New wheels are always good
 

I'm always looking for bargains on good wheels. I picked up some Spinergy wheels (light weight) and it didn't take long to figure out a bike to put them on. They should work well with my cross bike - and look sharp too. I hope to ride her to work tomorrow.
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/7452/dscn1685x.jpg

Few facts required---How much?-How light? and how many miles between pie stops?

Mmmm! Pie!

Meat pie or fruit pie. Either one is yummy.

Congratulations--the biggest improvement you can make to a bike are the wheels.

I dunno about that. According to a guy on BF my bike came with cheap no-good wheels, so I bought some really expensive, super light wheels to try to fit in. They're like 300 grams each. The guy at the bike shop said they were the best and who am I to question a kid covered with tattoos and with a movie reel in each earlobe. What puzzles me about them is, they're octagonal like a stop sign... whereas the original wheels seemed perfectly round. All I know for sure is, my average speed has fallen off to practically nothing, the brakes don't hardly work at all and the ride is horrible! Maybe new wheels are cool and all, but I'm pretty sure my original wheels were way better.

The Spinergy Xaero Lite review lists them as 1540g for the set. I bought them for $100 used and installed a 12T-26T 9 cog cassette and Hutcheson tires. I have not found a good pie ride yet.

The Specialized high flange Roval wheels are very nice but have cross tires and thorn resistant (read heavy) tubes. The Spinergy wheelset should handle better on the road.

1540- Light enough to make a difference but not light enough to be "Fragile" The price you paid was pretty good so either a good friend or some hard bargaining.

I had OM wheels that were over 2Kg and with heavy tyres on them- I felt the weight of them. Changed to handbuilts at 1650 grammes and PR2 tyres at 200 grammes each and Average speed for a 30 miler went up by 2mph and coasting speed went way up. I found Distance less fatigueing aswell- hence the question of how miles between Pie. I got away with one Pie stop on a 30 miler instead of 2 with the OM's. Except it was 40 miles instaed of 30.

See, there's a shining example of the differences between an ancient advanced civilization and the New World... unless you carry your own pie, you won't find two pie stops in any 30 mile ride on this side of the pond.

All silliness aside: I never considered what a difference a few hundred grams of wheel weight would make to overall bike/rider performance. Just never even thought about it. I've been schooled, and it explains a lot.

My racing wheels are 1,278 grams, aero, and it's a big difference when I put them on, as my training wheels are 1,910g. The light wheels are also far stronger than the heavier training wheels, and they don't have any weight limit because of that. Carbon fiber has a great stength-to-weight ratio, and tubular rims increase the strength even more, but of course, you pay for it. $100 for 1,540g is fantastic if they stay true and ride well.

Wow! A Guerciotti aluminum cross bike! Those were super drool worthy back in the 80s.

Yes, I've had a lot of fun building her from the frameset. She's an ALAN, my guess is from the early 90's. I rode her on the C&O canal and a few times on the road / MUP to work.