therhodeo

Rough roads here. Possible they'll get taken on gravel with cross tires too. Looking for something easy on the budget. Either super long lasting or cheap enough that replacing them more often is ok. I weight 168 or so so weight shouldn't be a concern.

Only look for wheels. I've got my tire needs sorted out. Looking for rim and hub suggestions or factory wheels.

Makel

Are you looking for cross tires or road tires, and what does easy on the budget mean? When you say replacing them more often is okay, do you really mean the tire or are you referring to the tubes?

therhodeo

Answered in the original post. Wheels not tires.

ZippyThePinhead

Chainlove has been selling Mavic Ksyrium Equipes for $270 (not such a great price). A month or two back they were selling the Mavic Aksium Race wheels for $140, IIRC (that was a good price). People at my LBS describe the Aksium Race wheels as "bombproof," for what it's worth. You can probably find a good price for either wheelset on eBay if you're patient.

Both of these wheels are at the lower end of the Mavic line, and I have both, and have ridden on the Ksyrium Equipes for around 2800 miles and the Aksium Race for around 1800 miles. Personally I don't find much of a difference between them, except that I have broken two spokes on the Ksyrium Equipes (both on the rear wheel). I'm around 200 lbs, so that may not be a problem for you.

Current specs from Mavic have the weights of the wheelsets at 1690 grams for the Ksyrium Equipes and 1735 grams for the Aksium Race wheels. A friend of mine who knows a little about bikes told me about an experiment he'd read of some time ago: lead weights were added to the seat tube of a road bike to see how sensitive riders were to changes in the weight of a bike. Apparently professional riders could detect very small weight changes, on the order of a few ounces. However non-professional riders only noticed significant weight increases, on the order of a pound or more. Maybe that's why I can't tell the difference between the two wheelsets when riding.

canam73

I think he's talking about the wheels.

Maybe something built on a wide rim if cross is a concern? Real cheap would be a Sunn CR18 on a Tiagra hub. Or look at something with a Velocity A23 or Kinlin Wide.

therhodeo

Yeah wheel weight isn't a huge concern for me.

I need to look more into the Velocity rims. Mostly I've been looking at DT Swiss and Open Pros with 105 hubs.

Dean V

Mavic Cosmic Elite. They have been holding up well on our tandem with 300lb on them.

caloso

The old standby: 32h Open Pros with 105 or Ultegra hubs. Jack of all trades.

therhodeo

Even with the stories of spokes pulling out of them?

caloso

Maybe I've just been lucky. I've had a couple of sets of Open Pros, one on Ultegra hubs and one on Centaur. Used the Shimano set on my CX bike for a season. Both sets were handbuilt and on the Campy bike I had to have the rear rim replaced but that was due to an epic pothole that I happened to impact right at the valve hole. That was unlucky, but I haven't had any issue with spokes pulling out.

c0lnago

Velocity.

Drew Eckhardt 

Hand built wheels with your favorite commodity rim (Velocity has a bunch of options for ~$50; and although I've had good results from Mavic Open Pros the prices have increased and people feel at some point of the last decade they started cracking) laced with double butted spokes (I like 2.0/1.5 DT Revolutions front and rear non-drive side, and could do 2.0/1.8 drive side out of tradition) to Shimano or Campagnolo cup-and-cone hubs (with periodic service the bearings last for a very long time, and the hub-shells are usually better built than boutique hubs where those other companies are unwilling to invest in coining dies for the spoke holes) you've sourced from the UK where online retail prices can beat US wholesale.

Use 32 spokes. It's nice to finish your ride when you put a slight bend in your rim and it stays straight enough to remain rideable.

After you wear out a brake track or bend a rim on an obstacle it's $50 to be back in business.

I laced a set of Mavic Reflex clinchers to Campagnolo Chorus hubs in 1996 or 1997 with 32 spokes, cross-3, 2.0/1.5 DT Revolutions front and rear non-drive side, 2.0/1.8 DT Competitions rear drive side, alloy nipples, anti-seize for lubrication. I'm on my second (now Open Pro) front and I think third (also Open Pro) rear. Same hub bearings, same spokes, nearly all the same nipples.

halfspeed

I just built a set of Cross/Gravel/Ice/Snow wheels. DT XR-400 29er rims, PowerTap pro disc rear, DT 240S disc front, 28H front, 32H rear. DT 15/17 spokes. Not cheap, though most of the cost was the PT, but they should be very durable.

surgeonstone

I'm riding on Fulcrum Racing 5's with Gatorskins with good results. The roads out here are crap, 10 % smooth tarmac, 50% rough chip n seal, 20% really rough, patched, chip and seal, and 20 % gravel. The Fulcrums are cheap and have held up well. Went through a pair of Kysirium's in about three thousand miles with the seams separating top from side. Also went through a pair of Zipp 303's, my fault for riding them on such crap but fun while they lasted.

BoSoxYacht

Some people have had problems, but the folks that don't have problems normally don't get so excited about a product to take the time to rave about a product that works how it's supposed to.

halfspeed

Are you kidding? Every friggen wheel thread has somebody touting OP/Ultegra wheels. There's absolutely nothing special about the OP. Light weight box section rims like the OP are truly an anachronism. That may be part of the reason people are noticing a slip in quality (if not price).

BoSoxYacht

No I'm not kidding. The people that post on forums are nowhere near the amount of people that use Mavic OPs. There's nothing special about the hoops, but far more people post about problems with any product, than there are satisfied users.

I've built dozens(maybe hundreds) of OPs without an issue. A few bad builds is not the sign of a problem.

Ghost Ryder

These aren't so cheap...

cmcgarvey

A friend of mine has the Ksyrium Elites, he ways about 50# more then you and has had no problems over the last 8 months he has had them. Last time I checked on ebay you can get them for 400-ish.

bonz50

I've got 2 seasons on my Mavic Aksiums, I'm about 225ish, road here are typical midwestern fare, not great, but not horrendous either. they are still as true as the day I brought them home, not even the slightest wave/wobble, of course as mentioned above, very budget friendly as well. if I ever smoked one of them on a pothole or crash I'd probably replace them with another set of the same. the mavic freehub is a touch noisy, but if you don't coast its not an issue.

therhodeo

As long as its not Chris King noisy I can handle it.

rkwaki

I train on 32H DT Swiss Handbuilts on Ultegra Hubs, 3X, triple butted spokes (can't remember which ones) and they have been in destructible and stiff as can be.

bonz50

I find it tolerable, but many have complained about it, I just tune it out. never heard a king hub, so can't comment.

therhodeo

Consider yourself lucky. I hope you never have to hear one.

ColinL

hubs with a lot of points of engagement are great for MTB, BMX and freeride, but I don't see any real advantage to them on a road bike. I notice the 15 deg of motion before engagement in my road wheels, but it doesn't really bother me. it's not like on a MTB where you need to do super slow speed, trackstanding types of manuevers.

that said, a Chris King or other hub with lots of engagement doesn't really bother me. they are loud and buzzy, but oh well.