Kelrod

I got my new CAAD9-5 in last week and I have about 100 miles on it now and I have a question about the wheels. The consensus on this forum is that the wheels suck but no one ever really says why. I weigh 174lbs and was wondering what kind of improvement I would feel from upgraded wheels? I have never owned a better set of wheels so I was wondering if these are really that bad and if I would see a big difference in an upgrade. I don't race yet, but I might in the future. Thanks for any input.

oilman_15106

100 miles and you want to change wheels? Put on at least 500, maybe more, then get back here.

DOOD

I have the same bike with the same wheels, no problems thus far. I weigh 176 and have about 500 miles on the bike so far. I don't have a lot of experience in road biking yet so I can't tell if the wheels suck or not. I figure if I can't tell than who cares. I'll just ride them till they fall apart.

Scatman

It's not that the wheels 'suck' per se, just that they suck compared to some other alternatives. The WH-10's aren't light (1884g sans skewers), they're not aero (23mm), but they are round and hold air. They are good for training wheels, and if you are a bike manufacturer looking to sell a complete bike to a certain pricepoint - a solid choice for inexpensive, name-brand wheels. Looking in the '09 Bicycling (Magazine) Buyer's Guide, one of the higher-end manufacturers (Pinarello? Scott? Can't remember) spec'd a set of Shimano WHR-500's (IIRC, what the WH-10's replaced) on a $2500+ bike.

MONGO!

The wheels are fine.

Ride them til they break then upgrade them.

con

I have those wheels, I weight 200lbs, I snapped a rear spoke on an easy climb and I have had to true the rear a couple of times over the last year. The front has been fine. I think the wheels are ok for what they are; I use them for my commuting wheels and have some better wheels for my weekend long work out rides.

Kelrod

Yeah I was just wondering why they got such a bad rap and if an upgrade would be that noticeable. That's all. The reason I asked here is because I have never owned a higher end set of wheels to compare to. Why ride thousands of miles on inferior wheels if you don't have to.

sharkey00

+1I have these wheels. So far they have lasted 2500 miles. But compared to the alternatives these wheels would be my last choice.

My take on this is these is they are the wheel equivalent of plastic platform pedals on a bike. Most people buying high end bikes already have a wheelset or 4 that they will use instead of stock.

gonococcus

Jurgen

https://www.bikeradar.com/gear/catego...elset-09-34040

sharkey00

That pic makes me cringe. I will post that on my wall so I hurry up and finish my wheelbuild already.

Banzai

They break.

I had a buddy with those, kept breaking spoke after spoke. Complete garbage. Swapped 'em for some Ksyrium Equipes, and no more problems.

However, if yours are holding up, no reason to switch out.

Banzai

Yeah, but bikeradar seems to think that EVERYTHING is great. Their range of review seems to go from 4 stars at the lowest to 5 at the highest, out of five.

I think they're just shills for, well, everyone.

Jurgen

Just sayin' is all.

DevDel

I was 211 pounds when i started riding a Synapse 5 on the WH10 wheels. One of my regular rides is a choppy chip sealed road, plus I hit a 1" rock in the shadows of a cliff (Missed about twelve) during a 40mph descent. Picked me right up and set me over a few inches and tweaked the wheel ever so slightly. It trued right up, and i have never broken a spoke. These wheels have needed zero truing in 1300 miles, other than my rock incident. Maybe there is a quality control issue, but i sure give them a clean bill of health.

I had read the same rumors and such and was in a panic when I went to pick up my bike. My dealer said they had never had a complaint, and issues are usually caused by people with a spoke wrench that should not be allowed near anything sharper than a Twinkie...

fl_rcr

some riders are stronger than others there are three key parts to a rd bike fram crank and wheels the caad9 frame is great frame true the wheels arent the best but ride them and train its all about saddle time when youre ready to upgrade choose a stiff light wheelset and just for good measure all shimano wheels are tested at pressures exceeding 185psi without failure which is better than mavic at the same tire width (23) mavic rims are prone to failure in the side wall of the rim at 137psi nothing like a huge run on sentence right sorry bout that if you develop as a strong sprinter you will want a very stiff set of wheels like the zipp 404 or the mavic carbones if you just want a set that lessens rolling resistance and responds well use the kysrium sl or equipes or shimano ultegra or dura ace sets

Scatman

Just to post a clarification to what I said earlier:

Both the Scott CR1 Comp (105) and the Pinarello FP2 (Ultegra) come equipped with the WH-R500 wheels and list for $1800 and $2250 respectively. I just found it an odd choice since a year or two ago bikes with this spec would've come with a set of Kysirium Equipe.

Do I have a point? Just ride the bike, get some miles under your legs before you start dropping cash on new wheels.

rOOster14

those wheels came on mine...i put several thousand miles on them while having to regularly true them.
having said that, you really wont notice a difference until you ride something different.
i probably put 5+thousand miles on those wheels until i bought something different (Race X Lites...and now King hubs laced to DT 1.1rr)
and frankly you will appreciate a new set of wheels so much more.

monporn

i know people complain about the rear wheels alot..
i have been told that the rs-20s are really nice compared, and not much more expensive, althogh i have never ridden them

patentcad

You can always use the current wheels as winter wheels or rain wheels after you upgrade to Williams 19's ($499, 1440 grams) later.

You have your orders. Carry on.

gonococcus

The flanges on the spoke nipples that rest on the rim surface are extremely narrow, so they tend to pull out of the rim catastrophically. The RS20 shares the same design.

Take a gander at other wheels and you'll realise that most wheels are designed to be a lot stronger at the nipple-rim interface.

Banzai

Is your keyboard missing all the appropriate characters for punctuation? You should buy a new one...it will help you write coherent posts.

SoreFeet

The hubs take too high of tension. In order for the wheel to remain round the tension has to be insanely high. At some point one spoke will snap.

A local club rider is on Shimanos and she snapped a spoke. They are holding up now. I would ride them until they give you a problem then sell them cheaply to somebody who needs wheels.

A handbuilt wheelset laced to nice hubs is an upgrade. Buying a machine built factory wheel such as Mavic is not an upgrade. Mavic freehub bodies use a stupid plastic component that destorys the hub.

I can't stop putting my hand in my mouth to refrain from profanity around here. The plethora of bad weight weenie advice is overwhelming here.

Take it all with a grain of salt. A good wheelset is handbuilt using double butted spokes on a cross three at least 28 spokes or more.

Low spoke wheels are not fun on a long unsupported ride. When you lose one spoke the entire wheel is out of true. Contrast that to losing a single spoke on a 36 spoke hub and you simply adjust the brake and ride home.

Good luck, have fun. Ride it till it breaks is sound advice.

Kelrod

Thanks for the advice, this is not my first bike and I do have miles under my belt, this is just a new bike. I have an Allez also but I think it probably has worse wheels then the CAAD (Jalco or something like that). I decided to get the CAAD after I decided I liked the sport to which I am in love with. This allows me to have a great frame worth upgrading down the road. I was just curious about the wheels. I will put some more miles on them. Those Williams look nice, maybe this summer I will look into those. Thanks for the advice.