Road Cycling - Open Pro Wheelsets from Performance Bike

I have posted other places on this forum talking about buying a handbuilt wheelset, but various life events have lead me to come to the conclusion that I might save a hundred or more dollars and buy from Performance Bike.

Does anyone have any experience with their wheelsets?

I am also trying to decide between the 105/open pro set up versus the Ultegra/open pro or Dura Ace/open pro.

The ultegra and 105 set ups are the same price.

Dura ace is about $60 more.

I generally do my own maintenance, so I am not opposed to some tweaking on the wheels when I receive them.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

I purchased a set of OpenPros from Performance about 18 months ago. The price was around $230. They are 36 spoke built on Ultegra hubs. Before buying from Performance, I'd checked the one local bike shop that has a mechanic that I do some business with. Most of the bike shop wheels that they have available or will order are built by the same wheel builder as the OpenPros at Performance: WheelSmith Wheels.
I've got two sets of Mavic wheels built by WheelSmith. Between the two bikes there is about 8,000 miles on one and 1,200 on the other. The one with the higher mileage has had the rear wheel trimmed up one time. Not a single broken spoke or any other problems.

I have a set of open pros made by wheelsmith with the ultegra hubs (bought for $199 from supergo but I am sure they are the same thing). I had spokes loosening up on me for 50 miles until I tensioned them myself and haven't had to tweek a single spoke in 3000 miles. I have the 32 spoke variety and commute with a 20 pound pannier on the back and I weigh 195. My commute is over rough roads (and some dirt canal banks) and these things have taken the abuse and begged for more. I think I am hooked on this wheelset as it has been completely pain free, even after having the pannier get sucked into the spokes three. times on the rear wheel locking it up. I don't know about the 105s but the ultegra hubs seem to be worry free for me.

Ultegra over 105 is a no brainer for the same price. Ultegra over 105 is like playing an Ace over a Deuce. If you're not going to be racing I think Ultegra is plenty, but $60 extra isn't that bad for the D/A.

I think there is a difference between Ultegra and Dura Ace. If you have the bucks, go with dura ace. Dura Ace hubs are going to be smoother. I have always said the open pros are the gold standard. If you want to cut some weight, go with revolution spokes.

I decided to go with the Dura Ace. My final reasoning was that in the worse case scenario, I do not like the wheelset, and a wheelset with the dura ace hubs will fetch a higher price on resale than the ultegra hubs. The price difference worked out to be about $40. I will post again a progress report on how they are performing.

For $40 clams it was the right move.

For $40 clams it was the right move.


That's what I figured too. The total cost was pretty low: $210 with shipping. I figured I will deal with tweaking the wheel a bit for the money I saved over a handbuilt set up (never mind the fact that I could not have afforded a handbuilt Dura Ace set up).

I also purchased a front, 32 spoke Open Pro with Ultegra from Performance earlier this year. I retensioned the wheel myself prior to riding and it has performed superbly over 2,500 miles.

Does anyone have any experience with their wheelsets?

I have the OP/ Ultegra wheelset from Performance. I am a very happy camper! :D

I have posted other places on this forum talking about buying a handbuilt wheelset, but various life events have lead me to come to the conclusion that I might save a hundred or more dollars and buy from Performance Bike.

Does anyone have any experience with their wheelsets?
I bought a set of Ultegra/Open Pros from Performance a few years ago.
The rear wheel went out of true about once a month and I was breaking a spoke twice a year. Last summer when a spoke broke the rim cracked.
I had the wheel rebuilt locally using the Ultegra hub and got a two year warranty. The wheel hasn't gone out of true yet and I haven't broken a spoke.

Moral of the story: Get a LBS to build a set of wheels for you.

Try this website for handbuilt wheels. I just received a set of Black Open Pro's with Ultegra hubs for $239.95 He doesn't normally stock the black rims but he ordered them for me with no problems. I have been happy with my purchase so far. The other sets of Ultegra Hub and Open Pro's are cheaper than what I payed for mine. Hope this helps.

http://www.greatdealsonbikes.com/

Here is a follow up about my wheels.

