jrmybrgdn

Hi, new member. Might be posting this in the wrong forum, but I thought the crowd here would be better equipped to help me.

Earlier this year I bought my first "proper" bike in two decades, a Specialized Sirrus Sport:

https://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/...nuItemId=14883

Love the bike, but I'm getting the itch to tart it up a bit. I'd like to replace the existing silver rims, spokes, hubs and crank arm for black parts to give the bike a more "urban" aesthetic. I'm not necessarily looking for performance components; just parts that are at least as reliable as the (probably ****ty) stock stuff.

I'm having a job finding a reasonably priced wheel set. I want black rims, spokes, hubs, and something that'll carry up to a 32mm tire. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

cc700

you'll need a geared wheelset and honestly anything we recommend will likely be too pricey if you're just looking for stock-grade components. maybe ask a shop to swap you some off a new bike?

i'd suggest you get velocity aeroheads to black chris king hubs. (probably about 600 dollars or so)

or if you want to save money but still want high performance, a set of neuvation wheels.

or if you want it to look urban just get a fixed gear bicycle like the Mercier Kilo TT.

Juha

Moving this to Bike Mechanics (from SSFG). Carry on...

--Juha, a Forum Mod

MichaelW

You could swap the rim. Getting the tension and truenss correct is a bit tricky for beginners but its good practice. There was a guide to this somewhere on the net, taping the rims together and transferring each spoke to the other rim.
IMHO black components suck, they look really scruffy after a few years when the black starts to wear away. Cranks get really worn and rims show every curb scrape and show the dirt.

HillRider

Maybe you should have dropped this into the "Bling" thread.

mrrabbit 

...yeah that thread where people talk about bullet-shaped valve caps, gold spokes, chrome finished rims, flourescent tennis balls, Campagnolo cork removers and original gold plated ALE toe clips.

=8-)

RaleighSport

errrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmm I'm confused here, this started in SSFG is this bike a single speed or fixed of some sort? If it's a fixed you can get deep v all black track wheels for about 130 after shipping from amazon.. there may be lower prices but I don't know where.
I'm in a similar situation, I was building an all black bike and replacing all the chrome with black, but I found I like the contrast of a chrome set of spokes/hubs to my black rims/black I think I even like the chrome on the seatpost/stem/cranks now... but yeah if solid blacks your thing go for it! just make sure it really is.

ecnewell 

Since you're looking for something in line with your stock wheels, I'll recommend an Alex wheelset. My Raleigh Rx 1.0 cyclocross bike came stock with Alex AT400 rims laced with who-knows-what spokes to who-knows-what hubs. I upgraded, but not before riding on them for a while, and they held up fine both on and off-road.

The AT400 32h rims are available for $24 each on Amazon.com. You already have 32h black hubs - you could buy the rims, some black spokes of the correct length, and build your own wheelset. A box of DT Swiss Champion spokes goes for $54. You'll spend a little over $100 and learn how to build wheels in the process.

Looigi

On many wheels the graphics are simply stickers. Get otherwise black wheels, peel off the stickers and you'll have all black wheels, except perhaps for the brake track.

HillRider

I missed that thread (fortunately) but I did start one asking if others notice your high-zoot components. Not particularly flashy, just expensive.

mrrabbit 

...not at San Jose Bike Party. Everyone is too busy riding, drinking a beer, setting off a firework, chit chatting, or fixing a flat.

Brought my Tommasini once...no one even noticed...which was the wrong bike to bring to begin with.

So I built a budget single speed and rode it last Friday and all people saw was the "Tool Brigade" sign on my back.

=8-)

Nightstalker 6

jim hughes

I've had several sets of black wheels and they always end up looking like cr@p before long because the anodizing wears off of the braking surface.

You can forestall the wear by keeping the rims and pads perfectly clean, but evenutually you'll get caught in some rain, the rims pick up sand and grit, and immediately the andozing is ruined.

Dark anodized rims are a dumb product and I'm not buying any more of them. If there are black rims that say black forever, no matter what, I'd like to know about them.

BCRider

The ones on my disc brake bike seem to be doing OK at staying black....

Getting back to the original post question you'll find that Ebay and online bike shops are loaded with budget options that would suit you and do so at a cost of around 100 to 150. Then turn around and sell off your slightly used wheels for about half of that.

So I have to ask what you mean by "reasonably priced"?