Cyclocross - New Bike + Cyclocross wheels

All

I recently bought a Gary Fisher Presidio to be my road/ocassional cyclocross bike. I was thinking about buying an extra set of wheels as a spare for races and possibly to mount road tires on when not in the cyclocross season.

I found a set of vuelta's on Bikeisland for $229. Below is the link:

http://bikeisland.com/cgi-bin/BKTK_STOR20.cgi?Action=Details&ProdID=1167

Anyone bought these wheels? Should I just stick with the Bontrager Race wheels that came with the bike? Is it necessary to have a spare set?

Those are disc compatible wheels. Not sure that matters to you or not, but it does add a little weight. I'd look into something like a nice set of Mavic Open Pros with 105 or Ultegra hubs. I bet you can get somewhat close to that price point. I'd use the Bontrager wheels for road only. Not many spokes on those.

Thanks for the reply. I have heard the same thing from a few people. I am a little annoyed that Gary Fisher would spec a cyclocross bike with wheels that are not off-road worthy.

I may use the crappy wheels off of my girlfriends road bike.

Hub:Specialized alloy
Rims: Alex R-500, Rear: Alex R500, 28-hole/32-hole

Think those would work? If not I guess ill have to buy Ultegra/Open pros

I'd think those would be better than the Bontragers, but less than the open pros. Who knows though, those wheels may be just fine. They aren't that expensive either so maybe try them out for a season and see how they do. I've seen lower spoke wheels out there and they did fine.
What weight are you?

I put plenty of miles on my Bonty Race wheels...start saving now, ride them in the mean time and buy something nicer if and when they break.

Nothing wrong with the Bonty's, if you bought the bike new then they have a 5 year warranty. Ride the heck out of them.

IMO the Bonty Race wheels aren't suitable for road or cross! Seriously I have cracked every single pair of Race wheels I have owned except for the new ones that came on my Lemond last year that I don't use. They are prone to cracking around the eyelets. Having said that though, they have not been catastrophic failures and in fact I still use one of them for the trainer cracks and all. Just ride them till they die. If you aren't 200LBS like I am then you may never see the problem I don't know?

But having a second wheel set is really really nice because you can have a road and a cross set without having to change tires so much. On race day you'll definitely want to have some pit wheels.

using Fulcrun Zero's bomb proof so far!

Yeah, Trek specs their cross bikes with the Bontragers. I've been racing them for a month now w/ no problems. If you do want an extra set on the cheap, I'd definitely go w/ the Open Pros.

My Bontys have been fine on the road. I wouldn't worry about them for most cross and mixed-surface.

I have a set of DTSwiss R1.1 rims laced to Ultegra hubs w. DTSwiss double-butted spokes. Used them through the summer training on the road, then through cross season, with no problems. They were hand built at the LBS.

Two online shops that are worth checking out:
prowheelbuilder.com
bicyclewheelwarehouse.com
I've never used either, but they have lots of options and get fairly favorable reviews.

As for what to get, I'd go with a durable 32 spoke build. Something that will last forever. You can always get something light with minimal spokes later, but everybody should have a solid multi-purpose backup wheelset.