I need to buy a new wheel set for a Specialized Tricross Comp. I have never bought wheels before so I am at a bit of a loss as to what will fit. The existing wheels are Roval Classique Paves - the front has a 20 hole hub and the rear has a 24 hole hub. The rims are described as Roval Pave alloy, double wall but I don't have any details about the rim height and width. My tires are 700c x 32mm.

In any event I was looking at Performance Bike's sale and sawsome Mavics on sale that seem good but will they fit the tires? The Kysirium Elites sound nice (on sale for $399). The specs show the rim heights as 22 front 25 rear and widths as 19 front, 20 rear. Does this mean they are too narrow for 32mm cyclocross tires? They also have a Kysirium Equipe wheelset on sale for $250 but that identifies the rim height as 24 but width as 13mm - that sounds even more dramatically narrow. These also have less spokes than my current wheels - 18 front, 20 rear.

Any suggestions on how I should evaluate wheel sets? Do I need wider rims? More spokes to strengthen the wheels or are newer wheels just as strong with fewer?

Avoid low-spoke count wheels. More spokes = better strength-to-weight ratio, better reliability, and better limp-home capability. I like to have at least 32 spokes/wheel.
Avoid black-anodized rims, because their smooth sides compromise braking performance.
Read Sheldon Brown's article regarding tire and rim width compatibility. I think you need at least 20mm for fat tires.

How heavy are you on the wheels? Don't mean your weight-unless it is high- but how hard do you ride?

Can't comment on the width of the rim as I have 700c with 23 tyres fitted but unless the rims are very narrow- 32 mm tyres should not be a problem.

Mavic make some good wheels but they can be expensive. I have a set of Aksiums that are the lower version and barring a bit of weight- they are a good wheel. They are often recommended for use in cyclocross so are sturdy enough. Warning though- they are out with my son-in-law who is a bit on the heavy side and he is a Hard rider and he breaks spokes often. Krysiums are lighter and Better? but can also cost more.

But wheels are hard to recommend for another rider. I thought S-i-L would never damage the Aksiums but he has. I prefer to have handbuilt wheels and I am lucky in that I have a good wheel builder. The Favourite standard is Mavic Openpro rims to Ultegra Hubs with 32 or 36 spokes. Indestructable is the only way I would put them but S-i-L isn't getting his hands on my set. Other variations and I have CXP33 rims on 105 hubs with 36 spokes. These are mostly classed as a training wheel by the officianados but in general are a reasonable weight- stiff laterraly but still have some vertical give in them- and strong. Not the fastest around but definitely can take more knocks than the Lighter weight wheels with less spokes and bling. I also have a respectable pair of Giant OM wheels that were stripped and rebuilt by my builder and I use these as a foul weather and wet wheelset for the winter. Saves wearing out my favourite set of Ultegra 6600 that I use for the "Special" or hilly rides.

Depends on your weight and the way you ride but 16 spokes up front and 20 rear is the minimum for a rider who can look after the wheels. 20f and 24r is what I would suggest for most riders though. And if pushing the 200lbs- then the hand builts with 36 f and r is strongly recommended. Hubs and I would always suggest a good known make and quality. Whether ball and cup or cartridge bearings is not important but better quality does pay in the long run. Rims and I do like Mavic.

In fact I do like Mavic wheels so if you can afford them and you are not heavy on wheels- then any of the Krysium range and you will not go far wrong. But other makes are out there and Others can comment on particular makes and models.

And beware of "some" of the "Funny" Spoke patterned wheels that are about. They are not all bad but some do make for a weaker wheel.--And when buying- make certain you buy the correct type for your groupset. Shimano Freehubs are different to campag.

I have a simple wheel buying strategy. Velocity rims, Shimano hubs, 32 spokes. Can't go wrong.

https://www.velocityusa.com/default.asp?contentID=749

https://www.velocityusa.com/default.asp?contentID=746

If buying mail order wheels, expect to retension the wheels during the first 500 miles. This will require a good quality local wheelbuilder. I know several in my area, but not every bike-shop has a skilled wheelbuilder on staff.

Since this is a Cyclocross bike and you are using 700x32 tires, consider a 23mm wide rim. Most road bike wheels are 19mm wide (O.D.) and 700x32 tires are as wide as should be used. A 23mm wide rim will accept a tire from 700x23 to 700x45 or more.

