So after a solid spring on my Madone 4.7 that I got this fall. I am developing quite the cycling addiction. The other night I was able to ride a another group riders identical Madone with upgraded wheels (Mavic Ksyrium Elites or Sl's..dont remember) anyway it made my stock Bontrager race wheels feel slow to accelerate and heavy. So either I am crazy or just want a new set of wheels.. either way I was hoping BF could proved some suggestions for an upgrade(or if any of the wheels listed below are actually an upgrade)..I dont want/need anything crazy just a solid/quick/lighter set of everyday wheels.. my list so far

Mavic Ksyrium Equipe
Mavic Cosmic Elite
Soul 3.0SL

or go with something better but used from ebay/CL

Psimet custom builds??

I have the ksyrium sl and I am not fond of them, although, they are, as it is said, bomb proof. Without any other info, I say get a pair of 38s - 58s and ride like crazy.

Zipp 101's would top my list... Of course I'm not buying them right now because they're too expensive.

I've heard lots of good things about SRAM s30's. If you want to do it up a little, the S40's are also a nice pair of wheels. The S40 is basically the old Zipp 303 design with heavier materials.

The lighter wheels feel fast but the actual difference in performance is small, and you'll only see it on climbs. And with the Ksyriums you'll see an increase in aerodynamic drag as they are one of the poorer wheels for that.

I'd look into a custom set (kinlin Xr270 or XR300 rims on white ind. hubs make a good set of wheels) or the soul wheels. I don't particularly like the soul rear hub's drive side flange spacing, but I need wheels with good lateral stiffness.

Yea the 101's are amazing .. there is an orbea in my garage with them right now (sadly its not my bike.future father in law)..

I will have to check out the SRAM wheels

Bostongarden what are you referring to with 38s-58s?

You should know that the Ksyriums are nearly the least aerodynamic wheel you can buy... trumped only by the wagon-spoked R-sys Tracomp versions. But yeah, they are relatively light and relatively strong.

True. But they are bombproof. I have a set of 2006 SL SSC (silver spokes, black hubs; you can probably find a decent set on eBay). They probably have 25K miles on them and I just replaced the bearings this spring. They're my regular training wheels and I'll probably use them as CX wheels in the fall.

absolutely agree. My SLs were always ultra reliable.

The SRAM s30's are on the top of my short list right now. I would also consider the DA-C24's and Fulcrum Racing 0's to have the road tubeless option if I was going to splash a little more cash (probably those over the s40's).

I didn't know that is there any proof of that? I like my Ksyriums but perhaps they are more suitable for group rides/drafting?

These wheels are so strong I hit a crater went head first over the handle bars @24mph. Helmet was cracked but the wheels stayed true!

I don't know if you can read that, so here's the link. https://www.rouesartisanales.com/article-15505311.html

wow I just went to the same page and was coming back to post the link!
ok I am upgrading too. I just don't want to show up with 404 looking wheels for a group ride.

I was saying to look in general for an aero wheelset that is anywhere from 38 to 58 deep; brand and price is personal.

I finally went with a set of Williams System 30s for my Madone. I've got over a 1000 miles on them so far this year and they have been bulletproof on the less than perfect roads I ride on. I cannot detect any flex on them and don't get any rub in hard cornering like I did on my original Bontragers. They do spin up much easier and make a big difference when climbing.

I weighed them when I got them and on my scale that came in at around 1640 grams with the rim tape installed. I had the wheels in something like 2 or 3 days after ordering. Do a search on my name and you'll find the informal review I did on the wheels.







I should mention that I weighed around 180 when I got them and with it being still quite cold have ridden them with close to 10 lbs of winter gear on. They have done well with that sort of weight. I rode them with Conti GP 4000s in 700 x 23 until yesterday. Yesterday I put on a new set of Conti GP 4000s in 700 x 25 so I can ride a little less pressure to help smooth out my rides on rough chipsealed roads.

I actually am looking for an even lighter (but strong) set of wheels myself right now. These will go on my LeMond Zurich. I am considering other brands only because I want to use different sources for my wheels in case that ever is a durability problem that comes up over the years.

