simonaway427

I'm picking up a new bike on Wednesday that comes with Shimano R500 wheels. The plan is to take the "road only" Soul 3.0SL wheels that are currently on my Specialized Tricross (been using it as a road bike), and put them on the new bike. The R500's will be put on the Tricross with 32c tires - and subsequently relegated back to CX duties as originally intended.

Are the R500's up for the task? They will see rough paved roads, gravel roads, and the odd railroad bed turned nature trail.

Thanks

cachehiker

If the build is good they should be fine. Maybe you can talk the shop owner into giving the spoke tension a good look?

I looked into R500's when a buddy was partially parting out his Kestrel while I was starting my Kaffenback build, even took a test ride on them. A women's Cat. 3 I ride with trained on them and used them to backup a better Shimano set for a few years (5000 miles?) until the rear was clipped by a car. She's picky about stiffness too. Overall, they're a tad heavy and plenty strong, but the bearings have a tendency (reputation, deserved or not) for being short-lived. Check 'em every season and keep a contingency plan in place in case they give it up after a few thousand.

BTW, I ended up scoring a deal on some Ksyrium SL's so the Kaffenback got the old Ksyrium Elites instead.

knobster

I've read so many bad reviews of them for just road riding. I couldn't imagine using them for cross.