Cyclocross - Best Wheelsets On and Off road

First post on this forum. Hopefully this topic hasn't been butchered to death already!


I recently set up my old road bike with a do it all sort of build. I'm currently running a Forte Titan Rear wheel (Performance brand) and an older Ritchey Front wheel. These are great wheels but I don't want to kill them when I get the urge to fool around on the bike, or when I hit dirt/sketchy pavement.

I've been browsing around for a good, strong "cross" worthy wheelset but haven't found anything really..What wheelsets do you guys run? Mine will need to have 130mm spacing in the rear. I've read a lot about what people use for their slick tires and road rides, but what do you all use for cross or more abusive riding? Thanks.

salsa delgado cross

32 spoke Mavic Open Pro

32 spoke Mavic Open Pro

+1..(2 pairs, actually). I run them on my commuting an cyclocross bikes. For fast road rides, I run normal road tires. But for 95% of my commuting/off road riding, I run michelin Transword Cities. Plenty fast for commuting but also suprisingly capable off road. I only mount the knobbies when I am racing cross.

DT Swiss TK 7.1 only needed to be touched when spokes ripped out in freak accident though it still rolled and when wore braking past indicators. Though you are limited to 25 as thinnest tire.

32 spoke Mavic Open Pro

Pretty much the industry standard. Performance used to have great prices on Ultegra/OP wheelsets.

open pros @ bicyclewheelwarehouse.com for $240

32 spoke Mavic Open Pro

On my mountain bike.

open pros @ bicyclewheelwarehouse.com for $240

That's a killer price for a quality wheelset.

As good a place to ask as any.

Ultegra/Open Pros versus XT's/Open Pros. Probably see more commuting miles than anything. Would XT's be overkill? I'll certainly say that the Ultegra's look nicer, and that's at least somewhat important.

I am pretty abusive toward my Ultegra/open pros. I take them up and over and back down rock steps, the whole thing...no problems.

I use the my Ultegra/Open Pros as my road/commuting wheel. For offroad, I use the Tiagra/Deore/Alex wheelset that came with my Kona Jake. Ironically, the only time the Alex wheels have been so much as in need of truing came when I hit a pothole while commuting before I got the UOPs. I haven't had any problems with them in offroad use.

I was in the same boat as you a couple of months ago. I went with 32 hole cxp33 on ultegra hubs over the open pros. A little heavier, but supposedly stronger. I have been trashing them pretty good and haven't had to straighten them yet. Bought them off Bicycle Wheel Warehouse as well. I checked the wheels out with a tension meter before I mounted and them and I was very impressed with the quality of the build. All spokes were evenly tensioned to manufacturers specs. I will buy my next set of wheels from BWW:)