looking for new wheelset. are the Mavic Cosmos wheelset any good. I hear they are heavy and break easy? is this true?
some one told me that the hubs are made of plastic and will fail
in short time.
can anyone recommend a descent wheel set for under $500.




K

Around here , most people would recomend a professionally built set of spoked wheels, built for your weight and riding style.

Pre-built wheels are mostly the marketing dept getting you to buy all the components from one maker. They are hard to maintain, and sometimes need to be sent back to the factory or bike shop for servicing.

If you need an aero-wheel for time trial competitions, or want some ultra-light race-day wheels, then pre-built wheels have a slight advantage, but for regular riding, they have little , if any, advantage and cost twice as much.

There is nothing particularly wrong with Mavics, they have excellent bearings and ride well.

Go into some detail ... what type of riding will you use the new wheels for ?? , no Mavic hubs are not plastic ! LOL .. if you give us some clues as to what there intended for ..it will be a lot easier to give you some advice on your choices ....

good to hear that the hubs are not plastic, had me worried.
Most of my rides are on the well cared for roads of New York City
and New jersey. I commute to work, which is about 12 miles away
and do laps in central park until I reach 30 miles or until the roller bladers take over the road.. I want a bullit proof wheels but not one the I will have to take out a mortage for..
I'm a small guy 165lbs love to charge down hills, working on my hill climbing and love the flats for sprints. I dont do races or time trails. think I'm to old for that.
MichealW said its cheaper of build wheel or did I read that wrong?
How can you tell if your bike shop is good at building wheels?
I never see any shop tech building wheels but most say they can.
Is it hard to build a wheel set? Hmmm need rim, spokes, hub spoke wrench and truing strand think I'll try and build one...


K

Wheelbuilding takes a bit of practice. You can do it yourself or pay an expert. For commuting you should steer clear of factory pre-built wheels.
Although not local to you, this is what a decent bike shop would charge + lots of stuff you need to know about a pro wheelbuilder:
https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/Wheels.asp

Note he does sets of 32front/36rear. This is an excellent combo for regular use. More spokes = stronger wheel, and the rear is more highly stressed.

if your looking for a road wheelset, or a road/MTB wheelset I have a pair of Mavic crossmax's that I will sell for around what you want to spend. Email me Klein2000@onebox.com