That cheapo wheel strategy made the 2009 Cervelo S2 more attractive, with a very competitive (with its competition) MSRP of $5500 (I paid $5K even at the time). The only shortcut components were the cheesy R80 Shimano hoops and the Ultegra cassette. I didn't care about the wheels (bought Williams 38c's for $999 and sold the R80's on ebay for $250 or so) and I eventually got a D.A. cassette. So I wound up with a bike that cost about $6K with precisely the component mix I wanted, and at the time that was actually a bit cheaper than competing models from Scott and Cannondale, and I thought the S2 was a better bike, at least for me. The Scott and Cannondale models in the same range came with Mavic wheels I didn't want and had MSRPs of $6500+ as I recall. That did factor into my decision to go with the S2 at the time.