Upper End Wheels - Your Thoughts?
 

I've been gathering information on clincher wheels specifically for climbing. I'm 6', 163 lbs. and have been looking at the following:

Rolf Prima Elan Aero - very nice
American Classic 350 - what about those hubs?
Speeddream R359 - same rims as the AC 350. Could Dave have a worse website? Anybody got a picture?
Topolino - nice on paper but maybe too unique?

All of these are interesting in one way or another. All of them are in the 1400 gm or less range.

What others would you be looking at? What are your thoughts or experience with any of these?

55/Rad

I'm thinking about Velomax Ascent II @ (1419gr/pr) for myself; I just wonder what all you give up for the weight loss in the long run other than a lot of money.They are around $700 bucks in Performance cat, that's more than my first NEW road bike cost me back in the day! :eek:

Here's what i reckon -

Rolf Prima Elan Aero - Great wheels, if you can get them. When I tried to get a set, they said they could supply but then couldn't. I don't know what the deal was with them, but they gave me the run-around bigtime.
American Classic 350 - "what about those hubs?" Exactly. Taiwanese made hubs on a wheelset proclaiming to be quality.
Speeddream R359 - Never ridden on a set of his wheels, so I can't comment.
Topolino - Yeah, they're so unique they beg the question...."why?"

If you are after a climbing set of wheels, do you just mean 'light wheels' or 'wheels to climb with', ergo, you have other wheels for different purposes?

Also, I dislike prebuilt proprietary wheels with a passion, so my advice would be get a quality set of superlight hubs like Tunes, ADA, DT/Hugi 240's, Chris King, or White Industries, and lace them 24/28 with Sapim CX-Rays with some good rims like Open Pros or DT RR1.1's. If you're going for the ultimate light weight, you'd probably want to go tubular, too.

A friend rides the Ascents (not the IIs) and loves them. I've posted on different threads about these wheels. We swapped and I rode them and she rode my Shimano 7700s. I stand by my observation that the 7700s are stiffer but the Ascents roll like you wouldn't believe and climb remarkably well. You won't go wrong with them. Also (for me), Velomax is local (Long Beach, CA [right?]). FWIW, she bought the Ascents from Supergo on clearance for ~$400. Absolutely no comparison between either wheelset and the Dura Ace/Open Pros on my older road bike.

Best.

I can't speak about the others but I personally would stay away from the Topolinos. A rider from my FBS has them... likes them but had problems with weak bearings in the hubs. Also, they've got really funky bearings that are apparently hard to service. The guys from the shop who worked on his wheels also said they were not very impressed with the quality of the wheel in general. According to them, everything about the Topolinos felt cheap and fragile.

My next wheelset. Mavic Reflex tubular rims, Campag Record hubs, CX Ray spokes, Tufo tubs.
Very light rims at around 381 grams each, strong with an excellent reputation.
Wonderful hubs, smooth as can be, very reliable, classic looking, easily serviceable. The best spokes out there, light, stiff and very strong. Tufo have a very good reputation for puncture resistance, light weight and excellent performance.
All in all i can't think of a more cost effective, all purpose, top quality wheelset.

The Rolf Prima company is 2 hours drive south of us here in Eugene Oregon, so finding them isn't a problem. It would be nice to find them somewhere cheaper than the listed price though.

Speeddream is a company who build customs much like you recommended. Velocity rims, White hubs, Sapim or DT spokes seem to be very common on his wheels. But I understand Dave Thomas (owner) will converse with the buyer extensively to find the right combination. And his reputation for quality is top notch.

As for the intended use - I'm building a dreamer. An all around bike with a penchant for climbing.

Joe Young? I've been reading about his reputation as a builder and would appreciate any comments.

55/Rad

ah... wheels. sigh.

feel free to disagree, i'm no pro racer or anything, but i've ridden a lot of wheels and i will ramble cause i don't feel like working yet...

for starters, anyone who automatically dismisses all pre-built wheels does not know what they're talking about. pre-built wheels are the way of the future and hand-builts are going away. plain and simple.

the hubs on the american classics are supposedly much improved this year over last, but i have no first hand experience with them.

i know lots of people who have dealt with speeddream and gotten nice wheels, but again, i've never ridden them.

ksyriums SSC SLs are awesome, fast wheels. yes, they are a little more "harsh" than some others and they wouldn't be my first choice for a 150 mile ride on rough pavement with an aluminum frame, but anyone who dismisses them totally because they are "pre-built" has never ridden them. the spokes are replaceable, the hubs are super easy to service, and they are fairly bulletproof.

