Hello fellow crossers! I just bought an 06' Trek XO1 off ebay last night because I got a hell of a deal with a buy it now. I have done my homework and research on cross bikes, but I am wondering if the Bontrager Select wheels that come stock on the XO1 are gonna hold up well enough. I have the same exact set of wheels on my Trek 2100, and are these wheels gonna be beefy and tough enough for a cross bike? I don't intend on putting my bike through hell because it is mostly going to be used for commuting and some trail riding, but I don't want to destroy a set of fairly expensive wheels. Thanks in advance!

I'm wondering the same thing. I have a set I was thinking about using to build up a crosser.

what year xo1? I am riding a 2006 I bouth at the end of August running stock wheels on it with no problems. at 190 lbs and losing i thought there would be trouble but no, and I have put them through quite a bit. On a side not I just bought a set of Bontrager race wheels for it to use on the road next summer so I dont have to keep switching tires around.

Keith

I'd save those wheels for the road and get a set of ultegra/open pro 32 3x for strength. ($200 or so) Any proprietary spokes and hubs will end up costing you in the long run. Cross puts wheels through hell and back, so I would save nicer wheels for the road. Good luck.

Any other suggestions for wheels besides Open Pro's? I know they are good wheels, but I was just wondering what else out there would be a good choice as well.

Open Pro's are a common CX race wheel. They are cheap and very durable. I run them as my race wheels and my back up set as well.

cxp33's. Stronger, stiffer and easier 'mud release'. Not that much heavier if heavier at all.
Weighted my rims to <460, and it makes use of 6mm shorter spokes than open pro. (≈10grams)
8mm if you use the recomended 14mm niples. (I never do)

Another vote here for the Open pros with 14 guage spokes. But I have my rear wheel built as x4 vs. x3

I know you don't want to hear anymore about open pros, but the weight-strength ratio when properly built is the best thing going for cross. If you're looking for complete wheelsets, I'd say go for something with cartridge bearings, like a Ksyruim Elites, or along those lines because the withstand the elements better than any shimano hub. However, consider the repair costs you will surely encounter putting Ksyruim Elites through serious commuting and occassional cross v. spokes you can get at the corner shop.

Consider Velocity Aerohead rims as well. They are slightly heavier than the open pro, but more aero. I have a set paired with King road hubs and they have been through my training sessions since March and hav required only minimal adjustments.

Goodluck.

fwiw I say keep the Select. They are very strong and can take a hell of a beating. When they do break they don't cost too much to replace.

That is what I was just thinking. If they weren't fairly tough, I don't think Trek would put them on their cross bikes knowing they were gonna get beat to hell. Thanks for your help folks, I appreciate it!

just stick with the selects they will so just fine. save the money. ive seen people ride the Race X lite Aero Carbons and the seem to hold up fine. Im going to be running them next year. And with the selects the wheels are easily replacable through trek.

I just bought a set of the Bontrager Selects and got such a good deal that I'm ecstatic. They arrived in used but near new condition for less than the cost of a set of cheap crappy supermarket wheels.

Cyclocross ACTUALLY puts less loads on the wheels than road tires and use does. The much fatter cross tires softens striking loads and streads the loads across more spokes.

I'm sure that there are a lot of clumbsy cross riders who can break wheels but that isn't the point. Hitting a pothole with a 130 psi 23 mm slick puts a hell of a lot more load on the wheels than hitting a tree root with fat tires.

^^ interesting point.

^^I second that.

I disagree. Bunny-hopping, single-track, and grass to cement transitions subject cross wheels greater stresses. The reason most serious crossers go to tubulars is based on the constant risk of pinch flatting. That is RIM to GROUND contact buffered by your tube and tire. Either your roads are in terrible shape, or your cross courses aren't cross courses.

Also take into account that you are truing and assessing your road wheels after hundreds of miles v. viewing cross wheels after relatively minimal miles.

Good choice with the Selects though; Enjoy!

I disagree. Bunny-hopping, single-track, and grass to cement transitions subject cross wheels greater stresses. The reason most serious crossers go to tubulars is based on the constant risk of pinch flatting. That is RIM to GROUND contact buffered by your tube and tire. Either your roads are in terrible shape, or your cross courses aren't cross courses.

Also take into account that you are truing and assessing your road wheels after hundreds of miles v. viewing cross wheels after relatively minimal miles.

Good choice with the Selects though; Enjoy!


Is not the reason pinch flats are are problem off road a result of tire pressure , not terrain?

Is not the reason pinch flats are are problem off road a result of tire pressure , not terrain?

