Which Wheels To Get
 

Mavic Cosmic Elite Wheelset 2011

Easton EA90 TT Wheelset 2010

Mavic Ksyrium Equipe Wheelset 2011

All these wheels are right around the same price and seem to have similar features. What are the differences between them and what is the best buy. These will not be for racing but I want a nice set of wheels to go for solo and group rides.

Will you consider other wheels and how much do you weigh? And are you leaning more towards aero wheels or light wheels?

Heavier riders will want stronger wheels. To make a wheel strong you can get a stronger rim, higher spoke count, or most importantly, quality hand built wheels.

Mavic and Easton make goods wheels. If can afford it, I think handbuilt wheels by a good or professional wheel builder will be better and last longer. You're also given the option to customize your wheels a little bit.

Since you're not racing, I think durability should be your main concern. A lot of people recommend the Open Pro Rims with Ultegra hubs and DT Swiss spokes (32,32). It's a good combination for a durable wheel but at the cost of weight and some aerodynamics. Kinlin Rims (27 or 30mm) with hubs (White Industries?) and spokes (CX Rays?) (28,24) make a good wheelset, but may cost a little more.

I'm about 170 - 175 ish. I'm leaning towards the Aero wheels.

Mainly I'm wondering, for example, the two Mavic's I posted. They are similar in price yet two different style wheels. The description doesn't make it clear what makes them unique from each other. Curious as to what the advantage is from one over the other.

I wonder why so many low-spoked wheels (the Eastons, for example, are 16/20) still manage to weigh so much? My current wheels are 24/32 and still weigh about 100g lighter than the EA90s.

I have been very disappointed with Mavic wheels over the past 10 years. That being said, the Cosmic Elite is an older design and slightly more aero (should be 30mm deep, not 19mm). The Ksyrium is a newer design and touts being "light", although 1600g does not qualify as a light wheelset in my book.

So, among the three, I highly recommend the Eastons. Everybody I know on that brand is quite happy. However, I still agree with ptle that a quality custom set would cost about the same and meet your desired specs. At your weight, you would be happy with a Kinlin XR-270 rim with 24 spokes up front and 28 in the back. White Industry hubs for high quality or Novatec/Formula to cut costs but still have a decent set of hubs. That would be very sturdy yet reasonably light. Psimet.com is a highly recommended builder with these components.

Low spoke counts require a stronger rim, and strengthening the rim enough to match the lost spokes usually results in more weight than the lost spokes. The worst part of that is that breaking a spoke on a low count wheel has a higher risk of the wheel coming too out of true to continue riding. I'm happy that although my 28 spoke wheels (that weigh 1375g/pair, by the way) should never break a spoke, I can likely just wrap the broken one around its neighbor and continue riding should that ever happen.

Cool, thanks for the information.

This makes sense intuitively, but I find it hard to believe that a certain rim (Velocity Aerohead) in 32h would weight any different than a 28h version.

http://www.williamscycling.com/sys30/sys30.html


or the william's 19s.

cheap and fun, just like a good date.

That's not what he meant. His point was more along the lines of... a 20-spoke Velocity Deep-V will weigh more than a 28-spoke Velocity Aerohead.

I've always wondered about the low spoke count thing. Does spoke count affect aerodynamics much, given the same rim? I'm aware that the aerodynamics of a deeper rim generally come from the fact that there is just less spoke length exposed in the frontal profile, but for many of these 30mm rim wheels (which is hardly aero), it seems that a 16-spoke front is frivolous considering the weight of the rim itself.

I rode my 2006 Ksyrium ES wheels (the last pair of Mavic wheels I have left) at last 20,000 miles. Now the rims are so worn they're cupped, I'm waiting for the replacement wheels. now. But they never needed truing in all that time. I think I may have had the bearings on the rear hub repacked once. Amazing hoops. That being said there are lighter wheels out there. I'm not sure they'll be that bulletproof however. We'll find out.

As Mrvile pointed out, that wasn't my point. You reduced the spokes without keeping the strength relatively constant. The Aerohead comes in a 20h version, but it wouldn't hold the same weight rider as the 32h would.


I wonder as well. It's a big debate as to exactly how much spoke count affects aerodynamics. But I agree with you that 30mm is hardly aero. That's why I went with the XR-200 rim on my build. If I can't go truly aero, I might as well go truly light.


Good for you. Actually, I am seriously impressed the set lasted the wear life of the rim wall without truing. I would let you know if my uber light wheels last that long without truing, but the new little cyclist in my life is making me think it will take a lifetime to get another 20,000 miles in.

Technically, a 32 hole Velocity Aerohead should weigh less than a 28 hole. The rim should weigh the same before the holes are drilled, but by drilling holes, that reduces the mass in the rim and more holes means more mass removed. Though the difference should be minimal.

And as far as aero and depth, I saw somewhere once - can't find it now, sorry, - that the aero affect tends to plateau as you get deeper. Meaning the aero difference between 20 mm rim and 30 mm is much greater than between 30mm and 40mm.

Lastly, I've have owned four sets of Mavic wheels - Aksiums (temporary wheels picked up cheap that now serve as back-up/pit wheels), Elites (sold several years ago), SLs and CrossMax's - and have nothing bad to say about them. They are not necessarily the lightest, or most aero (Ksyriums suck in a crosswind), but they have been durable and easy to repair.

Build your own wheels. It's really pretty easy. Do the research, learn something useful, and save some money - now and in the future. You'll also get smarter.

Hmm, this study would be interesting to see. It goes against the whole "you don't get aero until 40-50mm+" argument.

I've considered doing this ever since I learned to true my own wheels. It's just that right now I don't have the time, nor the need for new wheels. But this is in my future.

However, there are a lot of places that will handbuild wheels for cheaper than you can build them yourself. ProWheelBuilder and UniversalCycles, to name a few, will build wheels for the price of the parts, and both places are extremely competitively priced. Though I personally think that building my own wheels is worth it even if it's just for the learning experience.