Quote:
Originally Posted by
Bald Paul View Post
How about these?
(1) 700C Road Bike Wheels 50mm Clincher/Tubeless Ready Novatec Hub Road Wheelsets | ICAN Cycling
Originally Posted by
msu2001la
Sure, but if you're going to go down the cheap Chinese carbon rabbit hole, are these any better than the $350 Superteams on Amazon?
I have a set of Superteam rim brake carbon wheels that I purchased a few years ago. They're fine. I haven't had any problems with mine. My only complaint is that the rear hub is ridiculously loud and the wet weather braking is really bad. They are low spoke count, so it would be worth checking weight limits. The front and rear non-drive side are all radial lacing which seems kind of silly to me - I'd much prefer 2x or 3x lacing. That said, my wheels arrived true out of the box, and still work like new after 1500-2000 miles of riding. They threw in a few extra spokes and some brake pads.
I wouldn't necessarily recommend these, but for $350 they've definitely met my expectations.
... so I was considering getting some CF wheels to get updated... actually, I've always been about wheels/tires ever since I got my first set of Campy/Super Champ Record Du Monde and put CLement Setas on them - A whole different world from what I had been riding, back in '71...
so, since I'm still (and will continue with...) Rim Brake, I started looking and comparing...
I'm also not into needing a $2K wheelset, being old and on death's door... LOL! you can't take it with you...
so comparing to some decent/good alu wheels, like my HED kermesse from 2009.... 26mm depth, 23 ext width, 19 internal width. 'aero' for then, certainly less so now.
but what a difference in ride - 19mm internal means a real 'aero' profile to the tire and rim combo, way lower tire pressure which also makes it faster on regular varying road surfaces.
so I started at the low end - Chinese wheels - 38mm to 50 mm profile, most of the stuff below $600 were 23 external & 16 MM INTERNAL WIDTH !!! WHAT ???
we had that back in the 1990s ! put a 25 mm or larger width tire on that and you again get the 'bulb' profile - forget aero !
Chinese over $600 all seem to be 25mm Ext & 18 Internal width - What I already have with my ancient HED Kermesse and Ardennes wheels, and they're bulletproof and fast - so no real advantage to getting Chinese CF, except for pre and post ride cred... (pull the decals off...) LOL!
Now most of the known better Label Stuff, ZIPP, HED, ENVE, REYNOLDS, HUNT, etc... at the $1200 ish price range are 27mm Ext and 19mm Internal Width - a big improvement over what the chinese stuff gives... HED Jets are in fact 27mm EXT with 21mm , a nice set for using 28mm tires - if you want that...
Some further snooping on the web found this:
'Testing to Find the Fastest Bicycle Wheels' - a real eye-opening read... a ton of info, from an engineer who's NOT in the Wheel Business - so no hidden agendas...
A lot to read, but if you skip to the bottom, you'll come up with a fairly extensive aero/power chart of a slew of wheels tested at a 2 different simulated velocities - 30 kph and 50 kph.
Very Interesting comparison at 30 KPH, SUPER INTERESTING at 50 KPH !!! Mavic and Hunt are off my list... LOL!
Now it's comparison of price/performance and reputation for durability... Those ZIPP 404s are looking pretty interesting... for the $1200 price point area...
but then it all comes down to what happens when the rubber meets the road...
Ride On
Yuri
OP - If your son is gonna get a new bike - Almost certainly Disc Brake - why's he spending now ??? If he's 'saving', as you noted... he might consider to continue 'saving' and put it all into the new 'ride'... I do get it - we all want Kool Stuff... Kool Threads are a lot less than a $1200 wheelset, and will migrate nicely to the new 'ride' - no conversion necessary... good rubber - is also money well spent ... LOL!