Wheels!

[colinr]

All the cool serious looking cyclists have wheels with less spokes than my Mavic CXP22s. I bought my bike second hand and have no idea how good or not these wheels are, if I was going to go for an upgrade what would be the next step and what sort of price range would I be getting into?

Because there is room on my credit card this month

(for a road bike with Shimano drivetrain)

 

[amaferanga]

How much do you want to spend? You won't need to spend much to get wheels that are lighter and (more importantly) look better than your CXP22's, but equally you could spend several hundred pounds on wheels if you wanted to.

 

[wheres_my_beard]

Take some spokes out of your wheels.

Insta-cool. "Dangerous" could be your new middle name.

Or, have your spokes re-laced like these >> here

 

[colinr]

How much do you want to spend?

Hadn't thought about it too hard, probably around £150 tops.
Planet X have Mavic Askiums at £140, are they any good?
Or the Planet X model Bs?

Take some spokes out of your wheels.

Appropriate amount of spokes:

 

[colinr]

I consulted the rest of the internet and went for Planet X Model Bs.

 

[brockers]

Sorry to break this to you, but I don't think you're really going to get an appreciable upgrade fo £150. You've got to ask yourself who you are trying to impress ? I'd be very surprised if you noticed a performance increase at that price point. Yes, they look fashionable and er, that's about it. (I have a pair by the way - and am not really that impressed with them, so have gone back to my 32 spoke Open Pros. More comfortable, and feel faster).

If you can push the boat out a bit further, these are extraordinary value at the price.

 

[colinr]

The bit about spokes wasn't entirely serious.

My current wheels are a bit battered (by the previous owner) and I've been planning replacements for a while. Now in a position where spares would be handy, so a new set it is. I'm not that interested in performance and as such don't intend to spend serious money on the bike.

It's pretty easy to lose perspective though. It's still £150 (well, £130) on wheels, I don't race nor do I plan to so that's a fair wad of cash. Unless it was for my fixed in which case money appears out of thin air

 

[brockers]

Unless it was for my fixed in which case money appears out of thin air

Ain't that the truth !

 

[amaferanga]

Sorry to break this to you, but I don't think you're really going to get an appreciable upgrade fo £150. You've got to ask yourself who you are trying to impress ? I'd be very surprised if you noticed a performance increase at that price point. Yes, they look fashionable and er, that's about it. (I have a pair by the way - and am not really that impressed with them, so have gone back to my 32 spoke Open Pros. More comfortable, and feel faster).

If you can push the boat out a bit further, these are extraordinary value at the price.

CXP22 wheelset - just guessing, but I'd say very likely to weigh >2kg.

Planet X Model B - around 1650g.

I'd say that's a noticeable upgrade. Kinlin rims as used by the Model Bs are highly rated, as are Novatec hubs (great for the price).

The Ultegra wheels are more expensive, but are they a significant upgrade on the Model Bs? I don't think so.

 

[brockers]

I'd say that's a noticeable upgrade. Kinlin rims as used by the Model Bs are highly rated, as are Novatec hubs (great for the price).

The Ultegra wheels are more expensive, but are they a significant upgrade on the Model Bs? I don't think so.

I have some model Bs ! First outing my Chorus rear mech and chain got tangled and mashed in the spokes, and the hangar got ripped off. So they'd already cost me another £150 more than the initial purchase price. Not the best of starts! I'm still trying to find out whether these rims are Niobium Kinlins, or copies, and have asked on nearly every forum in the last two years. Not one reply. I even asked Ian Cammish at PlanetX, but he didn't have a clue what I was on about either. If they are Kinlins (by subtracting the known weights of the hubs and spokes from the weight of the wheel, they come out at 465g - suggesting they might be) then they're good value, but my experience is that they're not that stiff, juging by the amount that my wheel went out of true in its initial outing, and the small amount of tension I needed to put into the spokes to make them straight again, whereas KinLins are supposedly very stiff - which is why Derek at Wheelsmith uses them in his builds. I'm aware that the Novatecs are good value and have pointed out to people which exact models the Novatec (Planet X superlight) hubs are, on here and on Bikeradar.

They're OK wheels - that's all. Reynolds used to knock them out as Alta Comps (with a crappier rear hub) until they had so many spoke breakages they stopped selling them under the Reynolds name. (Lots of returns too to Planet X who used to sell the Alta Comp, but who subsequently sourced the Novatec hub and had them built into the rear wheel - and thus was born the Model B).

Personally, I'd never buy a value factory wheelset again. Am happier on my Open Pro/Records which I find more comfortable and oddly, faster (everything else being equal). Could be tempted by some Neutron Ultras though !

 

[colinr]

Just shy of 1,000 miles on the model B's and I'm really pleased with them. They are noticeably swifter than the CXP22s and the aero spokes make a good noise at speed (this is important!). They've put up with more filth than my MTB due to awful weather and dodgy route finding on my cycling "holiday".

The cassette still appears to be attached so I guess my set didn't come with the infamous cheese freewheel.

 

[rockyraccoon]

fulcrum 5 are excellent wheels and you'll definitely notice the difference. £152 from Ribble plus deliv.

 

[deanbmx]

I swapped my mavic cxp22s out for easton vista sl (now ea50 sl) with new tyres I've saved around 240g a wheel, very noticeable.