I'm using Velocity A23 rims on Shimano hubs on my Cyclocross bike and on my road bike. I'm 210 lbs and use 32 spoke wheels.

I purchased these from this seller: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bicycle-700x...item415cfae3ea

These are assembled by Handspun in the US: https://handspunwheels.com/



I like gravel paths and don't baby my gear. These wheels have been very sturdy.

I'm with Barrett on this. Velocity, Shimano and 32 spokes or more. In a previous 250-pound life I stuck to 36 spokes, but if you're under about 175, 32 should do it.
Consider tire size, too. The standard 23mm tire has lots of drawbacks.

Michael, Michael, Michael.....
Break out of your old habits and live a little! Life is too short for such boring habits....Why not live dangerously and buy a 28 spoke front wheel once in awhile? Or, someday, get truly wild and crazy and go for some Ksyrium SLCs? But if you can't go that far, a set of White Industries hubs might really surprise you.

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This advice from Sheldon Brown's site might help.
https://sheldonbrown.com/tire-sizing.html#width

The Mavics you are looking at are strong or at least they are stronger than most stock 32 spoke wheel sets. Maybe not as strong as some hand built 32s but straight pull spokes seem less prone to break at the hub for me than J spokes. Maybe that is just me. The Elites are a bit lighter than the Equips and the Equips are about as heavy as Stapfam's Aksiums but much lighter than a stock wheel. The biggest difference you will ever see in performance by simply upgrading equipment is wheels. 200 grams off of a wheel will feel like you have suddenly found more power the first hill you hit. Nothing else you do will be as noticeable to you.
My Dura Ace wheels are low spoke count and pretty light and by most reviewers, and my own observation, considered almost bullet proof.
I believe Nashbar or Performance had Ultegra wheels for $399.99 not long ago and they are pretty strong as well.

None the less you can go to a site like this, https://www.bicyclewheelwarehouse.com/ and find wheels as well.
Only my opinion however.

From that Sheldon site on tyre width

For example, a 700 x 20 C road tire would be a 20-622; a 700 x 38 hybrid tire would be a 38-622. The width difference between these sizes would make them less-than ideal replacements for one another, but any rim that could fit one of them would work after a fashion with the other.

This is what I have found on the set of wheels I have for the Offroad Tandem. 26" wheels and 29mm rims. They are wide and most T's use a 2.3 tyre for comfort. I use a 2.1 and if just a short event will use 1.8's. And then there are the slicks for road use and they are 1.3's.That is going narrower but the majority of MTB's have a 17mm rim and some of these are fitted with really wide 2.8 tyres.

And as I mentioned- some cyclocross bikes are fitted with Aksiums and use a 32 tyre. So unless you are going for a really wide tyre- some are listed in excess of 40- then a standard rim will fit your tyre

As you can see- most of the replies have been about handbuilt wheels and there could be a good reason for this but there are plenty of "Off the shelf" wheels made that are good. All grades and makes of wheels will serve a purpose but the quality does go up with price--------"""Allegedly""".


If you ask me to stick my neck out and name a wheel I would like to buy- It would be a Krysium to suit my pocket or Shimano Ultegras as I have been very pleased with my "Old" set. They would be the performance wheel that I could afford but I still would not dismiss the handbuilts.


.

Isn't that one of the photos you took on our high trestle ride?

Thanks everybody. That is like a mini wheel education. Since we ride casually, mainly roads and some gravel trails, I will probably order an off the shelf wheel set rather than hand built.

Don't confuse features with quality.

Low spoke count, deep section or carbon rims and the like are simply features.
Quality means attention to the details such as all of the spokes being adequately and evenly tensioned.

An "eye candy" wheel doesn't necessarily denote high quality. A "boreing" 32 spoke wheel may be very high quality.

It sounds like you're aiming for pre-built bling on a budget.

The low-end Mavics accomplish that, but at the expense of weight. At 1735 grams, they're on the porky side.

Instead, look at Neuvations. Their equivalent wheel, the R28X Aero, is $319 for the set and tip the scales at only 1620 grams. (Save a quarter-pound!) The same wheels spoked differently to save weight are the R28SL at $358 and 1520 grams. (Save a half-pound!)

While I can't speak to the current product line, Blue Steel, the bike I bought second-hand nearly two years ago, came with a ten-year-old set of Neuvations. They remain solid and true. The hubs spin and spin and spin. The freehub engagement is quick and precise, and disengages equally well to coast smoothly and quietly. If the newer stuff is built only half as well they're a perfectly fine wheel.

