traveller5

Hello,

I ordered Canonndale Road Warrior 800 (2005) with Shimano WH-R550
rims, hubs and spokes (16/20). Tires - Continental Top Touring 2000.

https://www.cannondale.com/bikes/05/ce/model-5HR8Y.html

What do you think about WH-R550. How often will I have to true them?
I weight 72 kg (159 lbs).

Thanks,
Branimir

alanbikehouston

You are gonna have a really nice bike. Most new "factory built" wheels can benefit from a bit of "extra" truing, before your first ride, and after a few hundred miles of riding as the spokes stretch and "settle in". I am lucky that the owner of an LBS in my neighborhood is a "wheel perfectionist". He is happy to "fine tune" wheels that MOST techs would say are "almost perfect" or "as true as you need". Nothing adds more to the enjoyment of a road bike than wheels that are "perfect", not just "almost perfect".

At your weight, if you are riding with reasonable care on decent roads, these wheels are likely to need little attention until your "pre-season" tune-up next year.

traveller5

Great, I'll try to be careful on roads, after all this is not a mountain bike
I'll take it back to shop for a fine tune after 300 km and I hope that it will be allright.
When I bought my first mountain bike, I just didn't have luck. I had to true wheels almost every
month. Now I know that every bike says "I want to ride on this and this type of roads"
closely connected with price paid.

Thanks,
Branimir

ITT

I am 195 pounds and have had my wheels for about six months logging 3500 miles. Had a little tunning to both wheels after their first 1,000 miles with no problems. Good training wheels.

Frank

Cyclaholic

I have that same set of 550's and am very happy with them. I use them as my 'go fast' wheelset, and because I have a different wheelset for commuting I'm not to fussed about being overly carefull with the 550's. I'm 100kg and have put about 2,000km on them, have trued them up maybe 2 or 3 times in the first 500km but they've held good ever since.

I'm sure you'll be happy with them.... however, for only a little more $$ you can get the WH-R600 wheelset which is about 200grams lighter. Just something to think about

geraldatwork

The 550 wheels came on my bike and I wasn't thrilled with them. First they are almost 1900 grams and I wanted something lighter. But what bothered me most was they didn't spin real smooth. When I spun the front wheel I could feel a little rumbling or roughness. The LBS said to give them a few hundred miles after about 150 I really didn't notice a difference. Maybe I gave up on too soon, or just needed an adjustment. Probably I just wanted a lighter set. So I replaced them with Velocity Nuvians. BYW I am 210 lbs and while I only went about 150 miles on them they didn't go out of true.

BlazingPedals

I was in the market for a wheelset last spring. I checked out the R550s but after feeling the bearings I opted for a set of Velocitys instead.

rule

I've had mine on the road for over a year, with about 3,000+ on them with no issues. I am your size and have not had any issues with them staying true, other than right after I first bought my bike, and then later after I changed a flat and put on a new tire. It was easy enough to tweak back into true. They have been great wheels for me for sure.

TassR700

I put 1600 miles on mine last season with no problems. I am 190 lbs. They are in need of a little tweaking before spring. My only complaint is the spoke nipples are large (0.43) and on the hub so conventional spoke wrenches don't work on them. You have to get the special Shimano spoke wrench (big surprise) if you want to do them yourself. I have one on order and they are only $6 so no big deal, just something to be aware of if you are a DIY type person.

geraldatwork

That was exactly my experience with the bearings and strangely I also opted for Velocity wheels with the Areohead rims and Velocity (Forumla) hubs. To save weight I got them with titanium spokes as I needed a 32 spoke in the rear and 28 in front.

Cyclaholic

The bearings in my 550's also had that slightly tight/rough feel at first, totally transformed to silky smooth and very low friction after 500 miles or so.