Ironically, nowadays road wheels are being made wider on the rim and I like to think it's because people like me put skinny tyres onto hybrid wheels and realised you got speed, grip and comfort rolled into one. BB

Rims are getting wider because manufacturers have started to apply some science and discovered that a slightly wider tyre with all else being equal, has less rolling resistance than a narrower tyre. Grip remains the same, regardless.