Road Cycling - Wheelset - Mine vs. Theirs

I decided to start looking for a racing wheelset. As you know, high-end wheels are expensive.

Since I build my own MTB XC wheels - including my race set - I decided to research building myself a road race wheelset.


Weight Cost
Mavic Open Pro rims 851g $120
Alloy nipples 22g $10
15/17/15 spokes 261g $65
Ultegra hubs-32h 544g $90

Total Weight 1,678g $285

Substituting DA for Ultegra hubs the weight drops 55g more and cost goes up about $70.


Mavic Ksyrium SSC SL 1,725 g $800
Mavic Cosmic Elite 2,175g $380
Shimano DA 7701 1,756g $750

So, I can build a lighter set of 32 spoke, 3-cross wheels for hundreds of dollars less than a high-end race wheel and still come out 50-100g lighter.

Play devil's advocate with me. Give me the reasons why I should spend hundreds more.

As I'm in the same situation
(building vs buying) I can find no reason
to spend the extra bucks other than out
of the goodness of my heart I want to send
Mavic or Campy more of my hard earned $.
I think that the custom boutique wheels
make sense only if you're not comfortable
lacing you own wheel.
I've been talking to LBS and the wrench said
he'd be glad to check out the wheel after I build
em to make sure I got it right (I don't own a
spoke tensionmeter and don't plan to buy one).
Figure either way I can't go wrong.
one caveat tho, I wouldn't try to build
a Ksyrium or other high zoot bladed spoke
wheel, at least not yet.

I say build your own.
Marty

why do you call wheelsets boutique wheels? There is nothing boutique about them. They are mass-produced wheels. If anything, Woodyupstate's wheels would be the custom boutique wheels.

Yes there are performance differences but if you don't want to spend the money than it sounds like a decent alternative.

Originally posted by WoodyUpstate

Total Weight 1,678g $285


Mavic Ksyrium SSC SL 1,725 g $800
Mavic Cosmic Elite 2,175g $380
Shimano DA 7701 1,756g $750

Play devil's advocate with me. Give me the reasons why I should spend hundreds more.

Think of the wheels you can build yourself if you spend hundreds more:D

plus $200.00 more for labor, then your expenses would be higher than the pre-made wheels, (That is considering your making your on wheels, coz, you have to take the labor cost of it too)

why do you call wheelsets boutique wheels?
Just a term, no implied meaning either good or bad.

Marty

$200 for building a wheel set?? Just today my LBs quoted me around £160 ($240ish) for a set of Ultegra equipped Open Pro's and the labour would be free.

PS What is the advantage of the Ksyriums et al.? Is it to do with aerodynamics? Velocipedio?...anyone?

You could even go lighter and build your wheels using Chris King Classic hubs at 112g for the front and 268g for the rear!

L8R

Originally posted by Niall
PS What is the advantage of the Ksyriums et al.? Is it to do with aerodynamics? Velocipedio?...anyone?

Inertia: the less mass in the wheel, the less energy required to accelerate it. As the mass moves further from the centre, it also requires more energy to accelerate, even discounting the extra mass involved in a larger circumference. So, light rims are even more important than light hubs...

Yes, obviously lighter is better, but what is the advantage of Ksyriums over Open Pros that justifies the price difference when from the above figures they are heavier.

One of the possible benefits of the Krysiums woud be the reduced number of spokes. With reduced air drag, steady-state cruising would take a little less power, if all other factors were equal. Ditto for the more-aerodynamic rim of the Krysium. Of course, the rim is beefed up to allow for the reduction in spokes, so acceleration will be slower even if the overall weight were the same as a conventional wheel, since more mass is concentrated at the edge of the wheel.

If I were going to buy a "wheel system," I'd get Shimano (assuming my bicycle is using Shimano equipment). Standard easily-servicable Shimano hub internals, a widespread support network, and not too crazy on the price. But you're right, a high-quality pair of conventional wheels is a compelling alternative.

What are everyone's feelings on the trade-off between a fast-accelerating wheelset with more air drag, versus a lower-drag wheelset that has higher rim weight? I don't race but I do get fiesty with the local auto traffic sometimes, and sometimes fast acceleration is nice but sometimes I'm just trying to sustain 32mph for several blocks on the flats to position for a left turn, also.

Ksyriums are excellent wheels because they are so stiff. The direct transfer of power with no windup- and you feel the difference.
the rim is light andis certainly much faster accelerating than an open pro. The spokes are directly threaded into the metal of the rim through a very high-tech process, thus the holes in the rim are not necessary. Rim tape is not used.
Ksyriums are great wheels for many reasons and certainly much faster than the good open pro.

planing on buying a Ksyrium myself, right now I have a Mavic cosmic elite and you can feel the difference, its awesome, wind cheaters....

ahh good ol' Ambrosio Elite rims with 600hubs.