Originally Posted by
TimothyH
The best upgrade isn't wheels but tires.
The OP's bike comes with 370 gram Specialized Espoir Sport tires. He could save well over a half pound rotational weight and improve ride quality tremendously just by swapping tires.
It doesn't even have to be expensive tires. The discontinued Vittoria Pro III tires were as low as $14 each and weigh only 235 grams.
Throw in some Continental Race or Race Light butyle tubes for another $20. These are just examples of what's out there.
The bike would ride and feel completely different with nice supple tires and light tubes. The whole thing might cost $50 or maybe $75 max and he would have nice tires to put on new wheels if he still wanted them.
-Tim-
Every word of this. Not just the bold parts, but
especially them.
A $200 pair of tires will save about the same number of watts as a $2,000 pair of wheels.
The problem is you can only do this once. Most folks giving advice in here have been using light and supple tires for so many years, they tend not to be on our radar as a potential upgrade, I probably didn't phrase that well.