Upgrading wheels is commonly suggested as one of the better investments. But lets talk cost/benefit and what is considered "lightweight" and what provides lower rolling resistance. My Specialized Diverge came with a wheel set that weights 1746g. For $800 I can upgrade to SLX 24 that weight 1515g and for $1750 I can get the CL 50 that weigh the same. That's a lot of $ for 231g! Of course there are elements beyond just weight to improving rolling resistance.

I might enter a race or two this year but primarily do weekly group road rides in the 50-60 mile range, and frequently ride 30+ mile gravel routes. I am more interested in energy/watts over these distances and being able to stay with the young guys in the A group than flat-out racing. There is lots of analysis these days with power, cadence, HR, etc, but it is uncertain how much benefit these upgrades would provide.


Its a judgement call; how much to spend for how much of a benefit?


How do you folks on Bike Forums make sense of the cost/benefit of wheel upgrades?


Thanks all!

ICAN 40mm Disc Fast and Light Wheelset, 1555g, $565. Added bonus, deep 'n crabon. The Aero 40 Disc is $655 for the set, but drops to ~1365g.

End of the day, it's about buying what makes you happy. It's highly unlikely that the wheels will make you any faster, unless your current wheels are very, very heavy, and seriously un-aerodynamic, which is also highly unlikely. With 40mm carbon, you'll certainly feel faster. And hey, perception is reality.

I look at the measured differences in weight and drag from a reliable source then use a model like the one at https://analyticcycling.com to evaluate the effect of the change for various scenarios using my particular weight, power, and CdA. Then I look at my bank statement to see the effect of the cost.

Wheels won't help you on an A group ride. If it is a group ride and not hammer ride, the load share should be pretty regulated. Meaning you'll work the front minimally and surging isn't so bad.

In other words, aero and lightweight wheels in a peloton mean ****.

In a race, you might be on front in a breakaway let's say with two others. On front, an aero wheel and good tire/tube could mean the difference between being comfortably numb and hanging on by your fingernails.

I wouldn't buy wheels for an A group ride. Ours often has "A", and a few of us "hammer" the hill sections. I've dropped the group while riding my cyclocross bike with some pretty large Gatorskins.

I got some used aero wheels locally for $400. I use them on the road bike and to train on the TT bike.

If you have the money anyway, by all means get what you want. Some light aero wheels look great. But don't be surprised it not making any difference on the A group ride.

Come to the "33" forum to talk equipment for racing.

For recreation riding, it boils down to what do you want and can afford. Not any real effectiveness.

Have you used those? The $465 for the one with lasers is tempting

I'm seriously considering these for $599 w/ tape and valves. 56mm deep x30mm wide(23mm internal) 1483g.

Much deeper and wider than the Ican wheelsets, and the weight is right in between those two.



https://www.lightbicycle.com/700C-V-...ompatible.html

...by people who don't know what really makes a bike fast or slow.

The weight difference of perhaps 1 lb. will have limited benefit to climbing. Inertial differences and the slight benefit to acceleration is even more limited (true hair splitting stuff).

Aero differences are a little more significant than the above, but you don't have to spend huge dollars to get reasonably fast wheels. Factory wheels with low spoke counts and a tire width that mates to the rim width will get you most of the way there for cheap.

Want to go fast, get your position on the bike aero, don't wear flappy clothing, use low Crr tires, and yeah, get some reasonably aero wheels. Oh, and train hard.

Thank you Dr!

"Then I look at my bank statement to see the effect of the cost." hahaha!

Thanks for your input.

I am just impressed that you can keep up with the "A" group ride on a Diverge with stock wheels and gravel tyres

Tubes and tires give you more benefit for orders of magnitude less money.

Once that's taken care of, aero for all but the serious mtns, though the lighter the aero wheel, the better for accelerations, especially in crits or situations that involve multiple and rapid repeated accelerations.

And I'm sure it doesn't hurt that every pothole you come across, especially when you're leading, those 32s let you ride right thru.. helps take a little speed off of the followers silly enough to run 23s. :-)

I did a group ride on a rented Roubaix with the new future shock, and could just roll over small potholes that everyone else avoided, so that helped
First upgrade would be lighter faster rolling tires and tubes, or tubeless

Aero wheels are faster (most of the gain is the front wheel) but if you use wide 32mm tires you won't see as much benefit

This is pretty much the advice I would give.

Lighter wheels are nice if you care about the weight of your bike, and it is one of the things that you can save a lot of grams on, but in the end, doesn't really matter that much out in the real world, unless you are climbing Alpe D'huez and Mont Ventoux on the daily. Cheaper things that can save a lot of weight are handlebars, tires, saddle etc. You can easily shave 300-400 grams from these components for relatively cheap.

Aerodynamic wheels are nice to have, but a good position on the bike will get you bigger aero benefits, for free. According to some articles below, an aero position will give you as much as 30 watts improvement at 40 kph. Going to aero trispoke wheels from box-section wheels only gave about 10 watts difference. The difference is less if you travel slower. Similarly, an aero helmet will save you about 10 watts at 40kph. Much cheaper investment than aero wheels (top end helmet will run you about $200 versus up to $500-1000+ for wheels).

https://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/...is-aero-19273/
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/videos...o-wheels-video

The advice I would give is: don't let your head get crazy by listening to all the marketing and "what your friends have". In the end, if you use common sense, the cost / benefit analysis is usually not good!

The aero benefits are usually like this: aero position > aero helmet > aero wheels > aero frameset > aero handlebars

Thanks for that input. I have seen the cyclingweekly vid but not the bikeradar. All very good stuff.

I bought a set of wheels for one of my bikes, Orbea MD 30.I no not know the difference ln weights,but I am pretty sure the new ones feel considerably lighter when I handle them. The big advantage for me is having 2 wheels sets with very different tires mounted on them. One is for clear, clean good pavement and the other is for wet, snowy not clean, not smooth pavement. I can just switch the wheels and not dismount/mount tires. I also have two bikes I can use those wheels on. I have a lot of options with minimal time and effort to make the change. I like that!

This is the best reason to get a new wheel set!

There is more to wheels than weight. Not knowing what you have, makes judging the value proposition hard to gauge. My former Giant came with heavy wheels that felt soft and was rubbing on the brake pads. My newer bike came with Cheap, equally heavy Fulcrum wheels. They feel much tighter/better even if I believe they are about the same weight. Im not looking to upgrade, but had I still had the Giant, I might have.
That aside I believe you need to get a stopwatch as well, to detect any speed improvements getting lighter wheels.

Thanks racing Dan.

Agreed!

Delbiker1, That is a big part of my motivation. My "gravel" bike is great and I really enjoy gravel riding and I will replace the current tires with better gravel tread and size. I want a second set up for the road with wheels and tires that have a reasonably low rolling resistance and weight. Some wheels are thousands of dollars so the "benefit & value ..." is just not there. A lighter wheelset and lower Crr tires will benefit me and I'll get pretty good bang-for-the-buck with some of the suggestions others have posted. thanks.

Thanks bikebreak.

The wheels are Vuelta Corsa SLX. I bought them on sale at 30% off and free shipping from Nashbar.