my experiences thus far with the k elites leaves a little to be desired, but overall, not bad.

bontrager wheels are often left out of the discussion for some reason. "if they're good enough for lance & usps" is a pretty strong argument. i've ridden the race x lites quite a bit now and think they feel pretty nice. smooth ride, fast spin up, solid cornering, replaceable spokes, etc. i'd be confident with these on my bike, me thinks. the price is right, too.

also, the race xxx-lites look super sweet. i haven't had them under me, but i'd imagine they give many of the higher priced campy, reynolds and zipp wheels some competition at a much lower price. (and i'm all for dropping some money on a nice set of wheels, but who buys $3k campy wheels to begin with?!?)

the new rolfs, i have no first hand experience with. but... they have an extraordinary amount of trash talked about them by those who have ridden them. on that basis alone, i wouldn't buy them.

i don't necessarily automatically subscribe to "the pros know best" theory, but when someone does this for a living and can have whatever they want, it's worth paying some attention to. why do you see things like big old sofa saddles (like the selle rolls) on lots of bikes? why do you see heavy wheels like the mavic cosmos on so many (non tt) bikes? cause they are awesome products and sometimes it's not about just getting the newest, glossiest component you can find.

so where are the rolfs? nowhere. are they in div ii or iii even? nope. are they in amateur races? nope. framebuilder friends tell me the company is a real pain to deal with, and from the lack of the rolfs on the road, i believe it.

i rode topolinos for the first time not long ago. just for 25 miles or so, but they were great. very smooth, very fast wheel, but as cool as they look and nice as they ride, i would be hesitant to buy them because of their construction. it's not that i doubt their strength (and they do feel fantastically strong and light in person), but if you break a single spoke, you've gotta replace half of the spokes on the wheel. since they are such a small company, who knows how long it would take to get a replacement, or if they'll be around in a year.

spinergys - never buy these. period.

that said, for handbuilts, i think the ultimate all-around strong but light enough to race on handbuilt wheel would be chris king hubs mated to ritchey wcs protocol rims, built with the trick new sapim cx ray spokes, which are expensive, but receiving great reviews.

king hubs are great. much lighter than phils, shimano or campys, easy to maintain, cool looking, (very loud), etc. my second choice in rims would be ceramic open pros.

Thanks Brunning for your thoughts.

As for Bonty's and Ksyriums, I have owned and/or ridden them. I currently ride Race-Lites and X-Lite Aeros along with Mavic OP/Ultegra and Neuvation M28 Aeros, so I think I have a well rounded stable. Thus, the desire to go with an ultralight "climbing" wheel for the latest project.

The story with Rolf's is interesting. They were the contract builder for high end Treks until Rolf wanted out. When the split occurred, Bonty took over and Trek retained ownership of a lot of the technology Rolf brought to the party. Rolf was left to start a new company without the benefit of some the designs that Trek now owns. I think that is why the jury is out on these wheels - they are a very young (relative) company trying to re-establish a brand. But, the wheels sure do LOOK nice. (I've held them but haven't ridden them)

I'm leaning toward the tried and true at this point.

55/Rad

yes. and word from certain folks whos opinions i respect is that rolf got the short end of the deal.

I've got a set of AC 350s built up with Sapim CX Ray spokes, 28 front, 32 rear. They're very light, and semi-aero. One of the benefits of the 350s is that it's pretty much a standard wheel build, so repairs don't require sending them off for months.
Like much of the American Classic stuff, some durability is sacrificed in favor of weight, and I haven't taken the hubs apart, so I can't comment on those. They have a very narrow profile, which is good from an aero standpoint, but I can feel some side-to-side flex cornering. From the service FAQ on their web-site, the bearings are user replaceable. The freehub design looks good. I've been riding them frequently since April, and have no complaints. Almost ideal for climbing, IMO.

FWIW, in a recent thread, somebody complained about getting a set that wouldn't hold a true, and had returned them to the shop a couple times to no avail. (The shop agreed to replace his with another kind of wheel.)

Velocity makes good wheels - I am interested in the Ascent II as well as the others I've mentioned.

55/Rad

i had some dt-swiss wheels built at my lbs by a qualified wheel builder

dt-swiss hubs, spokes, and road rims...lighter spokes up front...with some zipp titanium skewers

the hubs are especially nice...and sound really neat as well!

problem free for 1k miles and they do feel lighter than my old mavic cosmos... i was not sure how much improvement i would "feel" over the old wheels...but they ride nicer...especially on hills

put conti attack/force tires on...change from conti 3000...not sure if they are an improvement though