And if you don't want people to know you did it on a budget, the decals peel off easily.

Alternatively, like Barrettscv, I've found nirvana with Velocity's A23 wheelset. I own the PRO build because my budget was larger, but the Comp build at 1580 grams for only $400 at Bikemania.biz is a real steal. You give up the bling of aero spokes but still get that wide-rim ride and handling. And their decals peel off easily too!

Neuvation +1

I do need more bling in my life, and I completely deserve a $800 set of wheels (... once I lose another 30 lbs. and complete a 5 hour century).

So... when is the next pool party?

Billy, you have to bring that party with you when you finally get out here for One Helluva Ride!

The success I have had with the 20/24 spokeFulcrum wheels that came on my Roubaix have opened my eyes to more adventurous wheel designs for my road bikes and I have also had no problems with the 28 spoke front wheel on my Stumpjumper. That said, I am building a set of wheels right in line with Barrettscv's formula for my Salsa Casseroll which I often ride fairly fast on dirt roads with wide tires. I am going with Velocity A23 rims, Shimano Tiagra hubs and 32 Sapim Race double butted spokes (similar to DT Champion) front and rear.

I am re-purposing the similar wheels with Mavic CXP-33 rims and Ultegra hubs to my son's new bike and I figure the wider A23 rims will provide a better profile for the 37mm Conti Contact tires I'm running on the Salsa.

So, I am slowly learning stuff by doing it when the need arises. My old wheel with the hub issues is a much better wheel than the one on my beater bike that I use to ride the grandson around on in a kids seat. Can I get a new hub/bearing package/whatever then Google instructions and try getting this thing working for my old bike? The old bike is a 7 speed (which is fine for what I use it for). A quick look online disclosed a Shimano 105 hub at Nashbar but I didn't find anything else. I also didn't see any 7 speed cassetes readily available. Would I need to get ambitious and actually buy a nine speed and a new derailleur, and a new shifter? Seems like a bit much for a bike that works as is. This thing is a Specialized Crossroads about 15 years old.

Well, I take it back. Here is a Shimano 7 speed cassette for $15. And I see a boatload of old Shimano hubs on eBay but how do you figure out what will work with the new wheel? Or can I get any old specialized 7 speed hub? (The existing setup is some Specialized deal but I can't read the scratched up name on the derailleur - something like Specialized Arp4). I don't what to pull the old wheel apart and use those components since I would like that functioning wheel available to use when/if I screw up the wheel I am thinking of re-purposing.

The basic idea is to have an excuse for messing around with the spare wheel and see if I can get something working while learning a bit.

Let's back up a little and make sure I understand what you are trying to do. What wheel is it that you are wanting to rebuild with the 7 speed hub? If it is the Roval wheel from the first post, I don't think you are likely to find a 7 speed hub drilled for 24 spokes.

You might check into wheels from Colorado Cyclist. They built some of the best wheels out there for my son when he whas racing.

It is the Roval. Maybe I better go Read Sheldon. I assumed I could leave the wheel intact and just replace the internals - which I was calling the hub. Does the "hub" include the outer portion that the spokes attach to? Can't. Just replace the internals?

I like the Velocity Dyad rim, have them on 2 bikes.

Hub is your call, Shimano is hard to beat for good and cheap.

https://www.bikeman.com/WE7095.html?u...ign=GoogleBase

Well, this is embarrassing. My ignorance knows no bounds so I think we can safely scratch this part of the conversation. I did go to Sheldon's site and can see at a glance that my concept of what a hub is was dumb in the extreme. When a hub goes bad you rebuild the wheel or toss it.

What is the problem with the Roval's hub that you are wanting to fix? You should be able to replace the bearings in the hub if they are the problem. You'll need to find the specifics of how to remove the old bearings and what to replace them with, probably through Specialized.
Your old bike with 7 speed probably has 126mm spacing between the rear dropouts and the new wheels are probably 130mm. If it is a steel frame, it won't be a problem to widen the rear end, but might be with aluminum. Then there is the problem of the 7 speed cassette being narrower than the 8, 9 or 10 speed cassettes the hub is made to fit. There are spacers you can get to make up the difference. The difference between cassette cog spacing on 7 speed and 8 speed is very small and you could likely just use an 8 speed cassette and just not use the lowest or highest cog with your (I assume) 7 speed indexed shifter.