erpdat

So, I get my bike out of the shop Friday and instead of investing an extra $50 for the Nashbar carbon fork, I decided to save that towards a wheel set. I rode my friend's '70s Cinelli track frame with Mavic Open Pro's laced to Dura-Ace hubs and holy **** was it amazing. I know the frame had a lot to do with this but I won't have nearly a grand to drop on a track frame anytime soon..

I found this deal on Open Pros but they're laced to Formula Hubs:
https://www.bicyclewheelwarehouse.com...d&productId=59

Good upgrade from my ****ty Vuelta XRPs???

Thanks!

cleanupinaisle3

Formula hubs are fine. They're the best bang for the buck out there. When you've ridden them into the ground, rebuild them with higher-end bearings, like Phil Wood, and you've got a killer hubset.

AEO

it's not really the rim that makes a huge difference, it's the tire choice.

tgscordv6

Yeah, Formula hubs make more sense than Dura Ace since they contain sealed bearings.

AEO

the tire is about 85% of the entire ride quality picture.
hub bearings, as long as they're properly adjusted and not worn out or contaminated contribute to far less than 5%. the other 10% is the frame and fork.

Just get some quality tires and call it a day. something like conti GP4000 with black chili
you would be delusional to think that new wheels will make a huge difference in ride quality.

carleton

+1

erpdat

I do have good tires. Got a Vittoria in the front and a $60 Soma tire in the back. They've lasted forever. I've had the rear Soma for nearly 4 months and still haven't skid through it.

I just have been wanting a new wheel set. Something lighter/stronger than what I have now with a classic look (nothing deep)

Thanks for the advice though! Not buying a nice frame/fork until my current frame takes a ****.

tgscordv6

You want something with a lower rolling resistance like the GP4000 mentioned above.

AEO

vittoria what? open corsa? diamante pro? rubino? rubino pro?
they make all levels of tires, just like conti, vresden, michelin, schwalbe and panaracer do.

vittoria rubino are bottom of the bucket, rubino pro is only slightly better.

carleton

1) A good tire is not defined simply by how long it lasts. It is defined by traction, feel, suppleness, max pressure, rolling resistance, as well as threadwear. Notice how "skid resistance" isn't in that list.
2) The longer-lasting tires are the hardest and harshest.
3) Vittoria makes crap tires as well as nice ones.
4) I wouldn't consider Soma tires "nice"

Ride a set of Contental Grand Prix 4000s and get back to us. It's not the absolute best tire out there, but it's definitely one of the better ones that's easy to find at any bike shop.

AEO

if you check out PBK, they have a sale on michelin P3R tyres, which are $60/pair.
But P3R cut and puncture pretty easily, so for extra flat protection, GP4000 are the better choice.

others you can try out are schwalbe ultremo and vittoria open corsa or diamante pro.

sau

since we are are the topic of mavic open pro, where would be the best place (i.e. least expensive) to purchase a 32H mavic open pro rim?

AEO

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/M...?ModelID=17147

but they won't ship outside of the EU.

If you want a 32h, it'll be cheaper to just buy a prebuilt wheel.

It only makes sense to buy rims individually, in a very common 32h drilling, if you want double or triple butted spokes instead of plain gauge, which is what most prebuilts come with.

arp415

+1 on continental gp 4000s. Just put them on and its like a new bike

cc700

open pros will make a difference even with crappy tires. my gatorskins are heavy but they handle really well and have good traction on bad pavement. when i had zaffiros, which were even worse, and i went from a dp18 to an alex r450 i could tell my stiffness and ride characteristic went way, way up and my rotational inertia followed suit.

what i would add is that a 70's cinelli is going to be great, but way way less of a difference compared to a good, cheap frame like a kilo than the difference between that of open pros and xrp's, especially if the open pros are wearing race tires.

i'm pretty sick of my dp18s but telling this guy to spend his money on tires without knowing exactly what he's riding(did i miss something) isn't getting the whole picture. conversion road bike on its last legs? wheels will be great but that frame's still going to flex from the fatigue it's suffered. pake or other new, cheap, good value frame? wheels are going to go a lot farther on that kind of bike than pretty much anything else he could do, provided he puts good tires on it.

the key here is that he should get new tires AS WELL AS any upgrades he deems necessary to bring the bike's performance up to where he wants it. open pros to formulas are a good use of money if you want great wheels and have a few bills to burn.

caloso

FWIW, I was a dedicated Conti guy until I decided to try Schwalbe Ultremo R1s (pbk.com was having a sale). I've been very impressed. They are light, very round, and so far very robust. Worth checking out.

hairnet

Bicyclewheelwarehouse makes OK wheels. Ok, not great. I have a road wheel set from them and I've had to go in with my spoke wrench a few times already this past year, but nothing major. Those wheels may feel a lot better than the XRPS. My BD bike came with those and I switched to an Open Pro set from BWWH, with the same tires the bike felt like it rolled more easily.

PedallingATX

OP--if you are looking for a new wheelset you can't do much better than Open Pro to Formula hubs. I have Open Pros (laced to DA hubs) on my bike and love them.

I found a great deal on this wheelset from Velomine..you should check them out.

I am going to echo what other people said about tires, though. Soma is not a nice tire, neither are some Vittorias. If you can't afford GP4s, try looking into Michelin Krylion Carbon...i've always liked the way they feel.

ichitz

i really like vredestein tricomp tires.

gobby1095

I ave been running noting but continental grand prix 4000 S's and they are amazing, genuinely improves ride quality by a lot, but next time around I was thinking of getting ultremos. They look nice.