Out of the box:
32 spoke open pros look pretty plain. Especially in the all silver that I got. My old wheels were all black with radial lacing on the front, and a lower spoke count in the rear. Some people would probably prefer the look of my old wheelset, but the new ones looked fine to me. I do not really know what the weight difference was between my old wheels, and my new wheels. I did not have a very accurate scale to weigh them. When I tried to do it on my bathroom scale, there was a half pound difference with the front wheels with the open pros coming out on the light end (it only measures half pound increments). I did not bother with the rear, but the open pro felt lighter, and probably was with the Dura ace hub.

I checked the wheels, and they spun very true. I plucked each spoke, and the tension sounded fine (if you can even tell this way).

When I pumped up the tires to 120psi, I could hear the spokes pinging, so I let some air out of the tires, and grabbed the wheels and flexed it all the way around on both sides. I got some more pinging, but then it stopped. I pumped up the tires, and no more pinging. The wheels are not quite as true as they were when I pulled them out of the box, but they spin fine, and do not rub my pads. The tension still sounds fine, but I will true the wheels after a couple of rides.

The ride:
For fairness, I also replaced the chain when I replaced the wheels. I went from an overstretched HG73 to a fresh HG93. I swapped lubes too from Triflow to White Lightning. The wheels are mounted with standard tubes and 260g 700X25 Maxxis Detonators (great ride and I got them cheap).

The wheels spun up fine. No real discernable difference between these wheels and my old ones. Climbing felt great on these wheels as did descending. They were very stable at speed (38 mph), and seemed responsive on the climbs. As a comparison I would have rated my old tires as stable and responsive. The new wheels definitely felt more planted on the descents, and I might have imagined it, but they seemed to soak up the road cracks a little better (radial V 3X?).

After doing one of my regular loops my average speed went from mid 16mph (16.3-16.5) to 16.8 mph. I only have one ride on the new wheels, so I may have just had a good day. I am not sure where I gained the speed (flats, climbs, or descents). It is a fairly hilly route. I did kick the speed up on one of the flat sections when a town pickup truck pulled out of a side road next to me uncomfortably close. They spun up to about 27 mph very quickly (I was riding along at about 20). The truck must have really wanted to be in front of me (I was in a 4 foot wide bike lane) because he really raced his engine to get out front quickly. We were in a 30mph zone so I got a good chuckle out of the whole experience especially when his brak lights came on and he slowed to the speed limit.

Overall I would say that the wheels were worth the $210. I needed new wheels anyway, and I do not think I could have gotten similar quality wheels for the money. They don't have the bling factor of some of the new wheelsets, and they are probably heavier, but they definitely have not hurt my ride. Plus I now have some rain/early season wheels in the garage. I may put a smaller/lighter tires on them sometime in the future. I am training for a century in July, so I will definitely have a more complete picture of how I feel about them after that.

Thanks again for all of the advice.

Glad you are happy with the wheels. A little pinging is fairly normal until the wheel settles in. However, let someone who knows what they are doing, straighten 'em up and get the tension where it should be.

As to the Avg MPH measurement, uh, how do I say this.... It's pretty much a useless measurement for testing performance gains. Waaaay too many variables that can swing that reading 2 - 3 MPH either way.

I decided to go with the Dura Ace.


Excellent choice. I was pricing OPs and CXP-33s a few months ago. According to Peter White, who guaranteed his wheels for life, the DuraAce hubs have a lot better bearings and are well worth the price difference. The master wheelwright at my LBS told me the same thing.

As to the Avg MPH measurement, uh, how do I say this.... It's pretty much a useless measurement for testing performance gains. Waaaay too many variables that can swing that reading 2 - 3 MPH either way.

I only stated the Average MPH measurement to point out that there was not a huge gain, nor a huge loss in the performance. I am looking forward to seeing how they perform over the next couple thousand miles.