Cyclocross - Affordable Roadie Wheelset for a Xbike ? noobie needs help.

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volperider
08-19-07, 07:52 AM
hi all,

I'm sort of new to cycling. Last year I bought my first bike, a 2006 bianchi volpe. 99% of the time I use this bike for fitness riding on smooth paved roads.

Recently I got the opportunity to ride some pure road bikes (Specialized Allez Elite and Trek 1500) and I really enjoyed going faster with less effort. I was wondering if I could get close to the same feel/speed increase on my volpe by using a skinny roady rim and tire. I thought it would be neat to have a full roady wheelset that I could swap out with my 32c knobby tires.

I'm trying to see it this would be an affordable option but i don't really know where to start looking for a wheelset. If you were looking for the fastest wheelset that would work on a volpe in the 100-250$ range what would your options be ? what size, brand, ect.

Also could you make the swap easily or would it require making any other types of adjustments on the bike?

flargle
08-19-07, 08:54 AM
Swapping the knobby tires for road slicks will make the biggest difference, whether you use the existing wheelset or a totally new one. I ride Panaracer Pasela 700x28C on my cross bike for group rides . . . I always have the fattest tire on the ride but I like having some more air under my feet. They roll just fine.

You can find Mavic Open Pro laced to either Ultegra or 105 hubs within your budget.

I'm not sure what your shoe/pedal situation is, but a stiffer shoe and road- or touring-style pedal can also make the ride snappier.

Food for thought on tire size:
http://www.rivbike.com/node/18
http://www.rivbike.com/files/pick_tire.html
Ronsonic
08-19-07, 09:40 AM
Your rims aren't any wider than a normal road rim, so you might want to try a skinnier tire on them first. The spec sheet says you have Shimano road hubs, so pretty well any Shimano hubbed road wheelset will work for you. The major online retailers always have some builtup wheelsets on sale. Check Nashbare and CBO and JensenUSA and the other usual suspects. Something like the last poster described should be out there and about perfect for you.

Most of the discount wheelsets are machine assembled and the spokes are nowhere near as tight as they need to be for reliability. If plucking spokes gets you a clatter instead of a tone, take 'em to a local shop and have them tensioned and trued.

You will want a cassette to go with it - probably something fast like a 12-25 or so. This will work with your chain and you shouldn't even need to adjust anything if you stay with hub and cassette from the Shimano family.

For tires, I don't think there's any reason to go smaller than 25mm unless you just like that feel of really tiny hard tires skittering along. My only recent road tire experience has been 1500 miles on a pair of Maxxis Un Categories with one flat and apparently a lot of miles to go.

Have fun with this and let us know what you're finding.

Ron