nola.ron

Hey all,

Hoping someone can help me out here. Last weekend I wiped out on my club ride and my wheels are wrecked pretty bad on my VWD S5. The stock wheels are Fulcrum Racing T's (apparently equiv to the Racing 7s).

I was originally looking at the Cosmic Carbone SLS as the "ultimate answer" for training and racing but I'm now leaning away from spending so much on a set of wheels I ride on every day. Had I had $1500 wheels on my bike Saturday I would be in a really bad situation right now.

I'm 195lbs (down from 314!) and I do race now. I'm a hammer in the club rides so I need something strong yet fast too. My budget is ideally less than $500 but if I need to go higher for something fast and TRULY bombproof then I can do it.

Here's a list of all I've considered:
Zipp 30s
Cosmic Carbone SLS
Cosmic Elite S
Fulcrum Racing 5
Fulcrum Racing 3

I guess I'm looking for a good all around wheel. Something that's strong yet light, good for training but also good for hammering in club rides and tuesday night race loops for the club. I do plan on buying a set of carbon wheels before the spring to start my first full race season. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I live in New Orleans and the roads here are pretty bad so that's certainly a concern.

fstshrk

November, Boyd or Psimet?

Campag4life

I do a lot of club riding and ride Fulcrum 5's and they are stiff, but not too stiff and bombproof. New F5's can be purchased for about $300 from Ribble in the UK and for 2014 they weigh 16xx grams. To me they are the sweet spot for a good recreational rider. Fulcrum 3's which have a fractionally stiffer ride quality and weigh in the 15xx gram range are also very strong relative to their weight but are almost twice the cost.

You will get a lot of opinions about wheels but to me uber light and expensive wheels are a waste of money unless you are an elite racer racing against the clock. I ride with guys with $2K wheels all the time and there is nothing between us other than they have lighter wallets.
Have fun.

Silvercivic27

Cosmic carbone sls. Beware because few wheels fit well in that frame.

Garfield Cat

Go to the Cervelo forum. These riders own bikes like yours and have that same Fulcrum or thereabouts. Ask to buy theirs. That will give you the budget answered and the additional time to lose more weight.

HOWSER

Given the options you listed I'd go with the Zipp 303's over everything else.

Personally I'd stay away from the Fulcrum 5's, I find them to have a cheap hub. They are pretty durable, I do run them on my CX rig.

YMMV

StanSeven

Yep. Check out the Cervelo forum. Some wheels don't fit on the S5.

I also do some fast club rides which often turns into more of a race at times. When i ride in the middle of the pack, any wheels are the same. At times I take off the front, aero wheels do make a little difference especially holding a quick pace for some time.

Campag4life

Complete baloney. Easy to service and Campy/Fulcrum makes the best hubs.

HOWSER

You and I share different opinions on quality. The hub on the 5's (as well as T's and 7's) leave a lot to be desired. I can't speak for other models from them.

They are no where near the quality of the top hubs. I run Industry 9 on my road rig, huge difference.

Again, just my opinion.

Campag4life

Well, your opinion is discounted by my personal experience of 15K miles on Fulcrum 5's and the reputation of Campy hubs in the industry. F5's are perhaps among the best hubs in the industry...the opposite of what you write. They use common and ubiquitous cartridge bearings which are also inexpensive to replace and available in ceramic which are unnecessary...but they rarely need replacement in my experience with only occasional maintenance. Also for 2014 Campy upped their game and made further refinements to the Fulcrum 5 hub adding a set screw for easier axial preload adjustment.
.

Taipei325

I think for everyday use the Fulcrum Racing 3s are an excellent buy.

And to add...I too have had ZERO issues with the hubs on any of my Fulcrum wheels. The same cannot be said for the original hubs on my Zipp 404s.

If you are looking for a performance boost for flat riding...you will need to go to carbon aero wheels. Aluminum wheels...trading price/weight/reliability....can't have all three in my opinion, but the Fulcrum Racing 3s come pretty close in my book and balance all three quite well.

Campag4life

Fulcrum Racing 3's are good Al wheels without question. Light enough...give up a tad of ride quality to Racing 5's but are almost twice the price.
Fulcrum 3's have loose ball bearings versus cartridge bearings of R5's. Owning both, I have no preference. Some may argue that loose ball cone bearings have fractionally lower resistance, but I am not convinced and for even high end wheels, cartridges are fine provided the bearings are good quality.

loimpact

Any place to get F5's here in the U.S. ??? (It appears anybody that shows them, are out of stock)

TIA

nola.ron

From what I found out today the F5's have been on back order for a couple of weeks.


I'm going to throw this in the mix - a team member is selling a barely used (~500 miles) set of Kysirum SLS Clinchers for $600 with tires and tubes. Should I pony up or just get cheap training wheels and throw the rest of the money at a pair of good carbon race wheels? Thanks to everyone for the help.

nola.ron

The Boyd Roulets are seriously being considered but that would be a week for delivery. $435 delivered or pony up and get the locally sold Kysirum SLS set... that's my situation right now. The other option I've found is getting a pull of pair of Fulcrum 3.5's from my LBS for $400. Apparently those came from a 2014 Cervelo R5 and they are made with FR3 wheels and FR5 hubs for Cervelo.

freedomrider1

Mavic Aksium WTS 700x25 Rear Road Wheel 2013 - Closeout! - Road Bike Wheels / Wheelsets Found these to be decent for what i do.

Silvercivic27

Ksyrium sls then.