curtwally

Hi to forum experts,

I am interested in purchasing wheels for my wife as a Christmas present. She is not a racer but sure does ride a lot as a high performance recreational rider (6000 miles this year). While I may have to limit selection based on price, I would like to solicit opinions on the best race wheels ever for general road riding and climbing. She is not a 28mph TT specialist so aero consideration is not the primary need. Light and quick response are the what is needed.

Among consideration and please suggest others

1. 2008 Lightweight Standard 3 Clincher Wheelset
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Item: LIG105 Weight: 1095.0g
$5,400.00

Our world has been rocked. Lightweight has built a clincher wheel set, the Lightweight Standard 3 C (for clincher). The set is lighter than most tubular-specific carbon-rimmed wheels. Must take. Deep breath. Must. Head spinning. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Ahhhhh

2.

2009 Campagnolo Hyperon Ultra Two Clincher Wheelset
Item: CAM256 Weight: 1350.0g

3. Bontrager carbon fibre clincher wheels

4. Any others as suggestions - clincher please

Thanks for your thoughsts

Regards, Curt

ridethecliche

If you just want light clinchers, I would go for Soul 2.0s.

https://bikesoul.com/s2.html

1317 grams for the set, 22mm rims and $430 shipped. Terrymorse (a bf member) rides on these wheels and climbs a lot and he loves them.

Awesome wheels if you're going for light wheels.

Save your money and still get light wheels.
Give me the balance if the cash is really burning a hole in your pocket.

BananaTugger

Edge 38 clinchers, M5 flanged hubs, DT Aerolite spokes.

Val23708

williams 19's

dmotoguy

if you can afford the lightweights, get them.. they are amazing.
the only drawback is if you have any issues you need to send them back to europe to be fixed.. its rare and they are a good company... but its something to consider.

DScott

Reynolds MV32C UL = awesomeness...

https://www.reynoldscycling.com/index...em&p_itm_pk=11

bdcheung

Exactly what price would be "too high'??

fly:yes/land:no

what does this mean? zipp 404's-808's (or their equivalents) are usually thrown around as being the best race wheels. typically, these wheels are only raced and training is done on a higher spoke count, lower profile clincher. however, there are some overly invested noobs that insist on riding their 808's with tubies on the [insert local group ride name here] in the b or c group.

too many people confuse high performance in a training wheel with light weight or aero rims. certainly these are attributes of high performance race wheels, but in training, the sacrifices made to achieve this high performance become liabilities. a high performace training wheel is:

1. durable
2. replacable
3. durable
4. power meter equipped
5. durable
6. lightweight

please, do yourself and herself a favor, and convince her that instead of investing 5k in a wheelset that she doesn't need (nor should she really want), she should put 2k into a powertap/garmin edge combo or 3k into an srm/garmin edge combo and a colorado cyclist wheelset, and invest the rest wisely.

ericm979

The big advantage to the carbon rims is that they have a deeper aerodynamic section without being too heavy.

But really the difference is pretty small, especially with clinchers. If she's not racing she'll never notice the difference between a deep 45-50mm rim and a 27-30mm rim. Except in crosswinds where the bike will be all over the road unless she's on top of things. If she's running carbon rims she'll have to change brake pads whenever she switches to/from aluminum rims. Brake pads on most carbon rims wear faster, they don't brake very well in the wet, and if she drags her brakes on long descents she'll be more likely to overheat the tire and have it come off the rim (carbon does not conduct heat as well as aluminum).

I have a set of carbon clincher race wheels. I use inexpensive aluminum rims for training and century rides.

Since it won't make an appreciable difference for recreational riding, get her a good set of aluminum wheels. I recommend these:
https://www.cycleco.com/index.asp?Pag...rodID=502&HS=1

They are light (1390g) but mildly areo. They guy who makes them really knows his stuff. I have a set of his wheels and they have been bulletproof even though I am hard on rear wheels. They're botique enough to be cool but you can get replacement spokes at any bike store instead of having to send the wheels back to Germany.

With the money you save over the Lighteights you can get her a power meter and coaching. That'll make her faster than any set of wheels, and compared to the Lightweights you'd still have money left over.

If you absolutely have to have carbon clinchers, the Bontrager ones are pretty reliable. But the lighter ones weigh about the same as the Ligero wheels above, cost twice as much, and aren't as aero.

wfrogge

https://www.lewracing.com/proVC1clincher.html

kudude

i don't understand why this thread is here

MDcatV

not alot of good wheelsets for less than $6K, so you might have to do some more research and narrow your choices some more.

ridethecliche

Lol. Nice.

umd

I agree... I mean if you want a good wheelset, you probably need to spring for those $15K Lews.

