Originally Posted by mcjimbosandwich

since blowing out my wheelset and being told that they were near the end of their life anyway (about 2700 miles on it), i begin wondering if it's worthwhile to get a nice wheelset if they wear out in 5k miles. what's everyone's experience here? for one thing, i thought chains, cassettes, and chainrings, to a lesser extent, were the main "consumable" parts on a bike. never did i expect the need to replace wheels this often.

as for the back story, my training wheelset blew up after hitting a trough that was 4 inches wide by 1 inch deep, covering 3/4 the width of the street (165th in nyc for those from the area). i was going downhill, trying to catch a light, and didn't see the damn thing. next thing i knew (and actually anticipated after seeing the damn thing at last moment), both tires blew out. i was able to stop, but did have to do 3 blocks of walk of shame. later, when i took the wheels to get trued, i was informed that they were both busted . the $200 i spent on a new ksyrium equipe rear wheel was originally intended for a power meter. bye bye swag fund