No, you're missing half of the equation. Pinch flats are a result of low tire pressure required when riding most cross courses from the rim bottoming out on the ground or some hard object. The cause of pinch flats has two components (1) low tire pressure and (2) the objects the wheel hits. Simply having low tire pressure does not result in a pinch flat. The rim contact, pushing through the tire and tube, with objects on the course is what CAUSES pinch flats. The risk of a pinch flat with tubulars is extremely low because of the lack of protruding rim on either side of the tire/tube. Most serious crossers go with tubulars because of the risk of pinch flats. Either the elite cross community doesn't know how to handle their bikes and use tubulars to make up for their lack of skill, or cross wheels are conclusively subject to more torture than those used on the road exclusively (again assuming you don't have terrible roads).

I hate to be a stickler on this, but I don't want people getting misinformation and buying flimsy, cheap wheels, or expensive-to-fix road wheels for cross assuming that they'll hold up. Having ridden mountain bikes for several years before going to road and cross, my experience is that the torture components go through is exponentially worse in the off-road, cyclocross context, when compared to road.

Ask yourself why manufacturers are producing beefed-up versions of their road wheels for cross? Why beef them up at all if, in fact, the road puts the wheels through worse torture? See, e.g. Reynolds and Easton.

Happy Holidays everyone, and stay safe while out there trying to get the winter miles.

Open Pros with ultegra hubs are always a good choice, or look at Fulcrum Racing 5's. I run them on my cross bike and they are awesome and reasonably priced. Fulcrum is actually Campagnolo's aftermarket company so alot of the campy designs trickle down to Fulcrum. and yes they make a shimamo friendly hub.

This is very good info.
This guy knows his stuff.
I run Spinergy Aero lites myself now only because I like the faster acceleration on the flats.
I have raced for 2 complete cyclocross seasons and have ran 4 differant wheelsets and air pressure is the big thing for cross.
My bike came stock with Mavic MA3's on Tiagra hubs and work great(they are just heavier)

Here's the good news: it doesn't much matter what wheels you put on your cyclocrosser because the fat tires spread the off-road stresses a lot better that the narrow high pressure road tires do.

I just bought a set of the Bontrager Select wheels because they're going for a hunderd bucks a set on Ebay and that's a pretty good deal.

The Bontragers aren't the ideal wheel in my books. If I was buying a new set of wheels I'd ALWAYS go with Mavic and probably Equipes. But there's nothing wrong with the Bontragers unless you feel the need to spend money unnecessarily.

The rim contact, pushing through the tire and tube, with objects on the course is what CAUSES pinch flats. The risk of a pinch flat with tubulars is extremely low because of the lack of protruding rim on either side of the tire/tube.

Actually a lot of that is myth. Pinch flats occur quite well if your tire doesn't have a liner on the thread that sews the tire together. Now I've not had a flat on a 'cross tubular and had to take them apart so I don't know how they're making them these days. But I can tell you that I more or less stopped using tubular road tires when tires from outside of Italy were being made without that liner.

During a cross race I attended in Santa Cruz I noted that I saw three probable pinch flats and they were all on tubulars.

The trick here is to have a good tire for the conditions and proper inflation. And the rider has to retain enough consciousness to keep from slamming the front wheel into something that might flat the tire.

In most cases I've seen the "experts" seriously under-inflating their tires in the belief that somehow almost flat tires will get better traction than 70 lbs. inflation will. Tain't so since soft tires can't push the knobs into the traction surface.

Look at this: http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2005/dec05/UScrossnats05/?id=UScrossnats0510/121005ecNATCROSS_ELITE_M_3

If you look at Page's rear wheel you'll notice that there's no bulge at the bottom of his rear wheel. Page is a good sized guy and easily the best in the United States when he isn't suffering from food poisoning. He is plainly running HIGH pressure and not low.

I have ridden a great deal in mud and rain and that sort of crap and I prefer high pressures as well.

The trick here is to have a good tire for the conditions and proper inflation. And the rider has to retain enough consciousness to keep from slamming the front wheel into something that might flat the tire.

In most cases I've seen the "experts" seriously under-inflating their tires in the belief that somehow almost flat tires will get better traction than 70 lbs. inflation will. Tain't so since soft tires can't push the knobs into the traction surface.

Underinflation makes sense if you are running 2 ply downhill tyres (which is where this myth has come from, I suspect). You are not going to get any significant increase in contact patch area on cross tyres and the thin sidewalls will mean pinch flat city.

If you ride in all but the deepest mud then you actually need tyres narrow enough to cut through the slop to firmer ground!

I have a set of bontrager selects on my Xo1 and they have survied me hitting the barriers at full power but hey im only 150 lbs. There is a rear Select at my lbs that the spokes have like ripped out of the rim. Kinda scary looking. Bt he is sellign me used mavic Kyseriums sl for 500 greenbacks so im excited.

I had a similar experience with the selects. Rear spokes pulled out of the rim after ~2000 miles on my Trek 1500. But I am 265 lbs. I heard rumors of a bad batch of rims. I just don't think they hold up well to heavy riders. The frustrating thing is that Trek markets these as their heavy duty paired spoke wheel.