BananaTugger

LEW sucks. Hard.

Hocam

Going on rec rides with deep carbon wheels (clincher or tubular) will only get you weird looks, and tell everyone that you have lots of money to blow.

I second the powertap idea, new wheels that given the time and right effort will actually make her significantly faster.

StanSeven

Zipp 303 or 404. I've ridden them as everyday training wheels for two years now. Extremely durable.

bdcheung

Is that $15k in 2008 dollars, or in 2038 dollars when you'd finally get delivery?

merlinextraligh

Ok, its your money, and you can spend it as you like. However, Lightweight Clinchers, particularly if you don't race, have to be about the least cost effective thing you could buy as a cyclist.

First, they're not quite as light as stated, more like 1150g (https://www.carbonsports.com/LW_Standard_C.lasso)

Second, they're not all that aero, at 44 mm deep.

Third, they're are not going to brake as well or wear as well as aluminum rim clinchers, making them not a great choice for everday, non racing wheels.

I'd bet you dollars to donuts that Zipp 404 clinchers, albeit 400 grams heavier, will be faster, even at your wife's riding speed than the Lightweights, on all but a pure hill climbing TT. And they will be 1/3rd the price, have better braking, and wear better.

And if you're going to spend $5400 on wheels, for god's sake get tubulars. If you can afford $5400 wheels, you can afford to have someone else glue them,; heck you can afford someone to drive a wheel car behind you.

There are tons of better ways to spend your money on cycling than Lightweight clinchers.

A reasonably priced set of wheels and an SRM would make tons more sense.

BikeIndustryGuy

but $6K wheelsets are 3X faster than $2K wheelsets.

dmb2786

i recommend any wheel i have never ridden.

curtwally

Hi and thanks to most of the responders.

I appreciate the comments and most have been excellent. Some a bit strange I must admit.

To fly:yes/land:no your comments are right on. Also ericm979 thanks.

Your comments have me re-thinking this subject.

But first to a number of responders---
What is wrong with spending big bucks on sports equipment that you actually use almost every day in the cycling season? We do not spend money foolishly. We don't have a 2nd home up north, a quad runner, a jet ski, a boat, or a snowmobile. But we do have good sports equipment; downhill skis, nordic racing skis, nice kayaks, nice mtn bikes and decent but 5 year old Litespeed road bikes. My philosophy has been to "if you use the equipment often" why should you not be able to have equal to what the pros use? I remember when I got out of college and was downhill ski racing. I didn't have the money for lots of things but I did buy the best racing skis for me while I raced in blue jeans. That was all I could afford. So today I can afford upgrading my wifes bike equipment and want to do so as a nice Christmas present.

Perhaps instead of really expensive clincher wheels I should buy her a new bike instead. Also a number of you suggested tubulars. That is not out of the question as I have lots of experience with those during my race years in the 80's.

Again thanks for most to the great replies to my question.

Regards, Curt

DanielS

Absolutely! But remember the pros have a car full of spares if their tubulars go flat, or if they hit a kerb and snap their Lightweights or Boras or Zipps in half. I'd bet that most pros spend the majority of their training time on good sets of handbuilt wheels with alloy clincher rims.

I have a set of handbuilt wheels - DT Swiss RR 1.2 rims, DT 240 hubs (28-hole), DT Aerolite spokes. I really like them. They are light, and very smooth. You could go for the DT 1.1 rims instead if you want them to be even lighter.

All that being said.... I would kill for a set of Lightweights!

Hocam

Curt,

The problem with some expensive bike parts is that after a certain point they tend to get less practical as they get more expensive. For instance, aluminum/titanium racing cassettes. You wouldn't want to use them all year round because they would wear out, and you're not really benefiting from the slight reduction in weight on group rides anyway.

This is the same with wheels that have carbon braking surfaces, they won't last as long as aluminum wheels and will be more expensive to replace in the event of a crash or when they do wear out. They're also more easily damaged, the same goes for carbon handlebars. You're better off buying a very durable, light, aluminum clincher that will last the tens of thousands of miles your wife will put on them.

acorn_user

My suggestion would be to go to a really good custom wheel builder and have them build up something special. They could use really nice hubs, like White Industries or Tune, and build it to a nice, light tubular rim such as an Ambrosio Montreal. Then have someone glue on a Dugast tubular. Sorted!

(or you could go for the Ghisallo wooden rims)