Wheelset upgrade under $600?
 

I’d want to upgrade my Giant P-R2 disc wheels. After taking them on/off my bike multiple times to mount tires etc…I realized how darned heavy they are.

I don’t need crazy light or deep aero wheels…just noticeable lighter, somewhat sturdy, and tubeless/disc brake compatible. Don’t care if they are aluminum or carbon. I’m running 32mm tires btw.

The P-R2 specs:
Front 12x100mm
Rear. 12x142mm
Inner width= 17.6mm
Outer Width= 23mm

Ive done a bunch of reading on the subject, but still don’t have a clear idea of what I need….and what brands/models are good. Do I stick with the same general inner and outer rim width dimensions?

I just want something that is readily available and reasonably priced (under $600).

Fulcrum racing 3. 19mm internal width and no rim strip required for tubeless tires. Whether they will be $600 or less depends on where you buy. I've got a set on both of my bikes.

You could play around with this configurator/builder. Use the XR31 rims, and go from there. You should end up with approx. 1600g wheelset
https://www.prowheelbuilder.com/pwb-...t-package.html

lightbicycle.com lists a "quick buy" wheel set that looks close to your specs, starting at $515. Internal rim width is 21mm.

Way too complicated for me. Choosing how many “drillings”?? What the heck is that? Am I choosing how many spokes the rim should have? Yikes.

is there not a site that says something to the effect of “yes…these wheels will work nicely with your 2020 Giant defy”? I don’t want to build and/or wait for wheels to be built.

I don’t know enough about hub bodies, bearings, number and/or strength of spokes, etc etc to build my own wheels.

In a perfect world I want to click on a set of wheels…..and have them ship within 24-48hours. Is that not a thing?

https://www.vueltausa.com/vuelta-whe...-wheelset.html
Vuelta makes very good wheels.

The brand of your bike does not matter to which wheelset you get. The brand of your drive train matters - shimano/sram campy

More important is the fact that they are disc and Front 12x100mm, Rear. 12x142mm this will narrow your choice. As far as internal widths - that is debatable.

In your budget, there are many great brand wheels available. Your current wheelset weighs 2030g which is on the heavy side. If you are a rider with a weight of 225lb or less almost any wheelset brand will work for you.

16/20 is enough spoke for most folks with modern rims, but 24 is generally regarded a the minimum for front disc. So unless you're over say, 85kg, 24/24 should be about right.

I weigh 198lbs…probably going to stop my weight loss(I’m down 40lbs currently) at 190lbs.

I would check these guys out, they seem to do great work. You may need to do some research to understand what you want but you will get a custom set

https://www.prowheelbuilder.com/

Maybe 24/28 to be on the safe side

My recommendation in your budget, having someone else build them. Shimano XT hubs or Ultegra, Velocity Aileron rims and R28/F28 or R32/F28 butted spokes. Should get you in under budget, will be lighter and will last. Personally I think at their price range XT or Ultegra hubs, and both come in your spec, can't be beat. They will spin smooth, quick and last a long time with basic maintenance. Another one I've built and been happy with was using a Sun Inferno rim which was also fairly light with a good width and has held up well. They started as MTB rims but come in a 19 and 21mm widths for gravel now but are sturdy.

+1 Shimano hubs are the best by far, but AFAIK, if you want anything but 32h J-bend, you've gotta pillage them out of a Shimano wheelset.

Or have they finally got around to offering bare hubs for modern wheels?

I don't think you're going to gain or lose much of anything at that price point if the OEM Giant wheels are functional and the only issue you have is their weight. You won''t be able to replace them with something super lightweight nor aero. 1 lb is <0.5% system weight. Save that money for a more significant upgrade.

GBK233 sub-$600 is a tough pricepoint in the sense that you don’t top out in any attribute category, by which I mean that you don’t best the best of anything. Like at some pricepoints, you may get, say, the best brand but not the lightest weight, or at another price maybe you get into the best aero with deep rim depth and top of class weight, but trade off hub quality. At $600, everything is a trade-off to price.

That said, it’s not a bad thing, and in your case particularly, I think you can save significant weight and improve aero performance, though the latter is just a guess I know nothing about your PR2 wheels.

What I do know is that Flo Cycling’s wheels put that company on the map a decade ago for their aero performance, and were perhaps the first company to offer class leading aerodynamic rim profiles at affordable prices. Further, they targeted and make their bread and butter in the triathlon segment, which is all about aero cycling, so this brand has real aero chops.

It’s a tiny company, and their model was, initially, a pre-sale model, meaning they carried no inventory and would order what they could in tranches, so if you’ve not heard of them, I wouldn’t be surprised because their volume is small. If you check them out, though, you’ll find their rep is excellent.

The short of all this is to say that you should probably grab a pair of Flo 30 Disc Limited at $598. They’re 19.4mm IW, 30mm deep toroidal rims spoked with bladed Sapim CX Rays, and weigh in at 1730g, so you save weight (~300g or around 2/3rds of a pound) and most likely make aero gains as well.

https://flocycling.com/collections/9...0-disc-limited

Well, you just made a liar out of yourself - CX-Rays are the bomb, wow.

Haha…yeah! The Sapim are top class, making Flo 30 the exception to the rule!

Any idea what their carbon rim braking is like?

Campagnolo Zonda

My OEM wheels work just fine, but I want a spare set of wheels regardless. I don’t want to find myself with a broken wheel and/or spokes….without a spare set of wheels to use.
Spending $1000 on wheels is def something I don’t want/need to do.

Ready to buy, these options should be pretty solid for your provided weight:
MasonX 4SEASON
or on the fulcrum/campy theme.. these maybe are new?
FULCRUM RAPIDRED 3DB

These Fulcrum wheels would save you a few grams and should be sturdy enough. If you can find them in stock....

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8d4dc13fa5.png
Also this Pacenti set, which seems to be available. I have the rim brake version of these and they've given me good service.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...5e492291f5.png

Sorry, but I do not.

The Hunts look pretty good. 400 gram weight reduction.