acanale

Hi,
I am relatively new in cycling (started this year)....I ride a Specilized Venge Comp 2013 and right now I am looking to get a carbon wheelset, I have been looking all over and have found very difficult to make up my mind on which set to get. I still do not want to get a pricy one, since I am looking forward to upgrade my bike maybe next year and do not want to spend all of my money into the wheelset.
Cycling training/racing per year, let say I do couple of Ironman 70,3 and couple of Olympic distance triathlons, the rest is mostly training....Training sessions go from 30 to 65 miles (45 to 100 km) and most of them with an elevation gain from 190 to 435 miles (300 to 700 mt).
From what I have looked, I have narrow to the following list:
- Mavic Cosmos Carbone SLS: $1,300 usd
- American Classic 58: $1,430 usd
- Flo 60/90: $900 usd
- Bontrager Aura 5: $1,200 usd
- Williams Carbon clincher: $1,200 usd
and maybe HED Jet 6: $1,600 usd

Any inputs that can help me make up my mind???

Elvo

Swiss Side Hadron
November Rail

GamecockTaco

+1 on November Rails. love mine.

Jackmen

If you want to get an affordable alternative, you may try farsports. They are Chinese. The shipping takes a couple of weeks, but I got mine two years ago and I am very pleased. I got 24mm Wide X50 mm deep carbon wheels that are very light (1530g) and extremely responsive. I got mine with no spoke holes on the inside of the rim as I run them tubeless. I have about 4000 miles on them and absolutely no issues. The best part they were $720 delivered. They have stayed perfectly true and they break great after I got SWISS STOP bLACK PRINCE pads for them. Came with Reynolds blue and they weren't so good.

You may want to consider them. I know there are some horror stories out on Chinese wheels but, mine have been bullet proof and I am right at 200 lbs. I did get mine built 28/24.

acanale

Yes, I did look into a Chinese option as well, but not quite sure will like to take the risk. As you said, it may be great or it may be a horror!!!

acanale

Thanks,
Will surely take a look at those.....

heffdiddy

+1 on the November Rails. Those are the best looking wheels out there (besides Enve, huge price difference though).

Slackerprince

These may not be fancy enough for you, but they're affordable:

Vuelta Corsa Carbon 50 SE Wheelset - Wheels & Wheelsets

They used to be $769, but they just dropped the price.
You can probably get them for less on one of their discounts.


S

kc0bbq

Rails are still on closeout with the house hubs (Novatech) for $1270.

Only have about 400 miles on mine (Rail 34) so far, but they have been really nice so far. Then again, they did weigh about 700g less than the wheels they replaced.

timmy29er

I couldn't be happier with my November Rail 52s.

Sdjclevland

Where does November or flo get their carbon rims from? I'm not sayijg they are doing this at all but I fell like there has to be companies out there that use a far sports wheel and just put their sticker on it and it's the same as a chineese wheel but costs way way more. This must be happening.

warpdrive

The Aura 5 are aluminum rims, with a carbon cover. Similar to the Shimano wheels.

If you're riding up and down large hills and need reliable braking, those kinds of wheels might be a good compromise. The Shimano Dura ace 9000 C24 is a sturdy extremely well built wheel.

warpdrive

The Aura 5 are aluminum rims, with a carbon cover. Similar to the Shimano wheels.

If you're riding up and down large hills and need reliable braking, those kinds of wheels might be a good compromise. The Shimano Dura ace 9000 C24 is a sturdy extremely well built wheel with a great hub.

I like the Flo wheels if you want something aero

Bob Dopolina 

First, most of the Chinese 'Brands' out there are just trading companies putting their name on an open mold product from a Chinese factory. They are not manufacturers.

Companies like Orr or Tokyo Wheel are just buying these wheels and putting their stickers on them.

My understanding with both FLO and November is that they designed their own products and actually own the designs and the molds that make them. This makes a huge difference as they can control quality and supply and fake versions or versions with lower quality materials or with different layups won't suddenly appear on eBay or Alibaba.

loimpact

I wonder where the break point is for cost/advantage on a nice alum wheelset vs carbon.

What about some Ksyriums vs a $1K (or even $700) carbon wheelset??

Or are the carbon wheels technically always more efficient? (notice I didn't say "better")

bonz50

I suspect that for the large majority of people a GOOD aluminum wheelset is better than an equivalent priced carbon wheelset. I also suspect that the crossover from AL being the better option vs a Carbon wheel is going to be around $12-1400, beyond that carbon is likely the better choice. in the sub$1000 price range I'd take a good AL wheel over carbon every day even though my heart really wants carbon my head would still get in the way of that decision.

just my .02