Going on the advice of many people here I purchased a set of Mavic Open Pros built on Ultegra hubs from my local Performance Bike. The purpose was to upgrade to something with strength and durability.

When I got home and mounted the wheels on my bike and spun them a few times to check for trueness I noticed they didn't spin as smoothly or nearly half as long as the wheels they were replacing.

My question is do these Ultegra hubs have a break-in period? They aren't nearly as smooth as the sealed bearing Vuelta stock wheels. At this point, I don't really feel like these wheels are an upgrade even though they retail for $120 more than my stock wheels.



Lastly, can anyone recommend an alternative to this wheelset? Preferably something strong, light, and cheap (if that exists in the cycling world). Not looking to spend more than $350 on a wheelset.