nemeseri

I want to upgrade my wheels on my road bike and I'd like to hear your opinion. Currently the bike has Mavic Cosmos wheels, probably wheels the bike rolled out from the factory 11 years ago.

Riding habits:

• This is my first road bike, I have no experience with any other wheels
• I ride around 130-170 miles a week. Commute on weekdays, longer rides on the weekends.
• I'm 140 pounds and 5'7"

In general I have no problem with my current wheels, I just feel like it won't hurt to own a better wheelset and use the current one during winter. I don't want to swap wheels regularly, it doesn't worth the hassle for me.

I'm looking for something around $500, it should be shimano 11 speed compatible, durable (because of my commute), good for climbing and lightweight (in this order). I'm fine with either factory or built wheels.

I considered the following factory wheels:

• Mavic: Ksyrium Equipe S / Elite S (though little bit out of my price range)
• Fulcrum Racing 5 / 3 | Campagnolo Zonda
• Shimano Ultegra 6800
• Mavic Aksium S

I don't know anything about wheel building, but I'd appreciate if someone can recommend me a setup.

shelbyfv

You can get a pair built with Ultegra hubs and your choice of rim from Colorado Cyclist for less than your budget. IMO the Aksiums are not an upgrade from your current wheels. They can be found for cheap, though.

dtrain

Would silver look good with your setup...or black only?

nemeseri

It really doesn't matter, I'm fine with either silver or black.

Elvo

Flo 30

redlude97

HOOPs Wheels - HOOPs 2426 Pacenti SL23 Build

Jiggle

At your weight, all of those will work. The 6800s are a fine deal at $350 shipped.

For $500, you can buy all the tools for your first wheel build as well as all the wheel parts. If you want to learn wheel building.

dtrain

PM sent

RollCNY

You can get Fulcrum 5's with tubes and GP4000s's for $319 from Ribble now. These are the 2014 lighter version, as far as I can tell.

8086bruce

ROL race sl 24/28 would be a nice wheel.

canam73

If dtrain doesn't have something you want, I would go with these.

znomit

Great wheels, great price.

nemeseri

So many great suggestions! Thank you so much!

So to sum up I have the following two groups. Can you tell me which wheel is the winner in both groups and whether you'd go with the cheaper or the more expensive ones?

Cheaper:
* Fulcrum Racing 5 (1645g) with tires and tubes - $385
* Shimano 6800 (1640g) - $350
* Vuelta Corsa SLR (1467g) - $330
* Mavic Ksyrium Equipe S (1690g) - $418

More expensive options:
* HOOPs 2426 Pacenti SL23 Build (1552g) - $500
* Fulcrum Racing 3 (1550g) - $468
* Flo 30 (1624g) - $498
* Mavic Ksyrium Elite S (1520g) with tires and tubes - ~$600
* HOOPs 2426 Elite Pacenti 23SL Wheelsets (1480g) - $580

nemeseri

Sorry, but I can't write PM. If you write me an email address I can answer there.

never_recover

Shimano 6800s for me! The Fulcrums/Campagnolo have good reputation too but there's something that would slightly disturb me about getting these with a shimano freehub.. Silly, I know

Side note: as you astutely mentioned in your OP, climbing ability has little to do with weight...

I climb a lot (these days, my daily commute back home has ~1000m ascent, i.e. ~3000 ft) and one of the things I've become sensitive to after many years is torque transmission.. When climbing the torque on the rear hub is 2-3x the torque on the flats.. Which is why my favorite climbing wheels are hand-built 32h Open Pro with 3x lacing and silky smooth 7700 hubs (and I'm ~150 pounds so it's not a rider weight thing)...

Shimano engineers tend to get these sort of things right (in my experience).. Others do things like radial lacing on the drive side...

link0

You are very light.

Vuelta Corsa Superlites are by far the best bang for your buck and works great for lighter riders.

$320 1499grams

Vuelta Corsa SuperLite Alloy Hand Built Road Clincher Wheelset

znomit

Shhhhh, don't let the shimano fanbois know they're riding campy wheels.

OntheRun.

Ive recently purchased shimano 6800 and I put in around 100 miles so far and LOVE them. Picked them up for 360 shipped.

nemeseri

Seems to be a sweet deal, although it's not 11 speed compatible. I'm already on 11 speed so it won't work. Also worth mentioning, that because I commute every day and the pavement is not the best, I'd rather go with a 24/28 setup to give the wheels more stability instead of saving a couple of grams.

RPK79

Vuelta SLR are 11 speed compatible and they are 24/28.

dtrain

No big deal, looks like you've got some good options brewing. I'm just up to my eyeballs in barely used Mavic Ksyriums and need to sell a pair or two, as I'm riding the 'wider rim' wave. I should really place a proper ad though rather than trying to hawk them through your thread.

nemeseri

OMG this wheelset looks amazing for the price. I added it to the "cheaper" group.

So now the only remaining questions are:
* whether the wheels in the cheaper group considered as an upgrade to my current cosmos or not
* should I spend $200 much to get a hand-built HOOPS / Flo 30 / Elite S
* which wheel is the best for climbing.

Dan333SP

The vueltas should be great, I have a cheaper pair of corsa lites and they've been flawless for 2 years, and I'm a bit heavier at 175. Check out your mavic cosmos for cracks on the rear rim at the spoke nipples. I had a pair about that age that cracked at nearly every spoke.

dtrain

Yes, Cosmos are pretty heavy (~1900g?). At your weight, you can go lighter and will feel a difference. But you've got a few on your list pushing 1700g., those better have nice hubs and/or some aero advantages for this to be worth it.

RPK79

I don't have the SLRs but, I've been riding Vuelta Corsa Pros since last year and they've been great so far.