Another wheel not mentioned here are the ones from Zen Cycles. There wheels are well thought of and use some good stuff. They are very well thought of on the Weight Weenies forums.

im in the same boat but with a lesser bike with lesser stock wheels. ive been considering the SOUL 3.0SLs too. very light and very good price. there was 2 different sets of reynolds on bonktown for less than half price yesterday. that wasnt the first time i had seen them there so if you have over a grand in your wheel budget might be worth keeping an eye on. the SOULs are closer to my budget at less than half their price. if money wasnt an issue i would spring for some ZIPPs though.

Dt swiss RR 465 + DT swiss 240s + DT swiss revolution laced radial/3x 28/32

Same thing happened to me...On my first "real" ride with them (2011 Mavic Ksyrium Elites),
after a couple of miles while riding a bike path that was under construction, at the last minute,
I had to turn off of the path, went into a grass ditch front wheel first and flipped over the bike.
Luckily, I landed on my wrists in front of me (a little martial arts reflexes kicking in) with the bike landing on my back.
The saddle hit me in the rear back (possibly bruising my kidney) and I was literally holding the bike up with my body.

Now, the front wheel itself went "into" a 2 foot hole that was hidden by grass with all MY weight on it.
It was knocked out of alignment by about 2" and my shifters were both turned inward. That's how hard I hit.
I got up with a combination of curses, looked over everything and straightened everything out as best possible.
My mechanic (who prepared race bikes for his brother) purposefully left my shifters just snug-tight in case of such an incident.
If he didn't, I'm pretty sure I would've been "out" a pair of Dura-Ace 7800 shifters right now and crying about it.

Anyway, out of anger, I rode another 5 miles and plowed through my pain and managed a wicked small, but steep climb.
I was dead when I got home. Didn't even look at the bike for a few days due to excessive rain.
Eventually, I decided to detail my bike and take a good look at my wheel. Despite that horrible crash
(which I was sure I'd have to have the front wheel serviced over), I kid you not, it was as true as new.
Unbelievable. It held up. I didn't even want to look at it right after the crash, but dangit, it was perfect.

I am a believer in Mavic Ksyrium Elites. I struggled with spending $600. on a set of wheels when I could've gotten
a set of lighter wheels for about 3/4's of the price, but I have to tell you, Mavics are worth every penny (for me).
Was it just a light crash? No. I was hospitalized for 5 hours the day after and had to take pain medication.

Again, I went up over my front wheel, it turned 90 degrees with ALL my weight on it and stayed true.

Dude! What a story - hope you have a complete recovery. oppps I guess we hijacked the OP's post

hijack away that was a good story.

Thanks for all the suggestions thus far!

I went from Ksyrium SL Premium rear with R-SYS Front to Soul S4.0. It's about 300 grams heavier and you can sort of feel it on accelerations and climbs but flats feel 0.5 mph faster.

Thanks. Worst of it was that I broke a bone in my hand. Thank God.

Thanks.

Just wanted to share how good the Mavics really are, especially the Ksyriums.

If you're going to spend up to $1000. on a set of wheels,
I'd say cut your budget to about half of that or go significantly higher to double.
The difference in a $600. wheelset to a $1000. wheelset isn't much.

I'd say $400.-$600. buys you a lot of wheel with the benefit of lower weight. 1300-1600g range.
The $300. range will get you a strong wheelset, but in the 1800g range
(custom Mavic OP/Ultegras or BWWs/Neuvations/etc...).

For me, that $600. range was the sweetspot. I'd have to spend 4 times as much in order to get a wheelset
that would be significantly better or offer worthy advantages. As I may have stated before, my next wheelset
will be deep dish carbon and somewhere in the sub-1300g range. But those are going to be big bucks
(unless I come across a nice deal on used wheels).

I am not sure if 2010 Ksyrium Elite meets your stated goals, but if so Performance Bike has an anniversary sale for $399. Wt on them is 1550 gm.

regards, curtwally

I have a similar one. This thread is about what happened to the bike, which was destroyed. The front rim was slightly bent at the impact point, but that was fixed with a little judicious vise-grip and dremel work. I'm still riding those wheels--in fact I rode them to work today and will do some hard intervals on them later at lunch.