I'm riding a 2006 Trek Project 1 Madone, and I seemed to have worn out the rear freehub on my bontranger race lite wheel (wheels were standard with the bike). I took the wheel to my normal LBS. They thought they had the hub in stock, but after looking around for 25 minutes, then concluded they didn't. I then took it to my back-up LBS, who said they too didn't have the freehub in stock, and didn't think they could get it because the wheel is 5 years old and the particular freehub on the wheel might not be made anymore -- which may or may not be the reason the first LBS didn't have it in stock after all. So the second LBS said I might need to replace the entire wheel. Sounded sort of fishy as the guy I was dealing with seem fairly young, didn't take the hub off to see exactly what type it was or what might be compatible (not sure if that's necssary or not). And the service area was busy, making me think that perhaps the path of least resistence was to just tell me to get a new wheel. Unfortunately, I'm not experienced enough to know if what i was told is accurate, so I guess I'm in the market for a new rear wheel (or set so they match).

I commute to work 4 of 5 days (about 25 miles round trip) plus a couple considerably longer rides on weekends, so I put a decent amount of mileage on the bike. I'd say 80%+ of the mileage is on a paved, fairly well maintained bike path, so I only have to deal with the occasional pothole (and only when I'm zoning out and not paying enough attention). I'm a tad under 200 LBS.

Question is, given my weight and usage, does anyone have any recommendations for a reasonably priced wheelset? While I do an occasional triathlon, I wouldn't say I'm a racer by any stretch, and I certainly don't need to grind every gram out of the bike for speed's sake (a few less hamburgers works just fine and is a lot cheaper).

I liked the bontrager wheel just fine (until it failed), and would rather not move to an inferior wheel if I can avoid it. Having never been in the market before, I don't know if it makes sense to just get the 2011 version of the race lite wheel I had, or if there is something better/just as good for about the same price, etc. Good analogy would be the Ultegra components I have, don't see any advantage to spending to upgrade to Dur-Ace, but having run the Ultegra group, I probably wouldn't want to down grade if I have to replace part of the group. Same idea with the wheelset. Any and all thoughts greatly appreciated!

PS. Sorry for the length of the post